The penal laws were, according to Edmund Burke, "a machine of wise and elaborate contrivance, as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment and degradation of a people, and the debasement in … See more

From 1758, before the death of the Old Pretender, who styled himself James III, ad-hoc groups of the remaining Catholic nobility and … See more

Section 5(2) of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 stated:
Any existing enactment by which any penalty, disadvantage, or disability is imposed on … See more

Much of this legislation was rescinded after the Restoration in Ireland by Charles II (1660–1685), under the Declaration of Breda in 1660, in terms of worship and property-owning, … See more

With the defeat of Catholic attempts to regain power and lands in Ireland, a ruling class which became known later as the Protestant Ascendancy See more

Daniel O'Connell and the Catholic Association
In 1808 "friends of emancipation", Henry Grattan among them, proposed that fears of Popery might be … See more

1. ^ Another example from 1713 is the elderly Father Connor Reynolds "of Jamestown" in the County Leitrim exiled in Spain since 1681, found hiding in a trunk on a fishing boat … See more