The Act of Union

1801 — The Irish Parliament was abolished and Ireland was governed directly from Westminster.

In the wake of the 1798 rebellion, the British government moved to bind Ireland more tightly to Britain. The Act of Union (Acht an Aontais), which came into force on 1 January 1801, abolished the separate Irish Parliament in Dublin and created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with Irish MPs now sitting at Westminster.

The promised measure of Catholic Emancipation was blocked, leaving Catholic grievances unresolved and setting the stage for the great mass movements of the nineteenth century.