Confederate Ireland
Despite the proximity of Dublin, the centre of English rule in Ireland, the Ó Tuathail's maintained a fierce independence, and were a source of great fear to the inhabitants of Dublin and the Pale for almost four centuries. With their kinsmen the O'Byrne family, they were noted for their tough resistance to English domination, including exercising great influence over the foundation of the Confederation of Kilkenny in 1642 in what had become Confederate Ireland.