Irish Home Rule movement

The Irish Home Rule movement was a political movement that sought to achieve home rule for Ireland and reduce the political control of the British state over the island. The movement emerged following the Acts of Union 1800, which abolished the Parliament of Ireland and moved control of Irish affairs to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London. Over the course of its existence the movement incorporated different concepts of home rule, from a self-governing Ireland still within a larger British state, to a fully independent republic. The Irish Home Rule movement came to an end in most of Ireland with the granting of independence to the Irish Free State in 1922. Attempts to establish home rule in Northern Ireland were frustrated by The Troubles. Today the Republic of Ireland has sovereignty over approximately five-sixths of Ireland, while the Northern Ireland Assembly exercises numerous devolved powers in the remainder.

Historical background

Under the Act of Union 1800 the separate Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain were merged on 1 January 1801, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Throughout the 19th century Irish opposition to the Union was strong, occasionally erupting in violent insurrection. In the 1830s and 1840s attempts had been made under the leadership of Daniel O'Connell and his Repeal Association to repeal the Act of Union and restore the Kingdom of Ireland, without breaking the monarchical connection with Great Britain (i.e. personal union). These attempts to achieve what was simply called repeal failed.