Penal Laws

The "Penal Laws" or "Popery Laws" were established by the Irish Parliament against Roman Catholics in Ireland throughout the 1690s (until 1746).

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In the course of the Plantation of Ulster in 1609 and the colonisation of the whole island of Ireland throughout the 17th century the Protestant Ascendancy, members of the Protestant Episcopalian church which dominated the native Irish as landowners and in Parliament,

Consequences:

"The laws were of vital importance in broadening the differences between the Irish establishment and its opponents [...] Some of these laws, and notably those affecting property, were rigidly enforced, while others were unenforcable. Their main effects were to entrench the divide between Catholics and Protestants" (Darby 15/16).

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Sources:

Darby, John. "The Historical Background." Northern Ireland: The Background to the Conflict. Ed. John Darby. Belfast: Appletree Press, 1983.

Otto, Frank. Der Nordirlandkonflikt: Ursprung, Verlauf, Perspektiven. Munich: C.H. Beck, 2005.