Editing 3rd Dáil (section)

==Rival political theories==
The assembly was:
* the Third Dáil, the successor of the [[First Dáil]] (1919–1921) and the Second Dáil (1921–1922) according to Irish political theory; and
* the Provisional Parliament, the successor of the [[House of Commons of Southern Ireland]] (1921–1922) according to British political theory.

From both perspectives, it was a [[constituent assembly]] which created the [[constitution of the Irish Free State]].

Ireland since 1919 had been governed under two rival political administrations. To [[Irish nationalism|nationalists]] and [[Irish republicanism|republicans]], an assembly of Irish members of parliament (who adopted the equivalent [[Irish language]] term [[Teachta Dála]] or TD) had formed in [[Dublin]] in 1919 and was seen as the valid parliament of the Irish people, from which the [[Irish Republic]] received its sovereignty. Each Dáil in turn was the successor of the earlier one and the legitimate parliament of the Irish Republic. The Second Dáil had been chosen through an [[1921 Irish elections|election in 1921]] called by the British administration in Ireland, the elected republican members forming themselves into the Second Dáil rather than the [[Parliament of Southern Ireland]] they had been elected to. The Second Dáil agreed to the elections leading to the Third Dáil.

However, according to British political theory, the assembly of Irish MPs in Dublin did not constitute a valid parliament, and was subsequently declared illegal. In this view, legal government remained vested in [[Government of the United Kingdom|His Majesty's Government]] in Westminster, and its Irish executive, under the [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]] based in [[Dublin Castle]]. The [[Government of Ireland Act 1920]] created two Irish parliaments with effect from May 1921: one for Northern Ireland in [[Belfast]] and one for Southern Ireland, which was called to assemble in [[Royal College of Science]] in Dublin. The uncontested elections in Southern Ireland produced the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, though when the new house was called to assemble, only four MPs turned up. The remaining members assembled as TDs of the [[Second Dáil]]. Following the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]], the Westminster parliament passed the [[Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922]] which provided for dissolution of the Parliament of Southern Ireland and the election of a replacement parliament to which the Provisional Government would be responsible. The Act named this parliament as "the House of the Parliament", perhaps to distinguish it from the Houses of parliament at Westminster.