Irish Parliamentary Party - Notable Legislation

Notable Legislation

During the previous years many notable Acts of social legislation were pressed for and passed in Ireland’s interest:

  • The creation of the Congested Districts Board in 1891, which built public works for, and provided employment in, the poor districts of western Ireland.
  • The extensive 1898 Local Government Act abolished the old landlord-dominated Grand Juries and replaced them by forty-nine county, urban and rural district councils, managed by Irish people for the administration of local affairs. The councils were very popular in Ireland as they established a political class, who showed themselves capable of running Irish affairs. It also stimulated the desire to attain Home Rule and to manage affairs on a national level. A less positive consequence was that the councils were largely dominated by the Irish Party, becoming the wielders of local patronage.
  • Irish Department of Agriculture Act and Technical Instructors Act (1899) (initiative of Horace Plunkett)
  • Tenant Land Purchase Acts: (Wyndham Act 1903 and Birrell Act 1909), contributing greatly to the solution of the contentious land question
  • Labourers (Ireland) Acts (Bryce Act 1906 and Birrell Act 1911) (the Sheehan Acts), providing rural labourers with extensive housing
  • Town Tenants Act (1906)
  • Evicted Tenants Act (1907)
  • Old Age Pensions Act (1908)
  • Irish (Catholic) University Act (1908)
  • Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Act (1908) (the Clancy Act)

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