Irish House of Commons | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Established | 1297 |
| Disbanded | 1 January 1801 |
| Succeeded by | House of Commons of the United Kingdom |
| Leadership | |
John Foster (1785–1800) | |
| Seats | 300[a] |
| Elections | |
| Plurality block voting with limited suffrage | |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| The Irish House of Commons (byFrancis Wheatley, 1780) | |
| Footnotes | |
| |
TheIrish House of Commons (Irish:Teach na gComóntach, Teach na dTeachtaí) was thelower house of theParliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was theHouse of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive franchise, similar to theunreformed 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 theDublin Castle administration, under theLord Lieutenant of Ireland, was not answerable to the House of Commons but to the British government. However, theChief Secretary for Ireland was usually a member of the Irish parliament. In the Commons, business was presided over by theSpeaker.
From 1 January 1801, it ceased to exist and was succeeded by theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom.
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The limited franchise was exclusively male; from 1728 until 1793, Catholics weredisfranchised, as well as being ineligible to sit in the Commons. Most of the population of all religions had no vote. Incounties,forty-shilling freeholders were enfranchised while in mostboroughs it was either only the members of self-electingcorporations or a highly restricted body offreemen that were eligible to vote for the borough's representatives. The vast majority of parliamentary boroughs werepocket boroughs, theprivate property of an aristocratic patron.
The House of Commons was abolished under theActs of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Ireland into theKingdom of Great Britain to form theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with effect from 1 January 1801. The Irish House of Commons sat for the last time inParliament House, Dublin on 2 August 1800. One hundred of its members weredesignated or co-opted to sit with theHouse of Commons of Great Britain, forming theHouse 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.[1]
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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 wasJohn Foster.
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 byplurality block voting; an elector could vote for one or two of the candidates, with the two receiving most votes being returned. The constituencies had different franchises as follows:[2]
Following the Act of Union, from 1801, there were 100 MPs from Ireland in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. TheIrish constituencies at Westminster were a subset of those in the Irish House of Commons as follows:
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Until 1793 members could not resign their seats. They could cease to be a member of the House in one of four ways:
In 1793 a means for resignation was created, equivalent to the Crown Steward and Bailiff of theChiltern Hundreds or theManor of Northstead as a means ofresignation from the British House of Commons. From that date, Irish members could be appointed to theEscheatorship of Munster, theEscheatorship of Leinster, theEscheatorship of Connaught or the Escheatorship of Ulster. Possession of one of these Crown offices, "office of profit underthe Crown" with a 30-shilling salary, terminated one's membership of the House of Commons.
