In 1931 , a separate '' ' External Great Seal ' '' or '' ' Royal Great Seal ' '' was created to be used on diplomatic documents which required the signature of the monarch in London rather than the Governor-General in Dublin . Up to 1931 , such documents had been transmitted to the Dominions Office and the British Great Seal of the Realm was applied alongside the signature . At the 1930 Imperial Conference , the Free State proposed that a Dominion should be allowed to send documents via its High Commissioner in London , bypassing the British government , and to affix its own seal rather than the British one . The conference subcommittee on seals resolved , " The subject should be postponed on the understanding that the whole question should be left for further discussion between Governments should occasion arise " . In January 1931 the Free State government tested its proposed procedure ; it applied the 1925 Free State seal to the instrument of ratification for a 1929 treaty between the Free State and Portugal , and sent it to High Commissioner John W. Dulanty to transmit to King George V. Dulanty was refused an audience , the British objecting on the grounds that the change in procedure had not been agreed , and that the 1925 seal was not in fact a " great seal " within the terms of the 1922 letters patent , since it had never been formally approved by the monarch . A compromise was negotiated whereby the Free State would use a separate " external seal " in the custody of its Minister for External Affairs . The external seal , designed by Percy Metcalfe , had on its reverse the same harp image as the 1925 " internal " seal , and on its obverse the same image of the monarch enthroned as the British Great Seal of the Realm , except for the quartered royal arms above the throne , where the English arms in first and fourth quarters were switched with the Irish arms in third quarter . George V formally presented the external seal to John W. Dulanty on 18 January 1932 at Sandringham House . Arthur Berriedale Keith commented that this marked " the final establishment of the complete international sovereignty of the Free State and the elimination of any British control "
1930 Imperial Conference
1930 Imperial Conference
Great Seal of the Irish Free State