<Li> signing Letters of Credence accrediting Irish ambassadors to other states; and </Li> <Li> signing international treaties on Ireland's behalf . </Li> <P> This status quo remained, with Ireland participating little in the British Commonwealth and Éamon de Valera remarking in 1945 that "we are a republic" in reply to the question if he planned to declare Ireland as a republic . Then somewhat unexpectedly in 1948, during a visit to Canada, Taoiseach John A. Costello announced that Ireland was to be declared a republic . The subsequent Irish legislation, the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, provided for the abolition of the last remaining functions of the King in relation to Ireland and provided that the President of Ireland would exercise these functions in the King's place . When the Act came into force on 18 April 1949, it effectively ended Ireland's status as a British dominion . As a consequence of this, it also had the effect of ending Ireland's membership of the British Commonwealth of Nations and the existing basis upon which Ireland and its citizens were treated in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries as "British subjects", not foreigners . </P> <P> The Act's long title summarises the Act's several purposes: </P>

When did the republic of ireland leave the commonwealth