TheIrish poor laws were a series of acts of Parliament intended to address social instability due to widespread and persistent poverty in Ireland. While some legislation had been introduced by the pre-UnionParliament of Ireland prior to theAct of Union, the most radical and comprehensive attempt was thePoor Relief (Ireland) Act 1838 (1 & 2 Vict. c. 56), closely modelled on the EnglishPoor Law Amendment Act 1834. In England, this replaced Elizabethan era legislation which had no equivalent in Ireland.
In 1703, the Irish Parliament passed an act, 2 Anne c. 19 (I), for "Providing the erection of a workhouse and for the maintenance and apprenticing out of foundling children" establishing theHouse of Industry in Dublin.
By 1771, there were Houses of Industry in every county and by 1833, the total cost was £32,967.[1]
Until 1838, the use of 'Houses of industry' was on a much smaller scale than in England and Wales.[2]
The report of theRoyal Commission on the Poorer Classes in Ireland 1833 led to thePoor Relief (Ireland) Act 1838 (1 & 2 Vict. c. 56), under which three "poor law commissioners" divided Ireland intopoor law unions, in which paupers would receivepoor relief (eitherworkhouse oroutdoor relief) paid for by apoor rate based on a "poor lawvaluation".[3][4] The name "union" was retained from the English "union of parishes" model although the Irish union boundaries diverged greatly from those of thecivil parishes. A union was named after the town on which it was centred, where itsworkhouse was located. Unions were defined as groups ofpoor law electoral divisions, in turn defined as groups oftownlands. Electoral divisions returned members to theboard of guardians, with voters who paid higher rates havingmore votes.[5][6] During and after theGreat Famine, boundaries in the impoverished west were redrawn to create more and smaller union for easier administration. When the IrishGeneral Register Office was established in 1864, each union became a superintendent registrar's district, with groups of electoral divisions forming adispensary or registrar's district.[7][8] TheLocal Government (Ireland) Act 1898 dividedadministrative counties intourban and rural districts, with eachrural district corresponding to the non-urban portion of a poor law union within the county.
During theGreat Famine,workhouses became so overwhelmed that large numbers of paupers were assisted to emigrate. This had the effect of permitting more to enter the workhouse in the hope of escaping starvation and disease. In response, Guardian-assisted emigration was reserved only for those who had receivedindoor relief for over two years.[9]
Following thePartition of Ireland, in the independentIrish Free State, poor law unions and rural districts were abolished in 1925 and the powers of boards of guardians transferred to the county councils' County Boards of Health or County Boards of Public Assistance.[2][10]
InNorthern Ireland, poor law unions survived until theNorthern Ireland Health and Social Care Service in 1948.[7]
Kely, G O, Donnell, A Kennedy, P Quin, S Irish Social Policy In Context:(1999) Dublin University College Dublin Press
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 *Map of Poor Law Unions 1842–49 |
Poor laws of the British Isles | ||
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| Poor laws by territory |  Nantwich workhouse | |
| Old Poor Law | ||
| Relief systems | ||
| New Poor Law | ||
| Changes after 1834 | ||
| Decline and abolition | ||
| Other | ||