saorsheilbh agus Ó Conaill/freehold and O'Connell

Gael Uirbeach

Dia daoibh, doing a bit of reading up on the Emancipator and was hoping someone could clear somthing up for me. It concerns the "forty shilling freehold franchise". First off, this was one of the things that the emancipation movement wanted abolished yeah? Secondly, is my interpritation of the "forty shilling freehold franchise" correct in that basically it meant in order to vote a catholic must posses a freehold worth forty shillings or more? any help would be great

go raibh maith agaibh

Simarillion

It wasn't just an RC requirement. Everyone who wanted to vote had to own the freehold to land worth Forty shillings or more.

I don't think O'Connell definitely wanted it abolished. He was campaigning for the right of Roman Catholics to stand for election and hold office, not one man one vote. RC's had obtained the right to vote in 1793 as long as they held the forty shilling freehold.

When O'Connell with the support of the Duke of Wellington had the Roman Catholic Relief Act passed in 1829 he actually reduced the electorate by an enormous amount! In return for gaining RC's the right to hold office (MP's, judiciary, civil servants etc.) he agreed to have the freehold value raised to £10 from the previous £2 (forty shillings)
This was gradually reduced in years to come. But the vote was very much a middle/upper class right. Yet O'Connell is so often portrayed as a man fighting for the rights of the poor people of Ireland!
Also remember this did not just apply to Ireland, RC's in Britain were also substituted to the same discrimination as those in Ireland. The Catholic Relief Act in GB was only passed 2 years before the Irish one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_Shilling_Freeholders

Gael Uirbeach

Simarillion wrote: »

It wasn't just an RC requirement. Everyone who wanted to vote had to own the freehold to land worth Forty shillings or more.

I don't think O'Connell definitely wanted it abolished. He was campaigning for the right of Roman Catholics to stand for election and hold office, not one man one vote. RC's had obtained the right to vote in 1793 as long as they held the forty shilling freehold.

When O'Connell with the support of the Duke of Wellington had the Roman Catholic Relief Act passed in 1829 he actually reduced the electorate by an enormous amount! In return for gaining RC's the right to hold office (MP's, judiciary, civil servants etc.) he agreed to have the freehold value raised to £10 from the previous £2 (forty shillings)
This was gradually reduced in years to come. But the vote was very much a middle/upper class right. Yet O'Connell is so often portrayed as a man fighting for the rights of the poor people of Ireland!
Also remember this did not just apply to Ireland, RC's in Britain were also substituted to the same discrimination as those in Ireland. The Catholic Relief Act in GB was only passed 2 years before the Irish one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_Shilling_Freeholders

Go raibh maith agat a chara, the more i read about O'Connel the less I seem to like him, though despite some of the negatives he did achieve some positives even if they were small. Though can I just ask another question, to wht extent do you know(or anyone else) was the the issue of tithes used to gain popular support among the rural population for the Catholic Association and emancipation? Im wondering as I assuming this one have been one of the few areas where the rural poor were actually effected by any of the emancipation movement's goals (that is of course assuming it was a goal) So did they say to the rural poor "we shall get rid of tithes" ?