A new department established in Ireland in 1897, independent of the Castle and the Irish Office. Its first president was Mr. Horace Plunket.
Irish Charter.
The Charter granted to the Irish settlers by Henry III on his accession. It was practically a recital of the clauses of Magna Charta, with such variations as were rendered necessary by the different conditions.
Irish Church Act, Althorp’s.
An Act passed in 1833 abolishing the Church fees, which were paid by all, whether Churchmen, Catholics or Dissenters, and reducing the number of Irish bishops from twenty-two to twelve.
Irish Church Disestablishment.
An Act for the disestablishment and partial disendowment of the Irish Church was passed by Mr. Gladstone’s Government in 1869. The Irish bishops lost their seats in the House of Lords, the Irish Ecclesiastical Courts were abolished, and the union between the English and Irish Churches dissolved. The future government of the Irish Church was entrusted to a synod elected by the clergy and laity. Of the Church property, valued at about sixteen millions, seven millions were used to compensate incumbents and to replace the Maynooth Grant and the Regium Donum.
Irish Land Act, 1870.
An Act passed by Mr. Gladstone’s Government giving for the first time a legal status to the Ulster custom and extending it to all tenancies in Ireland. The Act provided for compensation for disturbance and compensation for improvements in the event of the landlord determining a tenancy, and enacted that improvements should be deemed to be the tenant’s, the onus of proof to the contrary being thrown upon the landlord.