The Parliamentary Tradition in Irish Politics

• Parliamentary tradition: Persuade Britian to let Ireland have its own parliament by peaceful means
• Daniel O'Connel was a leader in the Irish parliamentary tradition in the first half of the 1800s.
• After the failure of the 1798 rebellion O'Connell didn't believe in violence to achieve independence
• O'Connel wanted to achieve Catholic Emancipation which was equal rights for catholics. In 1823 he founded the Catholic Association and organised Catholic rent (a fee of 1 penny per month all Catholics had to pay)
• When O'Connell got elected as MP for Clare in 1828, he forced the British government to pass the Catholic Relief Act
• The Catholic Relief Act allowed Catholics to speak about Catholic issues in Parliament.
• O'Connell became known as the liberator after he achieved Catholic emancipation.
• After achieving Catholic Emancipation, O'Connell wanted to repeal the act of union so a parliament would be set up in Dublin


  To do this he set up the Repeal Association with Repeal rent. He aimed to have the act repealed in 1843.
• O'Connell held monster meetings of nationalists to show Britian the popularity of repealing the act


  He cancelled a monster meeting in clontarf as he was afraid it would turn violent. He died shortly afterward.
• Charles Stewart Parnell was elected MP for the Home Rule Party. 


  He supported parliamentary obstruction which meant having long speeches in Westminster until the British MPs agreed to deal with home rule
• Parnell was elected president of the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britian in 1877. 


  Parnell became involved in the land campaign and set up the Land League with Michael Davitt.
• Parnell and Davitt aimed to make rents fairer for irish tenants. 


  They had a huge success when the British Prime Minister William Gladstone introduced the land act in 1881.
• The land act gave irish tenants fairer rents however when Parnell asked irish tenants to test it in court he was thrown in jail


  He was released from jail after 6 months.
• While Parnell was in jail he negotiated the Kilmainham Treaty with Gladstone.


  It promised to improve the land act and stop violence in Ireland
• The home rule party held the balance of power in Westminster after elections in 1885.


  Parnell cbose to support the Liberal Party as they promised to give Ireland home rule.
• In 1890, Parnell was discovered having an affair with Katherine O'Shea who was married to another man.


  This was a high scandal in Ireland
• After Parnells affair was discovered, the Liberal Party said it could not give the Irish home rule if he remained as a leader of the home rule party.