This Act may be cited as the Republic of Ireland Act, 1950.

This Act shall be deemed to have come into force on the eighteenth day of April, nineteen hundred and forty-nine.

It is hereby declared that, notwithstanding that the Republic of Ireland is not part of His Majesty’s dominions, the Republic of Ireland is not a foreign country for the purposes of any law in force in, or in any part of, New Zealand or any of the territories referred to in section four of this Act, whether by virtue of a rule of law or of an Act of any Parliament or of any other enactment or instrument whatsoever, whether passed or made before or after the passing of this Act, and references in any Act of any Parliament or in any other enactment or instrument whatsoever, whether passed or made before or after the passing of this Act, to foreigners, aliens, foreign countries, and persons or things in any way belonging to or connected with foreign countries shall be construed accordingly:

Provided that this section, in its application to existing law, shall be subject to section three of this Act.

All existing law—that is to say, all law which, whether it is a rule of law or a provision of an Act of any Parliament or a provision of any other enactment or instrument whatsoever, has come into force or been passed or made before the passing of this Act—shall, until provision to the contrary is made by the authority having power to alter that law, have the same operation in relation to the Republic of Ireland, and to persons and things in any way belonging to or connected with the Republic of Ireland, as it would have had if the Republic of Ireland had remained part of His Majesty’s dominions.

Subsection one of this section extends to law of, or of any part of, New Zealand or any of the territories referred to in section four of this Act.

The references to Ireland in the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act, 1948, shall be deemed to be references to the Republic of Ireland; and the operation of that Act shall not be affected by the fact that the Republic of Ireland is not part of His Majesty’s dominions.

This Act shall be in force in the following territories:—

This Act is hereby declared to be a reserved enactment for the purposes of section nine of the Samoa Amendment Act, 1947.