# Irish House of Commons

The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive franchise, similar to the unreformed House of Commons in contemporary Great Britain. Catholics were disqualified from sitting in the Irish parliament from 1691, even though they comprised the vast majority of the Irish population.
The Irish executive, known as the Dublin Castle administration, under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was not answerable to the House of Commons but to the British government. However, the Chief Secretary for Ireland was usually a member of the Irish parliament. In the Commons, business was presided over by the Speaker.
From 1 January 1801, it ceased to exist and was succeeded by the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

## Franchise

The limited franchise was exclusively male. From 1728 until 1793, Catholics were disfranchised, as well as being ineligible to sit in the Commons. Most of the population of all religions had no vote. In counties, forty-shilling freeholders were enfranchised while in most boroughs it was either only the members of self-electing corporations or a highly restricted body of freemen that were eligible to vote for the borough's representatives. The vast majority of parliamentary boroughs were pocket boroughs, the private property of an aristocratic patron.

## Abolition

The House of Commons was abolished under the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Ireland into the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with effect from 1 January 1801. The Irish House of Commons sat for the last time in Parliament House, Dublin on 2 August 1800. One hundred of its members were designated or co-opted to sit with the House of Commons of Great Britain, forming the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The patron of pocket boroughs that were disfranchised under the Act of Union was awarded £15,000 compensation for each.

## Speaker of the Commons

The Speaker of the Irish House of Commons was the presiding officer of the House and its most senior official. The position was one of considerable power and prestige, and in the absence of a government chosen from and answerable to the Commons, he was the dominant political figure in the Parliament. The last Speaker was John Foster.

## Constituencies

The number of boroughs invited to return members had originally been small (only 55 Boroughs existed in 1603) but was doubled by the Stuart monarchs. By the time of the Union, there were 150 constituencies, each electing two members:
* 32 county constituencies;
* 8 county borough constituencies;
* 109 borough constituencies;
* 1 university constituency (Dublin University).
Following the Act of Union, from 1801, there were 100 MPs from Ireland in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The constituencies were adapted from those in the Irish House of Commons as follows:
* 32 county constituencies, with two MPs each;
* 2 county borough constituencies, Cork City and Dublin City, both with two MPs;
* 31 county borough and borough constituencies, with one MP each;
* 1 university constituency, with one MP.
| Constituency | Type | County | Creation | Franchise | Fate after the union |
| County Antrim | County | Antrim | 1570 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Antrim | Borough | Antrim | 1666 | Potwalloper | Disfranchised |
| Ardee | Borough | Louth | 1378 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Ardfert | Borough | Kerry | 1639? | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Ards | County | Down | By 1560 | | Previously disfranchised |
| County Armagh | County | Armagh | 1585 (September) | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Armagh | Borough | Armagh | 1613 (26 March) | Ecclesiastical corporation - Bishop's borough | One seat |
| Askeaton | Borough | Limerick | 1613 (30 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Athboy | Borough | Meath | By 1560 | Manor | Disfranchised |
| Athenry | Borough | Galway | 1310? | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Athlone | Borough | Westmeath | 1606 (10 December) | Corporation | One seat |
| Athy | Borough | Kildare | By 1560 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Augher | Borough | Tyrone | 1613 (15 April) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Ballynakill | Borough | Queen's County | 1612 (10 December) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Ballyshannon | Borough | Donegal | 1613 (23 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Baltimore | Borough | Cork | 1613 (25 March) | Potwalloper | Disfranchised |
| Baltinglass | Borough | Wicklow | 1664 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Banagher | Borough | King's County | 1629 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Bandonbridge | Borough | Cork | 1613 (30 March) | Corporation | One seat |
| Bangor | Borough | Down | 1613 (18 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Bannow | Borough | Wexford | Between 1614 and 1634 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Belfast | Borough | Antrim | 1613 (27 April) | Corporation | One seat |
| Belturbet | Borough | Cavan | 1613 (30 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Blessington | Borough | Wicklow | 1670 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Boyle | Borough | Roscommon | 1613 (25 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Callan | Borough | Kilkenny | By 1585 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Carlingford | Borough | Louth | 13? | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Carlow | County | Carlow | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Carlow | Borough | Carlow | 1613 (19 April) | Corporation | One seat |
| Carrick | Borough | Leitrim | 1613 (30 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Carrickfergus | County borough | Antrim | 1326 | Freeholder and householder | One seat |
| Carysfort | Borough | Wicklow | 1629 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Cashel | Borough | Tipperary | By 1585 | Corporation | One seat |
| Castlebar | Borough | Mayo | 1613 (26 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Castlemartyr | Borough | Cork | 1676 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Cavan | County | Cavan | 1579 or 1584 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Cavan | Borough | Cavan | 1610 (15 November) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Charlemont | Borough | Armagh | 1613 (29 April) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Charleville | Borough | Cork | 1673 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Clare | County | Clare | By 1376 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Clogher | Borough | Tyrone | By 1613 | Ecclesiastical corporation - Bishop's borough | Disfranchised |
| Clonakilty | Borough | Cork | 1613 (5 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Clonmel | Borough | Tipperary | By 1560 | Corporation | One seat |
| Clonmines | Borough | Wexford | Between 1614 and 1634 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Coleraine | County | Londonderry | 1585 (September) | Freeholders | Previously disfranchised |
| Coleraine | Borough | Londonderry | 1613 (25 March) | Corporation | One seat |
| Connacht | County | Multiple | 1297 | | Previously disfranchised |
| County Cork | County | Cork | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Cork City | County borough | Cork | 1299 | Freeholder and Freemen | Two seats |
| Dingle | Borough | Kerry | By 1585 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Donegal | County | Donegal | 1585 (September) | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Donegal Borough | Borough | Donegal | 1613 (27 February) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Doneraile | Borough | Cork | 1640 | Manor | Disfranchised |
| County Down | County | Down | 1570 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Downpatrick | Borough | Down | By 1585 | Potwalloper | One seat |
| Drogheda | County borough | Louth | 1299 | Freeholders and freemen | One seat |
| County Dublin | County | Dublin | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Dublin City | County borough | Dublin | 1299 | Freeholders and freemen | Two seats |
| Dublin University | University | Dublin | 1613 | Graduates | One seat |
| Duleek | Borough | Meath | Between 1614 and 1661 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Dundalk | Borough | Louth | By 1560 | Corporation | One seat |
| Dungannon | Borough | Tyrone | 1612 (27 November) | Corporation | One seat |
| Dungarvan | Borough | Waterford | By 1560 | Potwalloper | One seat |
| Dunleer | Borough | Louth | 1679 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Ennis | Borough | Clare | 1613 (27 February) | Corporation | One seat |
| Enniscorthy | Borough | Wexford | 1613 (25 May) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Enniskillen | Borough | Fermanagh | 1613 (27 February) | Corporation | One seat |
| County Fermanagh | County | Fermanagh | 1585 (September) | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Ferns | County | Wexford | By 1579 | Freeholders | Previously disfranchised |
| Fethard | Borough | Tipperary | By 1560 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Fethard | Borough | Wexford | 1613 (15 April) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Fore | Borough | Westmeath | Between 1614 and 1634 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Galway | County | Galway | By 1579 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Galway Borough | County borough | Galway | By 1400 | Freemen | One seat |
| Gorey (also Newburgh) | Borough | Wexford | 1620 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Gowran | Borough | Kilkenny | 1608 (15 September) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Granard | Borough | Longford | 1679 | Manor | Disfranchised |
| Harristown | Borough | Kildare | 1684 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Hillsborough | Borough | Down | 1662 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Inistioge | Borough | Kilkenny | By 1585 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Jamestown | Borough | Leitrim | 1622 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Kells | Borough | Meath | By 1560 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Kerry | County | Kerry | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Kilbeggan | Borough | Westmeath | 1613 (27 February) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Kildare | County | Kildare | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Kildare | Borough | Kildare | By 1560 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Kilkenny City | County borough | Kilkenny | 1299? | Freeholders and Freemen | One seat |
| County Kilkenny | County | Kilkenny | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Killybegs | Borough | Donegal | 1616 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Killyleagh | Borough | Down | 1613 (10 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Kilmallock | Borough | Limerick | By 1560 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| King's County | County | King's County | 1556 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Kinsale | Borough | Cork | 1334? | Corporation and Freemen | One seat |
| Knocktopher | Borough | Kilkenny | 1665 | Potwalloper | Disfranchised |
| Lanesborough | Borough | Longford | 1642 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Leitrim | County | Leitrim | 1583 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Lifford | Borough | Donegal | 1613 (27 February) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Limerick | County | Limerick | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Limerick City | County borough | Limerick | 1299 | Freeholders and Freemen | One seat |
| Lisburn | Borough | Antrim | 1661 | Potwalloper | One seat |
| Lismore | Borough | Waterford | 1613 (6 May) | Manor | Disfranchised |
| County Londonderry | County | Londonderry | 1613 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Londonderry City | Borough | Londonderry | 1613 (29 March) | Corporation | One seat |
| County Longford | County | Longford | 1571 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Longford | Borough | Longford | 1669 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Louth | County | Louth | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Mallow | Borough | Cork | 1613 (27 February) | Manor | One seat |
| Maryborough | Borough | Queen's County | 1571 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Mayo | County | Mayo | By 1579 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| County Meath | County | Meath | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Midleton | Borough | Cork | 1671 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Monaghan | County | Monaghan | 1585 (September) | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Monaghan | Borough | Monaghan | 1613 (26 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Mullingar | Borough | Westmeath | By 1560 | Manor | Disfranchised |
| Naas | Borough | Kildare | By 1560 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Navan | Borough | Meath | 1469 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| New Ross | Borough | Wexford | By 1400 | Corporation | One seat |
| Newcastle | Borough | Dublin | 1613 (30 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Newry | Borough | Down | 1613 (27 February) | Potwalloper | One seat |
| Newtown Limavady | Borough | Londonderry | 1613 (30 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Newtownards | Borough | Down | 1613 (25 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Old Leighlin | Borough | Carlow | Between 1614 and 1634 | Ecclesiastical corporation - Bishop's borough | Disfranchised |
| Philipstown | Borough | King's County | 1571 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Portarlington | Borough | Queen's County | 1668 | Corporation | One seat |
| Queen's County | County | Queen's County | 1556 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Randalstown | Borough | Antrim | 1683 | Freeman / Potwalloper | Disfranchised |
| Rathcormack | Borough | Cork | Between 1614 and 1692 | Potwalloper / Manor | Disfranchised |
| Ratoath | Borough | Meath | Between 1614 and 1661 | Manor | Disfranchised |
| County Roscommon | County | Roscommon | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Roscommon | Borough | Roscommon | 1613 (27 February) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| St Canice | Borough | Kilkenny | Between 1614 and 1661 | Ecclesiastical corporation - Bishop's borough | Disfranchised |
| St Johnstown | Borough | Donegal | 1618 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| St Johnstown | Borough | Longford | 1628 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Sligo | County | Sligo | By 1579 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Sligo | Borough | Sligo | 1613 (30 March) | Corporation | One seat |
| Strabane | Borough | Tyrone | 1613 (18 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Swords | Borough | Dublin | By 1585 | Potwalloper | Disfranchised |
| Taghmon | Borough | Wexford | Between 1614 and 1634 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Tallow | Borough | Waterford | 1613 (1 May) | Manor / Potwalloper | Disfranchised |
| Thomastown | Borough | Kilkenny | 1541 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| County Tipperary | County | Tipperary | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Cross Tipperary | County | Tipperary | By 1585 | Freeholders | Previously disfranchised |
| Tralee | Borough | Kerry | 1613 (31 March) | Corporation | One seat |
| Trim | Borough | Meath | By 1560 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Tuam | Borough | Galway | 1613 (30 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Tulsk | Borough | Roscommon | 1663 | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Tyrone | County | Tyrone | 1585 (September) | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Liberty of Ulster | County | Multiple | 1297 | | Previously disfranchised |
| County Waterford | County | Waterford | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Waterford City | County borough | Waterford | 1299 | Freemen and freeholders | One seat |
| County Westmeath | County | Westmeath | 1543 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| County Wexford | County | Wexford | 1297 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Wexford | Borough | Wexford | By 1400 | Freemen | One seat |
| County Wicklow | County | Wicklow | 1577; 1606 | Freeholders | Two seats |
| Wicklow | Borough | Wicklow | 1613 (30 March) | Corporation | Disfranchised |
| Youghal | Borough | Cork | 1374 | Corporation and Freemen | One seat |

### Notes

* ↑ The date of either: the earliest Parliament at which it is known to have received a writ of election or sent representatives; or else: the earliest charter or statute granting representation. Outside the Pale, places enfranchised after the Norman conquest often had long periods unrepresented prior to the Tudor reconquest.
* ↑ The territory of Ards, one of the medieval sheriffdoms of the Earldom of Ulster, was included in the reconstituted County Down in 1570.
* ↑ "Athboy was an ancient borough by prescription with a charter dated 1410, 9 Henry IV. There were further charters of 9 Henry VII and 8 James I all confirming the liberties and privileges of the corporate or free borough."
* ↑ "Athenry was a very old town with writs with grants and charters going back to at least the reign of Edward II. There is one for 14 October 1310 and there are a number for the reign of Richard II in the 1390s."
* ↑ "Bannow was a borough by prescription, and no charter could be found for it in 1800"
* ↑ "Callan was a medieval borough by prescription, with charters and grants from the reigns of Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV."
* ↑ "Carlingford was another ancient borough, with charters going back to the reign of Edward II."
* 1 2 3 4 5 created as a Liberty
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 A separate county corporate.
* ↑ "Cashel was a medieval foundation said to have been established in the year 1216 by Donat, Archbishop of Cashel, and incorporated under his successor, Marianus O'Brien, in 1233. It had various subsequent charters before it emerged in its modern form by a 1585 charter of 26 Eliz. I and a 1638 charter of Charles I."
* ↑ It was represented in the Parliament of 1376
* ↑ "It was probably a borough by prescription confirmed by a 1630 charter, 5 Chas. I ..."
* ↑ "Clonmines, like Bannow, was a borough by prescription, and no charter was available"
* 1 2 The medieval county of Connacht was subdivided in 1570 into the modern counties of Galway and Mayo.
* ↑ Then called Dengenechoyshe.
* ↑ "Downpatrick was recognised as early as the reign of Henry IV, when letters of protection were granted to the inhabitants. No charter of incorporation is extant, but it returned two MPs to the 1586-7 parliament of Elizabeth I"
* ↑ The University was in the county of the city of Dublin. The electorate was its provost, fellows and scholars.
* ↑ "[I]n 1613 [James I] granted the University a further charter enabling it to return two members of parliament."
* ↑ "Duleek was [an] ancient borough with a charter of Edward IV."
* ↑ The area of Ferns, corresponding to the northern part of County Wexford, was briefly made a separate shire between the 1570s before merging back into Wexford in the 1600s.
* ↑ "Fore appears to have been a borough by prescription: the Rolls Office issued a negative certificate to the Commissioners for Union Compensation."
* 1 2 3 It was represented in the parliaments in the late 14th century
* ↑ "Kinsale was a medieval borough. The earliest charter extant is that of 1589, 31 Eliz. I, which refers to a 1334 charter of 7 Edw. III"
* ↑ Previously incorporated as Derry, 11 July 1604.
* ↑ "Rathcormack was ... incorporated by charter, which was produced at the Union. Some boroughs, particularly those incorporated before or during the early years of the seventeenth century ... "
* ↑ "No charter is extant for this borough"
* ↑ In the county of the city of Kilkenny rather than county Kilkenny.
* ↑ "St Canice was a very ancient borough and thought to have been from remote antiquity part of the See of Ossory. In 1606 a patent appears to have been granted by James I, whereby Irishtown was to be a corporation ..., but, the muniments of the temporalities of the Bishops of Ossory having been lost during the troubles, in 1678 Charles II made a new grant of a corporation" "
* ↑ "Swords had the distinction of being the most notorious borough in the Irish Parliament. Its charter was lost. The memorial presented by John Beresford and Francis Synge declared that it was 'an ancient borough by prescription'; another memorial declared that it had been enfranchised from 'time immemorial'. The portreeve, James Stewart, said 'that the said corporation is an open borough by Charter' dated 11 April, 5 James II - i.e. 1690! Most memorialists simply stressed that it was of great antiquity."
* ↑ "Taghmon was a borough by prescription; no charter could be found for it in 1800. It is mentioned in 1642, so it must have existed before then."
* ↑ It did not return members in 1613 and returned two members in 1634.
* ↑ Cross Tipperary last returned MPs in 1634, and was definitively merged with Tipperary in 1716.
* 1 2 The medieval liberty of Ulster was subdivided in 1570 into the modern counties of Antrim and Down.
* ↑ The county of Wicklow created in 1577 seems not to have functioned and ceased to exist some time after 1586

## Means of resignation

Until 1793 members could not resign their seats. They could cease to be a member of the House in one of four ways:
* death,
* expulsion,
* taking Holy Orders, or
* being awarded a peerage and so a seat in the Irish House of Lords.
* Standing down at election to the House.
In 1793 a means for resignation was created, equivalent to the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds or the Manor of Northstead as a means of resignation from the British House of Commons. From that date, Irish members could be appointed to the Escheatorship of Munster, the Escheatorship of Leinster, the Escheatorship of Connaught or the Escheatorship of Ulster. Possession of one of these Crown offices, "office of profit under the Crown" with a 30-shilling salary, terminated one's membership of the House of Commons.

## Notable members

* Henry Grattan: leader of the Irish Patriot Party.
* Boyle Roche: The "father" of Irish bulls
* Hon. Arthur Wellesley: Later became Duke of Wellington, defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, and served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He represented his family borough of Trim from 1790 to 1798.
* William Conolly: Speaker from 1715 to 1729. Conolly was notable not just for his role in parliament but also for his great wealth that allowed him to build one of Ireland's greatest Georgian houses, Castletown House.
* Nathaniel Clements: 1705–77 Government and Treasury Official, Managed extensive financial functions from 1720 to 1777 on behalf of the government, de facto minister for finance 1740–77, extensive property owner and developer. A major influence on the architecture of Georgian Dublin and the Irish Palladian country house.
* John Philpot Curran: Orator and wit, originator of the phrase "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty".