The Provisional Government and the civil service, 1922

Abstract

This chapter explores the constitutional path that was laid down for the process by which the Provisional Government constructed the civil service of the Irish Free State. It is stressed that ‘it [was] of the highest importance for the Provisional Government to get in touch with and take the fullest advantage of the experience of the Irish civil service generally’. The split in the republican movement profoundly affected the Dáil Éireann civil service. Under the terms of the 1920 Act, there were three categories of applicant to the Wylie committee: those discharged by the Irish government, those seeking permission to retire and those opting to retire under the statutory conditions provided by the Act. The Provisional Government squandered the goodwill of its civil service, ans as 1923 dawned and the Irish Free State came into office, the attitude of the civil service was one of suspicion and defensiveness.