Privy Council of Ireland in the context of Dublin Castle administration in Ireland

The Executive Committee for Northern Ireland was the government of Northern Ireland created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Generally known as either the Cabinet or the Government, the executive committee existed from 1922 to 1972. It exercised executive authority formally vested in the British monarch in relation to devolved matters.

Under the Act as originally enacted, the "Executive Committee for Northern Ireland" was an executive committee of the Privy Council of Ireland consisting of the ministers appointed by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to head departments of state. Ministers so chosen did not have to be members of the Parliament of Northern Ireland but were required to become members within six months. The Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act, which came into force in December 1922, replaced the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council of Ireland with the Governor of Northern Ireland and Privy Council of Northern Ireland.

The chief governor was the senior official in the Dublin Castle administration, which maintained English and British rule in Ireland from the 1170s to 1922. The chief governor was the viceroy of the English monarch (and later the British monarch) and presided over the Privy Council of Ireland. In some periods he was in effective charge of the administration, subject only to the monarch; in others he was a figurehead and power was wielded by others.

The Dublin Castle administration was the central executive government of Ireland under English, and later British, rule from the Middle Ages until the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922. The name comes from Dublin Castle, which served as the administrative and ceremonial heart of British authority in Ireland. "Dublin Castle" is used metonymically to describe British rule in Ireland, particularly the executive and civil service that governed through the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and senior officials such as the Chief Secretary for Ireland and Under-Secretary for Ireland.

The administration operated alongside the Parliament of Ireland (which existed until 1801) and the Privy Council of Ireland, implementing policies and managing patronage, taxation, and the civil service. Over time, the Chief Secretary for Ireland became the key political manager, while the Lord Lieutenant largely served a ceremonial and representative role.

Poynings' Law or the Statute of Drogheda (10 Hen. 7. c. 4 (I) [The Irish Statutes numbering] or 10 Hen. 7. c. 9 (I) [Analecta Hibernica numbering]; later titled "An Act that no Parliament be holden in this Land until the Acts be certified into England") was a 1494 Act of the Parliament of Ireland which provided that the parliament could not meet until its proposed legislation had been approved both by Ireland's Lord Deputy and Privy Council and by England's monarch (the Lord of Ireland) and Privy Council. It was a major grievance in 18th-century Ireland, was amended by the Constitution of 1782, rendered moot by the Acts of Union 1800, and repealed by the Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. 57).

Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG, PC, PC (Ire) (28 September 1852 – 22 May 1925), known as Sir John French from 1901 to 1916, and as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a senior British Army officer.

Born in Kent, he saw brief service as a midshipman in the Royal Navy, before becoming a cavalry officer. He achieved rapid promotion and distinguished himself on the Gordon Relief Expedition. He became a national hero during the Second Boer War. He commanded I Corps at Aldershot, then served as Inspector-General of the Forces, before becoming Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS, the professional head of the British Army) in 1912. He helped to prepare the British Army for a possible European war, and was among those who insisted that cavalry still be trained to charge with sabre and lance. During the Curragh incident he had to resign as CIGS.

Martin Henry FitzPatrick Morris, 2nd Baron Killanin, PC(Ire) (22 July 1867 – 11 August 1927) was an Irish Unionist (Conservative) Member of Parliament (MP).

Henry Frederick Howard, 15th Earl of Arundel PC(Ire) (15 August 1608 – 17 April 1652), styled Lord Maltravers until 1640, and Baron Mowbray from 1640 until 1652, was an English nobleman, chiefly remembered for his role in the development of the rule against perpetuities.

The Privy Council of Northern Ireland is a dormant privy council formerly advising the Governor of Northern Ireland in his role as viceroy of the British Crown, in particular in the exercise of the monarch's prerogative powers. The council was the successor within Northern Ireland of the Privy Council of Ireland, which offered advice to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.