Parliamentary tradition

• • Parliamentary tradition refers to achieving political change through peaceful political means.
  • In Ireland, Catholic emancipation and the Home Rule movement followed this tradition, unlike the 1798 Rebellion and the 1916 Easter Rising, which belonged to the physical force tradition.
• Ireland After the Act of Union (1801)

  • The Act of Union (1801) ended the Irish parliament in Dublin, establishing Dublin Castle as the base for the government of Ireland, led by the Chief Secretary, a British politician, and the Lord Lieutenant, who represented the British Crown in Ireland.
• • The Catholic Question became a significant issue. The British government had promised to abolish the remaining Penal Laws and grant full Catholic emancipation (allowing Catholics to sit in parliament) after the Act of Union.
  • A wealthy, well-educated Catholic middle class emerged, including large farmers, professionals, and merchants, who campaigned for change.
• Daniel O’Connell (1775 – 1847)

  • Born in , Co. Kerry,Ireland to a wealthy Catholic middle-class family, Daniel O’Connell studied law in France due to restrictions on Catholics in Ireland.
  • Witnessing the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, he developed a lifelong hatred of political violence.
  • O’Connell supported the United Irishmen's aims but rejected their use of violence. After the Act of Union, Ireland sent 100 MPs to the House of Commons in Westminster, but Catholics couldn't become MPs due to the required oath recognizing the King of England as the head of the Church.
• The Fight for Catholic Emancipation

  • O’Connell founded the Catholic Board in 1811 and later the Catholic Association in 1823, which campaigned for Catholic emancipation, ending tithe payments, and tenant farmers' rights. The membership fee was called ‘Catholic Rent’.
  • In 1828, O’Connell won the Clare seat for election to Westminster but refused to take the parliamentary oath. In 1829, the British Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, passed the Emancipation Act, allowing O’Connell to take his seat.
  • O’Connell became known as ‘the Liberator’ due to the Emancipation Act.
• • In 1830, O’Connell set up the Repeal Association to campaign for the repeal of the Act of Union and the restoration of the Irish parliament.
  • In 1838, he succeeded in lowering the cost of tithe payments, redirecting them to landlords instead of the Church of Ireland.
  • In 1841, O’Connell was elected as the first Catholic Lord Mayor of Dublin.
• He organized over 50 ‘monster meetings’, massive rallies with over 100,000 people. The British government, fearing a rebellion, banned the rally at Clontarf in 1843. O’Connell canceled it to prevent violence, causing a split in the Repeal Movement and leading to the formation of the Young Irelanders, who later rebelled in 1848.
• Death and Legacy

  • In 1847, during the Great Famine, O’Connell pleaded for help in the Westminster parliament. He died later that year on a pilgrimage to Rome, asking for his heart to be buried in Rome and his body in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.
  • O’Connell influenced future Irish leaders like Charles Stewart Parnell, John Redmond, and John Hume, and activists like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.