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 franchise, similar to the
Unreformed House of Commons in contemporary England and Great Britain. In
counties,
forty shilling freeholders were enfranchised whilst in most
boroughs it was either only the members of self electing
corporations or a highly restricted body of
freemen that were able to vote for the borough's representatives. Most notably,
Roman Catholics were disqualified from sitting in the Irish parliament from 1691, even though they comprised the vast majority of the Irish population. From 1728 until 1793 they were also
disfranchised. Most of the population of all religions had no vote. The vast majority of parliamentary boroughs were
pocket boroughs, the
private property of an aristocratic patron. When these boroughs were disfranchised at the under the
Act of Union, the patron was awarded £15,000 compensation for each.