Chief Secretary for Ireland

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Chief Secretary for Ireland
Arms of the Kingdom of Ireland
Style	The Right Honourable as a member of the Privy Council
Residence	Chief Secretary's Lodge (from 1776)
Appointer	The Lord Lieutenant
Term length	At the pleasure of the Lord Lieutenant
Inaugural holder	Edward Waterhouse
Formation	20 January 1566
Final holder	Sir Hamar Greenwood
Abolished	19 October 1922

The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant",^[1] from the early 19th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland, roughly equivalent to the role of a Secretary of State, such as the similar role of Secretary of State for Scotland. Usually it was the Chief Secretary, rather than the Lord Lieutenant, who sat in the British Cabinet.^[2] The Chief Secretary was ex officio President of the Local Government Board for Ireland from its creation in 1872.^[3]

British rule over much of Ireland came to an end as the result of the Irish War of Independence, which culminated in the establishment of the Irish Free State. In consequence the office of Chief Secretary was abolished, as well as that of Lord Lieutenant. Executive responsibility within the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland was effectively transferred to the President of the Executive Council (i.e. the prime minister) and the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland respectively.