The Irish House of Commons in 1780 by Francis Wheatley

The Speaker of the Irish House of Commons was the presiding officer of the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fra ...

until its disestablishment in 1800. In the absence of a government chosen from and answerable to the Commons, the Speaker was the dominant political figure in the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chamb ...

. Unlike in modern British and Irish parliamentary practice, the Speaker was not expected to be politically impartial and several Speakers held government or Crown-appointed positions while also presiding over the Commons. Even so, the conduct of everyday business in the House was generally overseen with impartiality and fairness by all holders of the Speakership. The position was one of considerable power and prestige in Ireland, and the holder enjoyed high precedence as the first gentleman in Ireland. Speakers of the Commons were elected on the first day of the session of a new parliament, unless the sitting Speaker resigned his post. Before the reign of Queen Anne elections to the chair were uncontested. However, the House increasingly reflected the virulent political divisions between Whig and

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

factions, and

Alan Brodrick Alan Brodrick may refer to: * Alan Brodrick, 1st Viscount Midleton ( 1656–1728), Irish lawyer and politician * Alan Brodrick, 2nd Viscount Midleton (1702–1747), British peer and cricket patron * Alan Brodrick, 12th Viscount Midleton (born 1949) ...

's second candidacy was contested in 1713. Further contested elections occurred in 1771, 1776 and 1790. From 1771 the Speaker had a considerable degree of independence from the government of the

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdo ...

, although the Speaker was regularly consulted on the executive's business. Speakers needed to have considerable wealth to carry out their conventional roles as sources of patronage in Ireland, and the Speaker was expected to host all Members of Parliament several times year. The Speaker held the casting vote when the House divided as ''primus inter pares''.E. M. Johnston-Liik
''MPs in Dublin: Companion to History of the Irish Parliament, 1692-1800''
(Ulster Historical Foundation, 2006), p.395 (Retrieved 24 October 2016). The position was abolished when the Parliament of Ireland was merged with that of Great Britain to form the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

following the

Acts of Union 1800 The Acts of Union 1800 (sometimes incorrectly referred to as a single 'Act of Union 1801') were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Irela ...

. The last Speaker was John Foster, who had been a vehement opponent of the Union while in the chair.

List of speakers

References

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Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Parliament of Ireland