Casino Royale (DVD)

How effectively did Irish Catholics and Nationalist leaders advance their cause in the years 1801-1921?



From the beginning of the Act of union in 1801 to the settling of the Anglo Irish treaty in 1921 there is no doubt that Irish Catholic and Nationalist leaders achieved a great deal for Ireland. From 1801, the Act of union bound Ireland under British Parliamentary control and the Protestant ascendancy remained as the dominant ruling class over the Irish Catholics, who made up nearly 80% of the population. More over, they had few job opportunities and no voting or political rights. Daniel O’Connell became the first Catholic and Nationalist leader to bring about Catholic emancipation, this made possible the emergence of new figures such as Parnell who dealt with the land issue in Ireland, by combating tenants rights he gained strong support for a party that could further Ireland towards independence. However, as many historians would agree, ‘every time the English tried to solve the Irish question, the Irish changed the question’1. The effectiveness of these and other leaders and their campaigns throughout this time can be analysed by expressing their aims and how far they achieved their goals in advancing the Irish cause and most importantly their achievements in light of the context they were working within, and with truly successful leaders, whether they left a long term legacy for future change in Ireland.



Daniel O Connell’s Catholic Association, set up in 1823, cleverly used the power of mass support in order to fuel the campaign for Catholic emancipation and achieve full political and civil rights for Irish Catholics. The effectiveness of this leader in achieving his goal is made clear from the fact ‘he turned the agitation for political equality in Ireland from an ineffective, largely middle-class affair into a huge mass movement’2. Therefore, a national movement was thus harder to challenge and deny by the government. By reducing the Catholic rent to one penny a month and by engaging with the Catholic Church whose clergy collected membership, he gained mass support of the Irish people. Also. with a national movement and the Catholic Rent useful to find them new accommodation, Catholic free-holders could disregard their landlord’s influence on the vote and for the first time pro-emancipation candidates started to appear.



O’Connell was also effective at furthering his goal for Catholic emancipation through the policy of Brinkmanship, thus in context, forcing an unquestionably unsupportive government to consider the Bill. Upon being elected as MP for County Clare in July 1828 he had proved effective with this policy because if he was refused from the Commons there would be possible uproar in Ireland, but entering would mean an amend to the law, emancipation. O’Connell’s determined pressure on the government and the mood for change saw the passing of the Emancipation Bill in 1829. Overall, Daniel O’Connell can be seen as a hugely successful leader, he was able to effectively secure full civil and political rights to Roman Catholics. In context he was working with Peel’s unsupportive conservative government who would never have simply allowed the passing of the Bill. It was also a huge stepping-stone towards the abolition of the protestant ascendancy. However, ‘the protestant minority did its best to prevent Catholics holding posts or offices now legally open to them’ and no more than 30 Irish Catholics took

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