The Irish House of Commons entrance
The original entrance to the building, facing onto College Green.

The Irish Houses of Parliament (also known as the Irish Parliament House, now called the Bank of Ireland, College Green due to its modern day use as a branch of the bank), or Tithe na Parlaiminte in Irish, was the world's first purpose-built two-chamber parliament house. It served as the seat of both chambers (the Lords and Commons) of the Irish parliament of the Kingdom of Ireland for most of the eighteenth century until that parliament was abolished by the Act of Union in 1800 when the island became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Photograph by Jtdirl of old irish parliament. ... Photograph by Jtdirl of old irish parliament. ... The Bank of Ireland (ISEQ: BKIR_p) LSE: BKIR NYSE: IRE, officially known as the Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland is a commercial bank operation on the island of Ireland, one of the Big Four. The bank was formed by an Act of the Irish Parliament in 1782... College Green, previously called Hoggen Green, is a three sided square in the centre of Dublin. ... The former House of Lords chamber in the Irish Parliament Building, today in use as a function room by the Bank of Ireland. ... The Irish House of Commons by Francis Wheatley (1780) The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland, that existed from mediæval times until 1800. ... Coat of arms1 Capital Dublin Language(s) Irish, English Government Monarchy King2  - 1542-1547 Henry VIII  - 1760-1801 George III Chief Secretary  - 1660 Matthew Lock  - 1798-1801 Viscount Castlereagh Legislature Parliament of Ireland  - Upper house Irish House of Lords  - Lower house Irish House of Commons History  - Act of Parliament 1541... The Act of Union 1800 merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain (itself a merger of England and Wales and Scotland under the Act of Union 1707) to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801. ... Motto Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right)1 Anthem God Save the King/Queen Territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Capital London Language(s) English2 Government Constitutional monarchy Monarch  - 1801–1820 George III  - 1820–1830 George IV  - 1830–1837 William IV  - 1837–1901...

In the seventeenth century, parliament had settled in Chichester House, a mansion in Hoggen Green (later renamed College Green) that had been owned by Sir George Carew, President of Munster and Lord High Treasurer of Ireland, and which had been built on the site of a nunnery disbanded by King Henry VIII after the dissolution of the monasteries. Carew's house, (later renamed Chichester House after a later owner Sir Arthur Chichester) was already a building of sufficient importance to have become a temporary home of the Kingdom of Ireland's law courts during the Michaelmas law term in 1605. Most famously, the legal documentation facilitating the Plantation of Ulster had been signed in the house on 16 November 1612. George Carew (d. ... Statistics Area: 24,607. ... Henry VIII (28 June 1491 - 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland, later King of Ireland, from 22 April 1509 until his death. ... Sir Arthur Chichester, Baron Chichester (Born May 1563 in Devon, England - died February 19, 1625 in London) was an English administrator and soldier, best known as the Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1604 to 1615. ... Coat of arms1 Capital Dublin Language(s) Irish, English Government Monarchy King2  - 1542-1547 Henry VIII  - 1760-1801 George III Chief Secretary  - 1660 Matthew Lock  - 1798-1801 Viscount Castlereagh Legislature Parliament of Ireland  - Upper house Irish House of Lords  - Lower house Irish House of Commons History  - Act of Parliament 1541... Michaelmas (pronounced ), or the Feast of Ss. ... The Plantation of Ulster was a planned process of colonisation which took place in the northern Irish province of Ulster during the early 17th century in the reign of James I of England. ... November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 45 days remaining. ... Events January 20 - Mathias becomes Holy Roman Emperor. ...

Plans for the new building

Elevation of the Parliament House Dublin by Peter Mazell based on the drawing by Rowland Omer 1767

The house was in a dilapidated state, allegedly haunted and unfit for parliamentary use. In 1727 parliament voted to spend £6,000 on the building of a new parliament building on the site. It was to be the first purpose-built two-chamber parliament building in the world. The then ancient Palace of Westminster, the seat of the English (before 1707) and the British parliament, was merely a converted building; the House of Commons's odd seating arrangements was due to the chamber's previous existence as a chapel. Hence MPs faced each other from former pews, a seating arrangement continued when the new British Houses of Parliament were built in the mid-nineteenth century after the mediæval building was destroyed by fire. (It was also followed in the 1940s, when the then House of Commons chamber was bombed during World War II, though consideration had been given to replacing it with a semi-circular chamber instead.) Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 420 pixelsFull resolution (1640 × 861 pixel, file size: 653 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Elevation of Parliament House Dublin by Peter Mazell based on the drawing by Rowland Omer 1767. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 420 pixelsFull resolution (1640 × 861 pixel, file size: 653 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Elevation of Parliament House Dublin by Peter Mazell based on the drawing by Rowland Omer 1767. ... “Houses of Parliament” redirects here. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

The design of this radical new Irish parliamentary building, one of the two purpose-built Irish parliamentary buildings in history (the other being the Stormont parliament), was trusted to a talented young architect, Edward Lovett Pearce, who was himself a Member of Parliament and a protégé of the Speaker of the House of Commons, William Connolly of Castletown House. While building begun, parliament moved to the Blue Coat Hospital on Dublin's northside. The foundation stone for the new building was laid on 3 February 1729. Stormont is Stormont, a suburb of Belfast Stormont Castle, a castle in the area Parliament Building of Northern Ireland, known as Stormont a nickname for the former Parliament of Northern Ireland and its unionist-dominated executive, the Government of Northern Ireland Stormont County an old county that is now a... Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (1699 - 1733) was an Irish architect, and the chief exponent of palladianism in Ireland. ... William Connolly was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. ... Castletown House, Irelands finest Palladian country house, is an imposing building built in 1722 for William Connolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. ... February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events July 30 - Baltimore, Maryland is founded. ...

Design of the new building

The Irish House of Lords entrance to the Parliament House (east view)
The House of Lords entrance, which was part of an extension to the original building, was designed by renowned architect James Gandon

Pearce's design for the new Irish Houses of Parliament was revolutionary. The building was effectively semi-circular in shape, occupying nearly an acre and a half (6,000 m²) of ground. Unlike Chichester House, which was set far back from Hoggen Green, the new building was to open up directly onto the Green, as the above photograph shows. The principal entrance consisted of a colonnade of Ionic columns extending around three sides of the entrance quadrangle, forming a letter 'E' (see picture at the bottom of the page). Three statues, representing Hibernia (the Latin name for Ireland), Fidelity and Commerce stood above the portico. Over the main entrance, the royal coat of arms were cut in stone. Irish House of Lords entrance. ... Irish House of Lords entrance. ... The Four Courts by James Gandon James Gandon (1743 -1823) is today recognised as one of the leading late 18th century, early 19th century architects to have worked in Ireland. ... An acre is the name of a unit of area in a number of different systems, including Imperial units and United States customary units. ... Architects first real look at the Greek Ionic order: Julien David LeRoy, Les ruines plus beaux des monuments de la Grèce Paris, 1758 (Plate XX) The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and... True colour image of Ireland, captured by a NASA satellite on 4 January 2003. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...

The building itself underwent extensions by renowned architect James Gandon (Pearce died young, robbing Ireland of a young architect of outstanding potential.) In particular, Gandon, who was responsible for three of Dublin's finest buildings, the Custom House, the Four Courts and the King's Inns, added on a new peers' entrance onto Westmoreland Street (shown above) at the east of the building between 1785 and 1789. Unlike the main entrance to the south, which came to be known as the House of Commons entrance, Gandon's peers' entrance used six Corinthian columns, at the request of peers who wished to have their entrance marked by a different look to the entrance of the commoners who used Ionic columns. Over the entrance, three statues were placed, representing Fortitude, Justice and Liberty. A curved wall joined the Pearce entrance to Gandon's extension. That this curved wall did not actually mark the exterior of the building but masked the actual uneven joins of some of the extension is shown in the view at the bottom of this page. The Four Courts by James Gandon James Gandon (1743 -1823) is today recognised as one of the leading late 18th century, early 19th century architects to have worked in Ireland. ... The south facade of the Custom House by night The Custom House is a [neoclassical] 18th century building in Dublin, Ireland which houses the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. ... The Four Courts (Na Ceithre Cúirteanna in Irish) in Dublin is the Republic of Irelands main courts building. ... The Kings Inns or formally the Honorable Society of Kings Inns (HSKI) is the institution which controls the entry of barristers-at-law into the justice system of the Republic of Ireland. ...

The chandelier in the House of Lords.

The curved wall, though an instantly recognisable aspect of the building today, in fact bears little resemblance to the building as it was in its parliamentary days. Gandon's wall was built of granite, with inset alcoves. Another extension was made on the west side into Foster place by another architect, Robert Parke, in 1787; while matching Gandon's portico, he tried a different and highly unsuccessful solution, linking the other portico to the main Pearce one by a set of ionic pillars. The result proved unattractive. When the Bank of Ireland took over the building, it created an architectural unity by replacing this set of ionic columns by a curved wall similar to that built on the east side by Gandon. Ionic columns were then added to both curved walls, given the extensions an architectural and visual unity that had been lacking and producing the building's exterior as it is today. Irish House of Lords Chandelier - no c/r my image This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Irish House of Lords Chandelier - no c/r my image This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...

The interior of the Houses of Parliament contained one unusual and highly symbolic act. While in many converted parliamentary buildings where both houses met in the one building, both houses were given equality or indeed the upper house was given a more symbolic location within the building, in the Irish Houses of Parliament the House of Commons was given pride of place with its octagonal parliamentary chamber located in the centre of the building. In contrast, the smaller House of Lords was demoted to a sideline position nearby. However the domed House of Commons chamber was later destroyed by fire. A less elaborate new chamber, minus its dome, was rebuilt in the same location and opened in 1796, four years before the House of Commons' ultimate abolition.

Pearce's design copied in the US Capitol and British Museum

Pearce's revolutionary designs came to be studied and copied both at home and abroad. The Viceregal Apartments in Dublin Castle copied his top-lit corridors, through with minor alterations that undermined the effect somewhat. The British Museum in London copied his colonnaded House of Commons entrance for its own facade. The impact of his designs stretched as far as Washington, DC where Pearce's building, and in particular his octagonal House of Commons chamber, was studied as plans were made for the new United States's new Capitol building. While the shape of the chamber was not replicated, some of its decorative motifs were, with the ceiling structure in the Old Senate Chamber and old House of Representatives chamber (now the Statuary Hall) holding a striking resemblance to the original Pearce-designed ceiling in the original House of Commons. Ironically, while the Capitol was copying aspects of the Irish parliament's design, the White House was being modelled on the ground and first floors¹ of Leinster House, then the residence of one of the leading peers in the Irish House of Lords, the Duke of Leinster, and now the seat of the modern independent Irish parliament, Oireachtas Éireann. A State Room in a large European mansion, is usually one of a suite of very grand rooms which were designed to impress, they were the most luxurious in the house and contained the finest works of art. ... The British Museum in London is one of the worlds greatest museums of human history and culture. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... For other uses, see Capitol (disambiguation). ... Leinster House The former palace of the Duke of Leinster. ... The Duke of Leinster (referring to Leinster and, unlike the Province, pronounced Linster) is Irelands premier peer. ... The Oireachtas is the National Parliament of the Republic of Ireland1. ...

A close-up of the House of Commons colonnade
The British Museum's facade is modelled on the colonnade (uncropped image)

The uniqueness of the building, the quality of its workmanship and its central location in College Green, across from Trinity College Dublin, made it one of Dublin's most highly regarded buildings, more highly regarded than its membership, some of whom were chosen from rotten boroughs and all of whom represented the Church of Ireland Anglo-Irish ascendancy in Ireland, not the vast majority of Irish people. In addition, it had little control of the Irish government, which was in fact a British government under a British Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. cropped close up view of colonnades of Irish Houses of Parliament - photograph by Jtdirl, no copyright This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... cropped close up view of colonnades of Irish Houses of Parliament - photograph by Jtdirl, no copyright This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin or more commonly Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin, Irelands oldest university. ... The term rotten borough refers to a parliamentary borough or constituency in the Kingdom of England (pre-1707), the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707-1801), the Kingdom of Ireland (1536-1801) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (from 1801 until their final abolition in 1867) which due... Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (Irish: Eaglais na hÉireann) is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating seamlessly across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ... Anglo-Irish was a term used historically to describe a ruling class inhabitants of Ireland who were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy[1], mostly belonging to the Anglican Church of Ireland or to a lesser extent one of the English dissenting churches, such as the Methodist church. ... Official standard of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (plural: Lords Lieutenant), also known as the Judiciar in the early mediaeval period and as the Lord Deputy as late as the 17th century, was the Kings representative and head of the Irish executive during the...

Public ceremonial in the Irish Houses of Parliament

Much of the public ceremonial in the Irish Houses of Parliament mirrored that of the British House of Parliament. Sessions were formally opened by a Speech from the Throne by the Lord Lieutenant, whom it was written "used to sit, surrounded by more splendour than His Majesty on the throne of England"². His Majesty's representative, when he sat on the throne, sat beneath a canopy of crimson velvet. The House of Lords was presided over, as in the English and British parliaments, by the Lord Chancellor, who sat on the woolsack, a large seat stuffed with wool from each of the three kingdoms, England, Ireland and Scotland. (Wool was seen as a symbol of economic success and wealth.) At the state opening, MPs were summoned from the nearby House of Commons chamber by Black Rod, a royal official who would "command the members on behalf of His Excellency to attend him in the chamber of peers". In the Commons, business was presided over by the Speaker, who in the absence of a government chosen from and answerable to the Commons was the dominant political parliamentary figure. Speaker Connolly remains today one of the most widely known figures ever to be produced by an Irish parliament, and not just for his role in parliament but also for his great wealth that allowed him to build one of Ireland's greatest Georgian houses, Castletown House. Queen Elizabeth II reads Canadas Speech from the Throne in 1977 The Speech from the Throne (or Throne Speech) is an event in certain monarchies in which the monarch (or a representative) reads a prepared speech to a complete session of parliament, outlining the governments agenda for the... The woolsack in the former Irish House of Lords. ... The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, generally shortened to just Black Rod, is an official in the parliaments of a number of Commonwealth countries. ... It has been suggested that Speakers of the House be merged into this article or section. ...

Sessions of Parliament drew many of the wealthiest of Ireland's Anglo-Irish elite to Dublin, particularly as sessions often coincided with the Social Season, (January to 17 March) when the Lord Lieutenant presided in state over state balls and drawing rooms in the Viceregal Apartments in Dublin Castle. Leading peers in particular flocked to Dublin, where they lived in enormous and richly decorated mansions initially on the northside of Dublin, later in new Georgian residences around Merrion Square and Fitzwilliam Square. Their presence in Dublin, along with large numbers of servants, provided a regular boost to the city economy. March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in leap years). ... Dublin Castle. ... Merrion Square is situated on the south side of Dublin city centre and is considered one of the citys finest Georgian squares. ...

A ceiling in the eighteenth century Powerscourt House, the townhouse of a Viscount Powerscourt
Within a couple of years of the abolition of the Irish parliament, Viscount Powerscourt, who had been a member of the House of Lords, sold this Dublin residence. Many other peers also sold their palatial Dublin residences. Powercourt's residence is now a shopping centre.

The abolition of the parliament in 1800 had a major economic impact on the life of the city. Within a decade, many of the finest mansions (Leinster House, Powerscourt House, Aldborough House, etc) had been sold, often to government agencies. Though parliament itself was based on the exclusion of Irish Catholics, many catholic nationalist historians and writers blamed the absence of parliament for the increased impovertisation of Dublin, with many of the large mansions in areas like Henrietta Street sold to unscrupulous property developers and landlords who reduced them to tenements. ceiling of the Dublin residence of Viscount Powerscourt - no copyright. ... ceiling of the Dublin residence of Viscount Powerscourt - no copyright. ... Henrietta Street is a Dublin street, to the north of Dorset Street, on the north side of the city, first laid out and developed by Luke Gardiner during the 1720s. ...

The draw of the viceregal court and its social season was not enough to encourage most Irish peers and their large entourage to come to Dublin anymore, their absence and that of their servants, with all their collective and previously excessive spending, severely hitting the economy of Dublin, which went into dramatic decline. By the 1830s and 1840s, nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell was leading a demand for the Repeal of the Act of Union and the re-establishment of an Irish parliament in Dublin, only this time one in which Catholics like O'Connell could now be elected to and sit in, in contrast with the entirely Protestant assembly that had met in the old Houses of Parliament. Daniel OConnell Daniel OConnell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847) (Irish: Dónal Ó Conaill), known as The Liberator or The Emancipator, was Irelands predominant political leader in the first half of the nineteenth century who championed the cause of the down-trodden Catholic population. ...

Abolition of Irish Parliament

In the last thirty years of the Irish parliament's existence, a series of crises and reforms changed the role of parliament. In 1782, following agitation by major parliamentary figures, but most notably Henry Grattan, the severe restrictions such as Poyning's Law that effectively controlled the Irish Parliament's ability to control its own legislative agenda were removed, producing what was known as the Constitution of 1782. A little over a decade later, Roman Catholics, who were by far the majority in the Kingdom of Ireland, were allowed to cast votes in elections to parliament, though they were still debarred from membership. The crisis over the 'madness' of King George III produced a major strain in Anglo-Irish relation, as both of the King's parliaments in both of his kingdoms possessed the theoretical right to nominate a regent, without the requirement that they choose the same person, though both in fact chose the Prince of Wales. The British government decided that the entire relationship between Britain and Ireland should be changed, with the merger of both states and parliaments. After one failed attempt, this finally was achieved, albeit with mass bribery of members of both Houses, who were awarded British and United Kingdom peerages and other 'encouragements'. In August 1800 parliament held its last session in the Irish Houses of Parliament. On 1 January 1801 the Kingdom of Ireland and its parliament ceased to exist, with the new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland coming into being, with a united parliament meeting in Westminster, to which Ireland sent approximately 100 members³ while Irish peers had the constant right to elect a number of fellow Irish peers as representative peers to represent Ireland in the House of Lords, on the model already introduced for Scottish peers. Henry Grattan (July 3, 1746 - June 6, 1820) was a member of the Irish House of Commons and a campaigner for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century. ... Poynings Law refers to Sir Edward Poynings declaration to the Irish Parliament at Drogheda in 1494. ... George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 1738 – 29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. ... Anglo-Irish was a term used historically to describe a ruling class inhabitants of Ireland who were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy[1], mostly belonging to the Anglican Church of Ireland or to a lesser extent one of the English dissenting churches, such as the Methodist church. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... The Union Jack, flag of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... Motto Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right)1 Anthem God Save the King/Queen Territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Capital London Language(s) English2 Government Constitutional monarchy Monarch  - 1801–1820 George III  - 1820–1830 George IV  - 1830–1837 William IV  - 1837–1901... In the United Kingdom, representative peers were individuals elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of Ireland to represent them in the British House of Lords. ... The Peerage of Scotland is the division of the British Peerage for those peers created in the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707. ...

After 1800: From a parliament to a bank

Initially the former Houses of Parliament was used for a variety of purposes; as a militant garrison and an art gallery. In 1803 the fledgling Bank of Ireland bought the building from the British government for £40,000 for use as its headquarters. One provisio is stipulated; it must be so adapted that it never could be used as a parliament again. As a result, the only recently rebuilt House of Commons chamber, though one of Dublin's finest locations, was broken up to form a number of small offices but primarily replaced by a magnificent cash office added by the architect employed to oversee the conversion, Francis Johnston, then the most prominent architect working in Ireland. However contrary to the stipulation, the House of Lords chamber survived almost unscathed. It was used as the board room for the bank until in the 1970s the Bank of Ireland moved its headquarters to elsewhere. The chamber is now open to the public and is used for various publication functions, including music recitals. The Bank of Ireland (ISEQ: BKIR_p) LSE: BKIR NYSE: IRE, officially known as the Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland is a commercial bank operation on the island of Ireland, one of the Big Four. The bank was formed by an Act of the Irish Parliament in 1782...

Of the contents of the building, some have survived in different locations. The Mace of the House of Commons remained in the family of the last Speaker of the House of Commons, John Foster. The Bank of Ireland bought the Mace at a sale in Christies in London in 1937. The Chair of the Speaker of the House of Commons is now in the possession of the Royal Dublin Society, while a bench from the Commons is in the Royal Irish Academy. The original two tapestries have remained in the House of Lords. The Chandelier of the House of Commons now hangs in the Examination Hall of Trinity College Dublin. The woolsack, on which the Lord Chancellor of Ireland sat when chairing sessions of the House of Lords, is now back in location in the chamber on display. Copies of debates of the old Irish parliament are now kept in Ireland's modern day parliament house, Leinster House, so keeping a direct link between the old bicameral parliament of the Kingdom of Ireland and the modern day bicameral parliament of the modern Republic of Ireland. An advance on the club, a mace is a strong, heavy wooden, metal-reinforced, or metal shaft, with a head made of stone, copper, bronze, iron or steel. ... The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin or more commonly Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin, Irelands oldest university. ... The woolsack in the former Irish House of Lords. ... The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland from earliest times until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. ... In government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. ...

The continuing symbolism of the Old Irish Houses of Parliament

From the 1830s under Daniel O'Connell, generations of leaders campaigned for the creation of a new Irish parliament, convinced that the Act of Union had been a great mistake. While O'Connell campaigned for full scale Repeal of the Act, leaders like Isaac Butt and Charles Stewart Parnell sought a more modest form of Home Rule within the United Kingdom, rather than the full recreation of an independent Irish state. However even if the proposal got through the British House of Commons (and the first two attempts, in 1886 and 1893 did not) the British House of Lords with its massive unionist majority was guaranteed to veto it. However the passage of the Parliament Act, 1911 which restricted the veto powers of the House of Lords, opened up the prospect that an Irish Home Rule Bill might indeed pass through both Houses, receive the Royal Assent and become law. Charles Stewart Parnell, the uncrowned King of Ireland Charles Stewart Parnell[1] (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish political leader and one of the most important figures in 19th century Ireland and the United Kingdom; William Ewart Gladstone described him as the most remarkable person he had... Devolution or Home rule is the pooling of powers from central government to government at regional or local level. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ... In the context of Irish politics, Unionists are people in Northern Ireland, who wish to see the continuation of the Act of Union 1800, as amended by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, under which Northern Ireland, created in that latter Act, remains part of the United Kingdom of Great... The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament. ... // The granting of Royal Assent is the formal method by which a constitutional monarch completes the legislative process of lawmaking by formally assenting to an Act of Parliament. ...

The woolsack
The Lord Chancellor of Ireland sat here when chairing the House of Lords, now back in location in the Chamber.

Leaders from O'Connell to Parnell and later John Redmond spoke of the proud day when an Irish parliament might once again meet in what they called Grattan's Parliament in College Green. When, in 1911, King George V and his consort, Queen Mary visited Dublin where they attracted mass crowds, street sellers sold drawings of the King and Queen arriving in the not too distant future at the Old Houses of Parliament in College Green to open the new Irish parliament. In 1914, the Third Home Rule Act did indeed complete all parliamentary stages and receive the Royal Assent. The day when the old parliament would one day become the seat of parliament seemed around the corner. However the intervening First World War provided what proved to be a fatal delay for Home Rule. In 1916, a small band of radical republicans under Patrick Pearse staged the Easter Rising, in which they seized a number of prominent Irish buildings and proclaimed an Irish Republic. Surprisingly one building they did not take over was the old Parliament House. Perhaps they feared that as a bank it would be heavily protected. Perhaps, already expecting that the Rising would ultimately fail and that the reaction to the Rising and what Pearse called their "blood sacrifice", rather than the Rising itself, would reawaken Irish nationalism and produce independence, they did not seek to use the building for fear that it like the GPO would be destroyed in the British counter-attack. Or perhaps because of its association with a former ascendancy parliament, it carried little symbolism for their new republic. Woolsack from the Irish House of Lords - no copyright; photograph by Jtdirl, owner agreed to photograph This image has been (or is hereby) released into the public domain by its creator, Maveric149. ... Woolsack from the Irish House of Lords - no copyright; photograph by Jtdirl, owner agreed to photograph This image has been (or is hereby) released into the public domain by its creator, Maveric149. ... The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland from earliest times until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. ... John Redmond, MP John Edward Redmond (September 1, 1856 – March 6, 1918) was the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918. ... George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 - 20 January 1936) was the first British monarch belonging to the House of Windsor, as a result of his creating it from the British branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. ... Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; 26 May 1867 – 24 March 1953) was the Queen Consort of George V. Queen Mary was also the Empress of India and Queen of Ireland. ... The Third Home Rule Act, more correctly known as the Home Rule Act, 1914 was an Act of the parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which allowed for the creation of a separate home rule parliament in Ireland. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Padraig Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (known to Irish nationalists as Pádraig Pearse; Irish name: Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was a teacher, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. ... Combatants Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army, Irish Republican Brotherhood British Army Royal Irish Constabulary Commanders Patrick Pearse, James Connolly Brigadier-General Lowe General Sir John Maxwell Strength 1250 in Dublin, c. ...

Interestingly there are two tapestries designed by Dutch landscape painter William Van der Hagen and woven by John Van Beaver dating from circa 1733 in the hall. The tapestries are unique. One represents the "Glorious Battle of the Boyne" and the other the "Glorious Defence of Londonderry". Each of the tapestries has five portrait and narrative medallions around the central scene which depict, narrate and name central characters and events in each of the battles. Both also have "trophies of arms and figures of Fame below enclosed by fringed curtains." Combatants Jacobite Forces -6000 French troops, 19,000 Irish Catholic troops Williamite Forces -English, Scottish, Dutch, Danish, Huguenot and Ulster Protestant troops Commanders James VII and II William III of England Strength 25,000 36,000 Casualties ~1,500 ~750 William III (William of Orange) King of England, Scotland and... For context see the Williamite war in Ireland and Jacobitism. ...

The Dáil chooses a different home

The Irish House of Commons by Francis Wheatley (1780).
This first Commons chamber was destroyed by fire. The rebuilt chamber was opened in 1796, only four years before parliament was abolished.

For whatever reason however the 'Bank of Ireland' as it was generally called, remained untouched. When in 1919, Irish republican MPs elected in the 1918 general election assembled to form the First Dáil and issue a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, they chose not to seek to use the old Irish parliament house but instead the Round Room of the Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin. (Ironically the Round Room had more royal connections than the Houses of Parliament; it had been built for the visit of King George IV in 1821) Though even if it had sought to use the old parliament house, it is exceptionally unlikely that the Bank of Ireland, then with a largely unionist board some of whom were descended from members of the former House of Commons and House of Lords, would have supplied the building for such a use, not least because it was also a working bank and the Bank's then headquarters . When in 1921, the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, created in the Fourth Home Rule Act (known as the Government of Ireland Act 1920) met (or supposedly met, only four MPs, all unionists, turned up for the state opening of parliament by the Lord Lieutenant), it assembled not in the old Parliament House but in the Royal College of Science. Download high resolution version (1025x700, 252 KB)The Irish House of Commons, 1780 by Francis Wheatley This work is copyrighted. ... Download high resolution version (1025x700, 252 KB)The Irish House of Commons, 1780 by Francis Wheatley This work is copyrighted. ... Francis Wheatley (1747- June 28,1801), was an English portrait and landscape painter, was born at Wild Court, Covent Garden, London. ... The First Dáil (Irish: An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919–1921. ... A declaration of independence is a proclamation of the independence of a newly formed or reformed independent state from a part or the whole of the territory of another, or a document containing such a declaration. ... George IV (George Augustus Frederick) (12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death. ... House of Commons of Southern Ireland was the lower house of the Irish parliament created by the Government of Ireland Act, passed in 1920, during the Irish War of Independence. ... An Act to Provide for the Better Government of Ireland, more usually the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 (this is its official short title; the formal citation is 10 & 11 Geo. ...

In 1922, when the Provisional Government under W.T. Cosgrave made plans for the coming into being of the new Irish Free State, it gave little thought to using the old Houses of Parliament as the parliament building for the new state. Though larger than the building eventually selected, Leinster House, it possessed three major practical problems: William Thomas Cosgrave (Irish name Liam Tomás Mac Cosgair; 6 June 1880 – 16 November 1965), known generally as W.T. Cosgrave, was an Irish politician who succeeded Michael Collins as Chairman of the Irish Provisional Government from August to December 1922. ... Territory of the Irish Free State Capital Dublin Language(s) Irish, English Government Constitutional monarchy Monarch  - 1922–1936 George V  - 1936–1936 George VI President of the Executive Council  - 1922–1932 W.T. Cosgrave  - 1932–1937 Eamon de Valera Legislature Oireachtas  - Upper house Seanad Éireann  - Lower house Dáil Éireann...

• It was the working headquarters of Ireland's major bank, which would need to have an alternative headquarters provided, were the state to use the building for parliamentary purposes;

• It lacked room around it for the provision of additional buildings to be used for governmental purposes. Directly behind it, on the actual location of Chichester House, there was now a major street called Fleet Street. In front of it on both the Lords and Commons entrances were major thoroughfares, College Green and Westmoreland Street, meaning that the only space for expansion was on its Foster Place side, yet here too there was little potential for the constitution of government offices. (In contrast the eventual choice, Leinster House, possessed the Royal College of Science, parts of which the state immediately 'borrowed' to use as a cabinet office, a prime ministerial office and offices for several ministries);

• While in the eighteenth century the fact that one of its House of Lords entrance opened directly onto a street caused little worry, in the Ireland of 1922 with a civil war raging it building was simply too insecure to be used as a modern day parliament building. While the House of Commons entrance was surrounded by railings, it offered only minimal parking space and minimal security from attack, and practically no means of escape in the event of an attack. In contrast Leinster House was located well in from the streets that surrounded it, had considerable parking potential and was far more secure in the event of an anti-treaty republican attack on the Free State Dáil and Seanad.

As a result, the Free State initially hired Leinster House from its then owner, the Royal Dublin Society in 1922, before buying it in 1924. Longer term plans either to convert the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham into a national parliament, or to build a new parliament house, all fell through, leaving Leinster House as the accidential permanent modern Irish parliament house. The Dáil Chamber Dáil Éireann (pronounced ) is the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament) of the Republic of Ireland. ... The Seanad Chamber The Seanad meets in the former picture gallery in Leinster House. ... aerial shot of College Green, Dublin. ... The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham in Kilmainham, Dublin is one of the finest 17th-century building in Ireland. ...

The 'screen wall' that joins the original entrance to Gandon's extension
The most recognisable image of the building, though ironically, while originally built by Gandon, it was given its modern appearance by the Bank of Ireland. A matching screen wall faces onto Foster Place on the other side of the building.

Image of screen wall on Irish Houses of Parliament - my image no c/r File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image of screen wall on Irish Houses of Parliament - my image no c/r File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

A curiously contradictory symbol

Ultimately the old Irish Houses of Parliament, the world's first purpose-built two-chamber parliament building, has remained a curiously contradictory symbol for Ireland: a parliament based on discrimination and exclusion that nevertheless, through producing radical leaders like Henry Grattan, is seen generally with affection by a people whose ancestors were debarred from membership. A parliament that, though Protestant establishment in membership and loyal to the Crown, in 1782 produced the first real attempt at Irish independence, achieving the 'Constitution of 1782' that stressed its loyalty to the King by virtue of his Irish, not British Crown. Though flawed in its working, discriminatory in its membership and powerless in its ability to control the executive, it was used as a symbol by generations of nationalist leaders from O'Connell to Parnell and Redmond in their own quest for Irish self government. In a particular irony, Sinn Féin, which as a republican party fought for Irish independence during the Anglo-Irish War, was founded by a man, Arthur Griffith, who sought to restore the King, Lords and Commons of Ireland and the 1782 constitution to the centre of Irish governance, and the College Green Houses of Parliament to its position as the home of an Irish parliament. To this day some still lobby for the re-use of the College Green House of Parliament, it has even been suggested that it become the home of a Leinster parliament in a federal united Ireland. For pre-Arthur Griffith use of the political name, see Sinn Féin (19th century). ... An Irish War of Independence memorial in Dublin The Anglo-Irish War (also known as the Irish War of Independence) was a guerrilla campaign mounted against the British government in Ireland by the Irish Republican Army under the proclaimed legitimacy of the First Dáil, the extra-legal Irish parliament... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Footnotes

¹ The ground and first floors in British English are called the first and second floors in American English.
² Unsourced eighteenth century quote used in the Bank of Ireland, College Green, an information leaflet produced by the Bank of Ireland about the Irish Houses of Parliament.
³ The number of Irish MPs in Westminster fluctuated slightly during Ireland's membership of the United Kingdom but generally remained in or around the 100 mark. British English (BrE) is a broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere. ... For other uses, see American English (disambiguation). ...

References

• 'History of the Irish Parliament 1692-1800' by E.M. Johnston-Liik (Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002)
• Volume 2 of 'The Unreformed House of Commons' by Edward and Annie G. Porritt (Cambridge University Press, 1903)

Coordinates: 53.344835° N 6.260431° W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

v • d • e Irish parliament houses (1600s–present)
Chichester House (1600s–early 1700s)  · Blue Coat School (early 1700s–1729)  · Parliament House (1729–1800)  · Mansion House (1919), (1922)  · UCD (Earlsfort Terrace) (1919–1922)  · Royal College of Science (1921)  · Stormont (1932–1972)  · Northern Ireland Assembly (1999–present) · Leinster House (1922–present) Chichester House or Carews House was a building in College Green (formerly Hoggen Green), Dublin, Ireland used in the 17th Century to house the Irish Parliament. ... Image File history File links St_Patrick's_saltire. ... The Blue Coat School (in this case Christs Hospital, London) as drawn by Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson for Rudolph Ackermanns Microcosm of London (1808-11). ... Image File history File links St_Patrick's_saltire. ... Image File history File links St_Patrick's_saltire. ... The Mansion House on Dawson Street, Dublin, is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin and has been since 1715. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Ireland. ... The National Concert Hall, or NCH, is a concert hall on Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Ireland. ... The Royal College of Science for Ireland was created as a result of a decision of HM Treasury in 1865 to merge a number of science-orientated education bodies including the Museum of Irish Industry and Government School of Science applied to Mining and the Arts. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Lord_Lieutenant_of_Ireland. ... Northern Ireland Parliament Buildings Parliament Buildings, known as Stormont because of its location in the Stormont area of Belfast, served as the seat of the Parliament of Northern Ireland and successive Northern Ireland assemblies and conventions. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Northern_Ireland. ... Northern Ireland Parliament Buildings Parliament Buildings, known as Stormont because of its location in the Stormont area of Belfast, served as the seat of the Parliament of Northern Ireland and successive Northern Ireland assemblies and conventions. ... Leinster House The former palace of the Duke of Leinster. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Ireland. ...