Irish Parliament

Irish Parliament, the (1692-1800). While building on a parliamentary tradition in Ireland that stretched back to 1264, the Irish Parliament in the years following the Williamite victory of 1690-I represented only the Protestant community, since Catholics were excluded by the Penal Laws. Restrictions on its autonomy were relaxed in 1782 following a show of force from the Irish Volunteers. The social and political prestige of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy was at its highest in this period. A series of constitutional crises, in conjunction with the inability of Parliament to reform its representation to include Catholics, brought about the Irish Parliament's final abolition by the Act of Union in 1801.