The Acts of Union 1800 were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The acts came into force on 1 January 1801, and the merged Parliament of the United Kingdom had its first meeting on 22 January 1801.
The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the Home Rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore order during The Troubles, resulting in the introduction of Direct Rule. It was abolished under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.
The Parliament of Ireland was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chambers: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Lords were members of the Irish peerage and bishops. The Commons was directly elected, albeit on a very restricted franchise. Parliaments met at various places in Leinster and Munster, but latterly always in Dublin: in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin Castle, Chichester House (1661–1727), the Blue Coat School (1729–31), and finally a purpose-built Parliament House on College Green.
Armagh or County Armagh was a parliamentary constituency in the House of Commons. It was replaced in boundary changes in 1983.
In Ireland, direct elections by universal suffrage are used for the President, the ceremonial head of state; for Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas or parliament; for the European Parliament; and for local government. All elections use the proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) in constituencies returning three or more members, except that the presidential election and by-elections use the single-winner analogue of STV, elsewhere called instant-runoff voting or the alternative vote. Members of Seanad Éireann, the second house of the Oireachtas, are partly nominated, partly indirectly elected, and partly elected by graduates of particular universities.
The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, passed by Parliament in 1829, was the culmination of the process of Catholic Emancipation throughout the United Kingdom. In Ireland it repealed the Test Act 1672 and the remaining Penal Laws which had been in force since the passing of the Disenfranchising Act of the Irish Parliament of 1728. Its passage followed a vigorous campaign that threatened insurrection led by Irish lawyer Daniel O'Connell. The British leaders, starting with the Prime Minister the Duke of Wellington and his top aide Robert Peel, although personally opposed, gave in to avoid civil strife. Ireland was quiet after the passage.
In the United Kingdom, a Member of Parliament (MP) is an individual elected to serve in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Alan Brodrick, 1st Viscount Midleton, PC (Ire) was a leading Irish lawyer and politician who sat in the Parliament of Ireland between 1692 to 1715 and in the British House of Commons from 1717 to 1728. He was Speaker of the Irish House of Commons and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Although he was a man of great gifts, he was so hot-tempered that even Jonathan Swift is said to have been afraid of him.
Bristol was a two-member constituency, used to elect members to the House of Commons in the Parliaments of England, Great Britain (1707–1800) and the United Kingdom. The constituency existed until Bristol was divided into single member constituencies in 1885.
The Representation of the People (Ireland) Act, 1832, commonly called the Irish Reform Act 1832, was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the election laws of Ireland. The act was passed at approximately the same time as the Reform Act 1832, which applied to England and Wales. The chief architects of the act were Francis Jeffrey and Henry Cockburn.
Events from the year 1728 in Ireland.
Dáil Éireann is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas, which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann. It consists of 160 members, known as Teachta Dála. TDs represent 39 constituencies and are directly elected at least once every five years, by the single transferable vote (STV) form of proportional representation. Its powers are similar to those of lower houses under many other bicameral parliamentary systems and it is by far the dominant branch of the Oireachtas. Subject to the limits imposed by the Constitution of Ireland, it has power to pass any law it wishes, and to nominate and remove the Taoiseach. Since 1922, it has met in Leinster House in Dublin.
Montague Garrard Drake (1692–1728), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire was a British Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1713 and 1728.
William Bowles, of Burford, Worcestershire, was an English glass manufacturer and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons for more than 20 years from 1727 to 1748.
The basic law of the electoral franchise in the Republic of Ireland is Article 16 of the Constitution of Ireland, which states who can vote for Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas or parliament. Irish citizens who are Dáil electors have the right to vote in all other elections, though not conversely.
Sir William Corbet, 5th Baronet (1702–1748), of Stoke, Shropshire was a British merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1728 to 1748.
Thomas Smith, of South Tidworth, Hampshire, was a British landowner and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1709 and 1728.
Thomas Medlycott (1662–1738), of Binfield, Berkshire, and Dublin, Ireland, was a British lawyer who was an Irish attorney general and later Commissioner of Revenue and Excise for Ireland. He was first a Tory and later a Whig politician who sat in the Parliament of Ireland from 1692 to 1738, and in the English House of Commons and British House of Commons between 1705 and 1734.
John Hamilton of Holmpatrick, country Dublin was an Anglo-Irish politician who sat in the Irish House of Commons from 1725 to 1757 and in the British House of Commons from 1728 to 1734.
