Editing 3rd Dáil (section)

==Enactment of the Constitution – two systems become one==
The [[Constitution of the Irish Free State]] provided, within its own articles, that it would not come into effect until it had been adopted by both the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British Parliament]] and the Third Dáil, which it referred to as the "constituent assembly". The Third Dáil adopted the Constitution of the Irish Free State on 25 October 1922. The document was then enacted by the British Parliament by the [[Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922]] and came into force on 6 December. The new constitution used the name ''Dáil Éireann'' for the house of representatives of a new parliament called the [[Oireachtas of the Irish Free State|Oireachtas]]. However it provided that until the first elections to this new lower house the "constituent assembly" would exercise "all the powers and authorities" conferred on the "new" Dáil Éireann. The Third Dáil therefore functioned as a legislative lower house from December 1922 until it was dissolved on 9 August 1923 before the [[1923 Irish general election|1923 general election]]. The Fourth Dáil was convened on 19 September 1923. The numbering system of Dála begins with the [[First Dáil]] convened in January 1919.