The
Irish Home Rule movement was a political movement that sought to achieve
home rule for Ireland and reduce the political control of the
British state over the island. The movement emerged following the
Acts of Union 1800, which abolished the
Parliament of Ireland and moved control of Irish affairs to the
Parliament of the United Kingdom in London. Over the course of its existence the movement incorporated different concepts of home rule, from a self-governing Ireland still within a larger British state, to a fully independent republic. The Irish Home Rule movement came to an end in most of Ireland with the granting of independence to the
Irish Free State in 1922. Attempts to establish home rule in
Northern Ireland were frustrated by
The Troubles. Today the
Republic of Ireland has sovereignty over approximately five-sixths of Ireland, while the
Northern Ireland Assembly exercises numerous devolved powers in the remainder.