Parliament of Ireland - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Parliament of Ireland was a legislature

Legislature

A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...

that existed in Dublin from 1297 until 1800. In its early mediaeval period during the Lordship of Ireland

Lordship of Ireland

The Lordship of Ireland refers to that part of Ireland that was under the rule of the king of England, styled Lord of Ireland, between 1177 and 1541. It was created in the wake of the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71 and was succeeded by the Kingdom of Ireland...

it consisted of either two or three chambers: the House of Commons

Irish House of Commons

The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland, that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords...

, elected by a very restricted suffrage, the House of Lords

Irish House of Lords

The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from mediaeval times until 1800. It was abolished along with the Irish House of Commons by the Act of Union.-Function:...

in which the lords temporal of the peerage of Ireland

Peerage of Ireland

The Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those titles of nobility created by the English and later British monarchs of Ireland in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century. The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl,...

and lords spiritual (higher clergy) were represented (subject to periodic exclusion of Catholic peers) by a third body, a House of Proctors, which consisted of representatives of the lower clergy, which sometimes seems to have sat as a separate house, on other times as part of the House of Commons.

The main purpose of parliament was to approve taxes that were then levied by and for the Lordship of Ireland

Lordship of Ireland

. Those who would pay the bulk of taxation, the clergy, merchants and landowners, naturally comprised the members. In 1541 the parliament voted to create the Kingdom of Ireland

Kingdom of Ireland

The Kingdom of Ireland refers to the country of Ireland in the period between the proclamation of Henry VIII as King of Ireland by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 and the Act of Union in 1800. It replaced the Lordship of Ireland, which had been created in 1171...

.

Over the centuries, the Irish parliament met in a number of locations both inside and outside of Dublin - the first place of definitive date and place was Castledermot

Castledermot

Castledermot is an inland village in the south-east of Ireland in County Kildare, about from Dublin, and from the town of Carlow. The N9 road from Dublin to Waterford passes through the village but completion of a bypass is due during 2010.-Demographics:...

, County Kildare

County Kildare

County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county...

on 18 June 1264 some months earlier than the first English Parliament containing elected members. Among its most famous meeting places were Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland...

, the Bluecoat School

The King's Hospital

The King's Hospital is a Church of Ireland co-educational fee-paying boarding and day school situated in Palmerstown, Dublin, Ireland.Founded in 1669, it is one of the oldest schools in Ireland and was also known as the Blue Coat School....

, Chichester House

Chichester House

Chichester House or Carew's House was a building in College Green , Dublin, Ireland used in the 17th Century to house the Parliament of Ireland. At one time, the building had been owned by Sir George Carew, President of Munster and Lord High Treasurer of Ireland. The house itself was built on the...

and, its final permanent home, the Irish Parliament House

Irish Houses of Parliament

The Irish Houses of Parliament , also known as the Irish Parliament House, today called the Bank of Ireland, College Green due to its use as by the bank, was the world's first purpose-built two-chamber parliament house...

in College Green

College Green

College Green is a three-sided "square" in the centre of Dublin. On its northern side is a building known today as the Bank of Ireland which until 1800 was Ireland's Parliament House. To its east stands Trinity College Dublin, the only constituent college of the University of Dublin. To its south...

Middle Ages

The Irish Parliament was formally founded in 1297 by the Justiciar

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland

thumb|200px|The Four CourtsThe headquarters of the Irish judicial system since 1804. The Court of King's Bench was one of the original four courts that sat there....

, Sir John de Wogan, to represent the Irish and Anglo-Norman population of the Lordship of Ireland

Lordship of Ireland

. In 1292 a less formal assembly of unelected nobles and merchants had raised £10,000, known as the "lay subsidy". This tax was a fifteenth of the net worth of the chattels of wealthier citizens; the poor and the church were exempted.

The Parliament arose from and for citizens of the Lordship of Ireland

Lordship of Ireland

, based on Norman laws and English practices. Magna Carta was extended in 1217 in the Great Charter of Ireland

Great Charter of Ireland

The Great Charter of Ireland was an issue of the English Magna Carta, or Great Charter of Liberties in Ireland. King Henry III of England's Charter of 1216 was issued for Ireland on 12 November 1216 but not transmitted to Ireland until February 1217; it secured rights for the Anglo-Norman magnates...

. Membership was based on fealty

Fealty

An oath of fealty, from the Latin fidelitas , is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Typically the oath is made upon a religious object such as a Bible or saint's relic, often contained within an altar, thus binding the oath-taker before God.In medieval Europe, fealty was sworn between...

to the king, and the preservation of the king's peace

Queen's peace

The Queen's peace is the term used in the Commonwealth realms to describe the protection the monarch, in right of each state, provides to his or her subjects...

, and so the fluctuating number of autonomous Irish Gaelic

Gaels

The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....

kings were outside of the system; they had their own local brehon law taxation arrangements. The 14th and 15th centuries saw shrinking numbers of those loyal to the crown, the growing power of landed families, and the increasing inability to carry out judicial rulings, that all reduced the crown's presence in Ireland. Alongside this reduced control grew a "Gaelic resurgence" that was political as well as cultural. In turn this resulted in considerable numbers of the Anglo-Irish Old English

Old English (Ireland)

The Old English were the descendants of the settlers who came to Ireland from Wales, Normandy, and England after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71. Many of the Old English became assimilated into Irish society over the centuries...

nobility joining the independent Gaelic nobles in asserting their feudal independence. Eventually the crown's power shrank to a small fortified enclave around Dublin known as the Pale

The Pale

The Pale or the English Pale , was the part of Ireland that was directly under the control of the English government in the late Middle Ages. It had reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast stretching from Dalkey, south of Dublin, to the garrison town of Dundalk...

. The Parliament thereafter became essentially the forum for the Pale community until the 16th century.

Unable to implement and exercise the authority of the Parliament or the Crown's rule outside of this environ, and increasingly under the attack of raids by the Gaelic Irish and independent Anglo-Irish nobles, the Palesmen themselves encouraged the Kings of England to take a more direct role in the affairs of Ireland. Geographic distance, the lack of attention by the Crown because of the Hundred Years' War

Hundred Years' War

The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...

and the Wars of the Roses

Wars of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...

, and the larger power of the Gaelic clans, all reduced the effectiveness of the Irish Parliament. Thus, increasingly worried that the Irish Parliament was essentially being overawed by powerful landed families in Ireland like the Earl of Kildare into passing laws that pursued the agendas of the different dynastic factions in the country, in 1494, the Parliament encouraged the passing of Poynings' Law which subordinated Irish Parliament to the English one.

Kingdom of Ireland

The role of the Parliament changed after 1541, when Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

declared the Kingdom of Ireland

Kingdom of Ireland

and embarked on the Tudor conquest of Ireland. Despite an era which featured royal concentration of power and decreasing feudal power throughout the rest of Europe, King Henry VIII overruled earlier court rulings putting families and lands under attainder and recognised the privileges of the Gaelic nobles thereby expanding the crown's de jure authority. In return for recognising the crown's authority under the new Kingdom of Ireland, the Gaelic-Anglo-Irish lords had their position legalised and were entitled to attend the Irish Parliament as equals under the policy of surrender and regrant

Surrender and regrant

During the Tudor conquest of Ireland , "surrender and regrant" was the legal mechanism by which Irish clans were to be converted from a power structure rooted in clan and kin loyalties, to a late-feudal system under the English legal system...

.

The Reformation in Ireland

Reformation in Ireland

The Reformation in Ireland was a movement for the reform of religious life and institutions that was introduced into Ireland by the English administration at the behest of King Henry VIII of England. His desire for an annulment of his marriage was known as the King's Great Matter...

introduced in stages by the Tudor monarchs did not take hold in most of the country, but did not affect the operation of parliament until after the papal bull

Papal bull

A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....

Regnans in Excelsis
Regnans in Excelsis
Regnans in Excelsis was a papal bull issued on 25 February 1570 by Pope Pius V declaring "Elizabeth, the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime" to be a heretic and releasing all her subjects from any allegiance to her and excommunicating any that obeyed her orders.The bull, written in...

of 1570. Initially in 1537, the Irish Parliament approved both the Act of Supremacy, acknowledging Henry VIII as head of the Church and the dissolution of the monasteries. In the parliaments of 1569 and 1585, the Old English Catholic representatives in the Irish Commons had several disputes with the crown's authorities over the introduction of penal legislation against Catholics and over-paying of "Cess

Cess

The term cess generally means a tax. It is a term formerly more particularly applied to local taxation, and was the official term used in Ireland when it was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; otherwise, it has been superseded by "rate"...

" tax for the putting down of various Gaelic and Catholic rebellions.

For this reason, and the political fallout after the 1605 Gunpowder plot

Gunpowder Plot

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...

and the Plantation of Ulster

Plantation of Ulster

The Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation of Ulster—a province of Ireland—by people from Great Britain. Private plantation by wealthy landowners began in 1606, while official plantation controlled by King James I of England and VI of Scotland began in 1609...

in 1613-15, the constituencies for the Irish House of Commons were changed to give Protestants a majority. The Plantation of Ulster allowed English and Scottish Protestant candidates in as representatives of the newly-formed borough

Borough

A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....

s in planted areas. Initially this gave Protestants a majority of 132-100 in the House of Commons. However, after vehement Catholic protests, including a brawl in the chamber on Parliament's first sitting, some of the new Parliamentary constituencies were eliminated, giving Protestants a slight majority (108-102) of members of the House of Commons thereafter.

In the House of Lords the Catholic majority continued until the 1689 "Patriot Parliament

Patriot Parliament

The Patriot Parliament is the name given to the session of the Irish Parliament called by King James II of Ireland during the War of the Two Kings in 1689. The parliament met in one session, from 7 May 1689 to 20 July 1689, and was the only session of the Irish Parliament under King James II.The...

", with the exception of the Commonwealth

Commonwealth of England

The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...

period (1649–60). Following the general uprising of the Catholic Irish in the Irish Rebellion of 1641

Irish Rebellion of 1641

The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...

and the self-established Catholic assembly

Confederate Ireland

Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. During this time, two-thirds of Ireland was governed by the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny"...

in 1642-49, Roman Catholics were barred from voting or attending the Parliament altogether in the Cromwellian Act of Settlement 1652, which was reversed by the Restoration

Restoration (Ireland)

The Restoration of the monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

of Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

in 1660.

1660 to 1800

Following the death of Cromwell and the end of the Protectorate

Protectorate

In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...

, the Stuarts returned to the throne thereby ending the sectarian divisions relating to parliament. Then, during the reign of James II of England

James II of England

James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...

, who had converted to Roman Catholicism, Irish Catholics briefly recovered their pre-eminent position as the crown now favoured their community. When James was overthrown in England, he turned to his Roman Catholic supporters in the Irish Parliament for support. In return for its support during the Williamite war in Ireland

Williamite war in Ireland

The Williamite War in Ireland—also called the Jacobite War in Ireland, the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland and in Irish as Cogadh an Dá Rí —was a conflict between Catholic King James II and Protestant King William of Orange over who would be King of England, Scotland and Ireland...

(1688–91), a Roman Catholic majority Patriot Parliament
Patriot Parliament
The Patriot Parliament is the name given to the session of the Irish Parliament called by King James II of Ireland during the War of the Two Kings in 1689. The parliament met in one session, from 7 May 1689 to 20 July 1689, and was the only session of the Irish Parliament under King James II.The...

of 1689 persuaded James to pass legislation granting it autonomy to and to restore lands confiscated from Catholics in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...

. The Jacobite

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

defeat in this war meant that under William III of England

William III of England

William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...

, Protestants were returned to a favoured position in Irish society while substantial numbers of Catholic nobles and leaders could no longer sit in parliament unless they took a loyalty oath as agreed under the Treaty of Limerick

Treaty of Limerick

The Treaty of Limerick ended the Williamite war in Ireland between the Jacobites and the supporters of William of Orange. It concluded the Siege of Limerick. The treaty really consisted of two treaties which were signed on 3 October 1691. Reputedly they were signed on the Treaty Stone, an...

. Having proven their support for Catholic absolutism by their loyal support for James during the war, and because the Papacy supported the Jacobites after 1693, Irish Catholics increasingly faced discriminatory legislation in the Penal Laws that were passed by the predominantly loyalist and Protestant Parliament from 1695.

Nonetheless, the franchise was still available to wealthier Catholics. Until 1728, Catholics voted in House of Commons elections and held seats in the Lords. For no particular reason (beyond a general pressure for Catholics to conform), they were barred from voting in the election for the first parliament in the reign of George II

George II of Great Britain

George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...

. Privileges were also mostly limited to supporters of the Church of Ireland

Church of Ireland

The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...

. Protestants who did not recognise the state-supported Church were also discriminated against in law. Non-conformists such as Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Quakers, also had a subservient status in Parliament; after 1707 they could hold seats, but not hold public office. Thus, the new system favoured a new Anglican establishment in Church and State.

By 1728, the remaining nobility was either firmly Protestant or loyal Catholic. The upper classes had dropped most of its Gaelic traditions and adopted the Anglo-French aristocratic values then dominant throughout most of Europe. Much of the old feudal domains of the earlier Anglo-Irish and Gaelic-Irish magnates had been broken up and given to Irish loyalists soldiers, and English and Scottish Protestant colonial settlers. Long under the control of de jure power of magnates, the far larger peasant population had nonetheless under the relatively anarchic and sectarian conditions established a relative independence. Now, the nobility and newly established loyalist gentry could exercise their rights and privileges with more vigour. Much like England, Wales, and Scotland, the franchise was always limited to the property owning classes which favoured the landed gentry

Landed gentry

Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....

.

The Irish Parliament was left incapable of protecting Irish economic and trade interests from being subordinated to English ones, at a time of English commercial expansion. This in turn severely weakened the economic potential of the whole of Ireland and placed the new and largely Protestant middle-class at a disadvantage. The result was a slow but continual exodus of Anglo-Irish, Scots-Irish, and Protestant Irish families and communities to the colonies, principally in North America. Ironically, the very efforts to establish Anglicans as the primacy in Ireland, slowly subverted the general cause of the Protestant Irish which had been the objective of successive Irish and British Parliaments.

The Anglo-Irish Parliament did assert its independence from London several times however. In the early 18th century it successfully lobbied for Parliament to be called every two years (as opposed to the start of each new reign) and shortly thereafter, it declared itself to be in session permanently, mirroring developments in the English Parliament. As the effects on the general prosperity of the Kingdom by submitting the Irish Parliament to review of the British Parliament became apparent, the Irish Parliament slowly asserted itself, and from the 1770s the Irish Patriot Party

Irish Patriot Party

The Irish Patriot Party was the name of a number of different political groupings in Ireland throughout the 18th century. They were primarily supportive of Whig concepts of personal liberty combined with an Irish identity that rejected full independence, but advocated strong self-government within...

began agitating for greater powers relative to the English Parliament. Additionally, later ministries moved to change the Navigation Acts

Navigation Acts

The English Navigation Acts were a series of laws that restricted the use of foreign shipping for trade between England and its colonies, a process which had started in 1651. Their goal was to force colonial development into lines favorable to England, and stop direct colonial trade with the...

that had limited Irish merchants' terms of trade with Britain and its empire.

Powers

After 1707, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

was, to varying degrees, subordinate to the Kingdom of Great Britain

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

. The Parliament of Ireland only had control over legislation, while the executive branch of government, under the Lord Lieutenant

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the British King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

, answered to the British government in London. Furthermore, the Penal Laws meant that Catholics

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, who constituted the majority of Irish people, were not permitted to sit in, or participate in, elections to the parliament. Meanwhile, building upon the precedent of Poynings' Law which made the Irish legislature subordinate to the Parliament of Great Britain

Parliament of Great Britain

The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...

, the Dependency of Ireland on Great Britain Act 1719

Dependency of Ireland on Great Britain Act 1719

The Dependency of Ireland on Great Britain Act 1719 was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1719 ....

forbade the Irish parliament from discussing any bill without the British legislature's prior approval.

The effects of this subordination of Irish Parliamentary power soon became evident, as Ireland slowly stagnated economically and the Protestant population shrank in relative size. Additionally, the growing relative wealth of the American colonies

Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...

, whose local authorities were surprisingly independent of the British Parliament, provided additional ammunition for those who wished to increase Irish Parliamentary power. When the British governments started centralising trade, taxation and judicial review throughout the Empire, the Irish Parliament saw a surprising ally in the American colonies, who were growing increasingly resistant to the British government's objectives. When open rebellion broke out in the American colonies in 1775, the Irish Parliament passed several initiatives which showed support for the American grievances.

Fearing another split by Ireland, as rebellion spread through the American colonies and various European powers joined in a global assault on British interests, the British Parliament became more acquiescent to Irish demands. In 1782, following agitation by major parliamentary figures, most notably Henry Grattan

Henry Grattan

Henry Grattan was an Irish politician and member of the Irish House of Commons and a campaigner for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century. He opposed the Act of Union 1800 that merged the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain.-Early life:Grattan was born at...

, supported by the Patriot movement

Irish Patriot Party

, the Irish parliament's authority was greatly increased. Under what became known as the Constitution of 1782

Constitution of 1782

The Constitution of 1782 is a collective term given to a series of legal changes which freed the Parliament of Ireland, a Medieval parliament consisting of the Irish House of Commons and the Irish House of Lords, of legal restrictions that had been imposed by successive Norman, English, and later,...

the restrictions imposed by Poyning's Law were removed by the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782

Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782

The Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782 was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Great Britain passed on 17 April 1782. As suggested by the title, it served to repeal the entirety of the Dependency of Ireland on Great Britain Act 1719. It was itself repealed by the...

. Grattan also wanted Catholic involvement in Irish politics; in 1793 the parliament copied the British Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791

Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791

The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1791 relieving Roman Catholics of certain political, educational, and economic disabilities. It admitted Roman Catholics to the practise of law, permitted the exercise of their religion, and the existence of...

, and Catholics were given back the right to cast votes in elections to the parliament, although they were still debarred from membership and state offices.

Organization

The House of Lords was presided over by the Lord Chancellor, who sat on the woolsack

Woolsack

The Woolsack is the seat of the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords, the Upper House of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From the Middle Ages until 2006, the presiding officer in the House of Lords was the Lord Chancellor and the Woolsack was usually mentioned in association with the office of...

, a large seat stuffed with wool from each of the three lands of England, Ireland and Scotland. In the Commons, business was presided over by the Speaker who, in the absence of a government chosen from and answerable to the Commons, was the dominant political figure in the parliament. Speaker Conolly

William Conolly

William Conolly , also known as Speaker Conolly, was an Irish politician, Commissioner of Revenue, lawyer and landowner.-Career:...

remains today one of the most widely known figures produced by the Irish parliament.

Much of the public ceremonial in the Irish parliament mirrored that of the British Parliament. Sessions were formally opened by the Speech from the Throne

Speech from the Throne

A speech from the throne is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign reads a prepared speech to a complete session of parliament, outlining the government's agenda for the coming session...

by the Lord Lieutenant, who, it was written "used to sit, surrounded by more splendour than His Majesty on the throne of England". The Lord Lieutenant, when he sat on the throne, sat beneath a canopy of crimson velvet. At the state opening, MPs were summoned to the House of Lords from the House of Commons chamber by Black Rod

Black Rod

The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, generally shortened to just Black Rod, is an official in the parliaments of several Commonwealth countries. The position originates in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

, a royal official who would "command the members on behalf of His Excellency to attend him in the chamber of peers".

Sessions of Parliament drew many of the wealthiest of Ireland's Anglo-Irish elite to Dublin, particularly as sessions often coincided with the social season, (January to 17 March) when the Lord Lieutenant presided in state over state balls and drawing rooms in the Viceregal Apartments in Dublin Castle. Leading peers in particular flocked to Dublin, where they lived in enormous and richly decorated mansions initially on the northside of Dublin, later in new Georgian residences around Merrion Square

Merrion Square

Merrion Square is a Georgian square on the southside of Dublin city centre. It was laid out after 1762 and was largely complete by the beginning of the 19th century. It is considered one of the city's finest surviving squares...

and Fitzwilliam Square

Fitzwilliam Square

Fitzwilliam Square is a small but historic Georgian square in the south of central Dublin, Ireland. It was the last of the five Georgian squares in Dublin to be built....

. Their presence in Dublin, along with large numbers of servants, provided a regular boost to the city economy.

The Parliament's records were published from the 1750s and provide a huge wealth of commentary and statistics on the reality of running Ireland at the time. In particular, minute details on Ireland's increasing overseas trade and reports from various specialist committees are recorded. By the 1780s they were published by two rival businesses, King & Bradley and Grierson.

The Act of Union and abolition

In 1801, the Parliament of Ireland was abolished entirely, when the Act of Union

Act of Union 1800

The Acts of Union 1800 describe two complementary Acts, namely:* the Union with Ireland Act 1800 , an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, and...

created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

and merged the British and Irish legislatures into a single Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

.

The idea of a political union between Ireland and Great Britain had been proposed several times throughout the 18th century, but was vehemently oppossed in Ireland. The granting of legislative independence to Ireland in 1782, was thought to have ended hopes of a union. Relations between the two parliaments became strained in 1789 during the illness of King George III, when the Irish parliament invited the Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...

to become the Regent of Ireland, before Westminster had been able to make its own decision on the matter. The Irish Rebellion of 1798

Irish Rebellion of 1798

The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...

saw a French expedition landing in Killala, causing alarm that Ireland could be used as a base for attacks on Britain, resurrecting the idea of political union between Ireland and Great Britain. The British Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger

William Pitt the Younger

William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...

had the strong support of King George III for a union, with the king advising himt on 13 July 1798 that the rebellion should be used "for frightening the supporters of the Castle into a Union". The Protestant Ascendancy was also seen as being unequal in the task of governing Ireland, and that such a "corrupt, dangerous and inefficient system" had to be done away with.

In June 1798, Lord Cornwallis, was appointed Viceroy of Ireland, with his main task to be securing support in Ireland for a union. Cornwallis would report that "The mass of the people of Ireland do not care one farthing about the Union".

For the idea to succeed, Pitt knew that he needed large scale public support in Ireland for the idea from both Protestants and Catholics, and as such Catholic Emancipation

Catholic Emancipation

Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws...

would need to be delievered along with the union. Catholic Emancipation alone he knew would be enough to secure the stability of Ireland. The Catholic middle classes and the Catholic hierarchy, led by John Thomas Troy, the Archbishop of Dublin, were willing to support the union if Catholic Emancipation did indeed follow. Only a group of Catholic barristers, most notably Daniel O'Connell

Daniel O'Connell

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847; often referred to as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century...

, oppossed the idea of union.

For Protestants, the Presbyterians, who were largely involved in the rebellion of 1798 would shed no tears over the end of the Irish parliament. The Orange Order tried to be neutral on the issue of union, however thirty-six lodges from counties Armagh and Louth alone petitioned against the Union. The fear for some Protestants, especially those part of the Protestant Ascendancy, was that Catholic emancipation would immediately follow any union. The artisans and merchants of Dublin also feared any union as it may have resulted in a loss of business.

When William Pitt's idea of union and emancipation was revealed to the cabinet of the Irish parliament, the Speaker and Chancellor of the Exchequer both vehemently opposed it. The rest of the cabinet supported the idea however were split on the issue of Catholic Emancipation, resulting in it being dropped from the proposals. Cornwallis observed: "I certainly wish that England could now make a union with the Irish nation, instead of making it with a party in Ireland".

Any union between Ireland and Great Britain would have to be in the form of a treaty in all but name, meaning that any act of union would need to be passed separately in both the Dublin and Westminster parliaments. There was strong support for it in Westminster, however Dublin however was not as keen.

An amendment was moved on 22 January 1799, seeking the House to maintain "the undoubted birthright of the people of Ireland to have a free and independent legislature". The debate which followed consisted of eighty speeches, made over the course of twenty-one uninterrupted hours. The next day a vote was held which resulted in a defeat of the amendment by one vote (106 to 105), however the following day another motion against any union passed 111 to 106.

Following these votes, Lord Castlereagh and Lord Cornwallis set about trying to win over as many Irish MPs as possible through bribery consisting of jobs, pensions, peerages, promotions, along with other enticements, however all legal and just about within the conventions of the time. They also spent over £1,250,000 buying the support of those who held the seats of boroughs and counties.

When parliament reopened on 15 January 1800, high levels of passion running throughout it saw angry speeches being delivered by proponents on both sides. Henry Grattan, who had helped secure the Irish parliament's legislative independence in 1782, bought Wicklow borough at midnight for £1,200, and after dressing in his old Volunteer

Irish Volunteers (18th century)

The Irish Volunteers were a militia in late 18th century Ireland. The Volunteers were founded in Belfast in 1778 to defend Ireland from the threat of foreign invasion when regular British soldiers were withdrawn from Ireland to fight across the globe during the American War of Independence...

uniform, arrived at the House of Commons of the Irish parliament at 7 a.m., after which he gave a two hour speech against the union. Regardless, a motion against the union failed by 138 votes to 96, and resolutions in favour of the union were passed with large majorities in both chambers of parliament.

The terms of the union were agreed on 28 March 1800 by both houses of the Irish Parliament. Identical bills were proposed in both the British and Irish parliaments, with the British Act of Union becoming law on 2 July 1800, and royal assent given to the Irish Act of Union on 1 August 1800. The Irish Parliament met for the last time the following day. On 1 January 1801, the Act of Union came into force.

Middle Ages

Kingdom of Ireland

1660 to 1800

Powers

Organization

The Act of Union and abolition

See also

Notations

External reference