3. The Oireachtas (1922-Present)

In 1922 the Oireachtas began to search for a permanent residence. Leinster House was considered a suitable building because of its location and its large lecture theatre. Michael Collins leased Leinster House from the RDS for eight months, and this is where the third Dáil convened on 9 September 1922. In July 1924, a report of a joint committee of both of its houses recommended that the Oireachtas should occupy all of Leinster House on a permanent basis. The RDS cooperated, selling its rights to the government for £68,000 and transferring all activities to its Ballsbridge facilities.

In this letter dated 25 November 1924, Clerk of the Dáil Colm Ó Murchadha puts on record to Edward Bohane, Director of the RDS, ‘our appreciation of the efficient and satisfactory manner in which you and your staff under Mr Lowth carried out their duties’ during the period of joint occupation, especially ‘in the difficulties under which we laboured here at the beginning’.

Dated 7 August 1924, this plan and section of the former RDS lecture theatre shows some of the works required to permanently convert it for use by Dáil Éireann. As shown here, these include alterations to the seating accommodation and the floor, and the provision of a press gallery.

This drawing relates to the ongoing reconfiguration of the RDS lecture theatre for Dáil use and is dated 5 October 1927. Shown here is the proposed configuration of the rows of commodious mahogany and leather-covered seats, designed by Hugh O’Flynn of the OPW, which replaced the original tightly-packed seating.

The adaptation of the first-floor ballroom to accommodate Seanad Éireann constituted one of the largest architectural interventions into the original fabric of Leinster House to make it fit to house a parliament. The changes included the installation of purpose designed seating for the senators, as shown in this OPW plan dated 19 December 1928.

Founded in 1747, Henry Sibthorpe & Co. were one of the leading painting and decorating firms in Dublin from the first half of the nineteenth century to the mid twentieth. The firm closed in the 1970s, but some of its records survive in both the National Archives and here in the IAA. This material includes a selection of elevations and perspective views of proposed decorative schemes which were produced to show prospective clients what a final decorative scheme might look like, an early form of virtual reality. This sketch, by Sibthorpe employee Con O’Sullivan, shows a proposed repainting of the Senate Chamber. Such redecoration work is typical of the generally light-touch interventions in the main house which have characterised its occupancy by the Oireachtas.

Born in Australia of Irish descent, Raymond McGrath was among the leading architects in 1930s England. The Second World War took him to the safety of Dublin and the Office of Public Works; he became Principal Architect in 1948. After his arrival in Dublin in 1941 he sketched and drew the principal buildings of his new home, a series of drawings which included this view of the garden front of Leinster House. The only clue to The Emergency, then in full flow, is the solider on guard duty.