The Irish state came into being in 1922 as the Irish Free State, a dominion of the British Commonwealth, having seceded from the United Kingdom under the Anglo - Irish Treaty. It comprises 26 of the island of Ireland 's 32 counties. The 1937 constitution renamed the state Ireland. In 1949 it explicitly became a republic, definitively ending its tenuous membership of the British Commonwealth. In 1973 it joined the European Communities.
when did the irish free state become a republic
1949