Daniel O'Connell : Fact File

* He soon joined the united Irishmen.

* During the 1798 insurrection he went into hiding in Kerry as he feared being caught by the English authorities.

* Sir Robert Peel was Prime Minister at this time.

The Catholic Association

* In 1823, O'Connell founded the Catholic Association. The aim of the organisation was to use all the legal means available to secure emancipation.

* Thousands of people joined this and paid a membership fee of 1 penny a month. This helped to raise a large fund.

* By 1826 the Catholic Association began supporting candidates in parliamentary elections. However, as a Catholic, O'Connell was not allowed to take his seat in the House of Commons.

* The Clare election in 1828 was a turning point. O'Connell had a huge victory against the government. He was well supported by the clergy.

* The Catholic Association grew rapidly and in 1829 Sir Robert Peel, Duke of Wellington and other leading members of the government began arguing for reform. The whole country was aflame as also in 1829 the British Parliament passed the Roman Catholic Relief Act, which granted Catholic Emancipation. However, despite Daniel O'Connell forming the Repeal Association, the Act of Union remained in place.

* The fee was then raised to 10 pounds which excluded the forty-shilling freeholders.

His leadership

* O'Connell was now the undisputed leader in Ireland and he gave up his practice at the bar to devote his time entirely to politics.

* In the 1830s Daniel O'Connell became a major figure in the House of Commons. He was active in the campaigns for prison and law reform, free trade, the abolition of slavery and Jewish emancipation. He was also a prominent figure in the campaign for universal suffrage.

* In 1841 O'Connell became the first Catholic Lord Mayor of Dublin. After completing his year in office, O'Connell announced he now intended to concentrate of achieving the repeal of the Act of Union.

O'Connell's Repeal Association

* On the 1st January 1843, O'Connell pledged that he would achieve repeal before the end of the year. Once again O'Connell suggested that if Parliament did not take action it faced the possibility of civil war. However, very few MPs in the House of Commons supported the repeal of the Union and therefore O'Connell was not in a strong negotiating position. So his challenge was not successful.

* O'Connell now came under attack from the Young Ireland movement and leading members began describing his tactics as ineffective.

His last days

* O'Connell was now a sick man and in March 1847 he decided on a pilgrimage to Rome. He died on his journey in Genoa on 15th May, 1847. As requested, O'Connell's heart was buried in Rome and his body in Dublin.

By Eimheár Meehan 10c