- Irish House of Lords
The Irish House of Lords (Irish; "Teach na dTiarnai") was the
upper house of theParliament of Ireland that existed from mediæval times until 1800. It was abolished along with theIrish House of Commons by the Act of Union.The House of Lords was presided over by the Lord Chancellor, who sat on the
woolsack , a large seat stuffed with wool from each of the three lands of England, Ireland and Scotland. At the state opening of the Irish parliament Members of Parliament were summoned to the House of Lords from the House of Commons chamber byBlack Rod , a royal official who would "command the members on behalf of His Excellency to attend him in the chamber of peers" Sessions were formally opened by theSpeech from the Throne by the Lord Lieutenant, who sat on the throne beneath a canopy of crimson velvet.Following the Act of Union, the
peerage of Ireland elected 28 of their number to sit in the United Kingdom House of Lords. This practice ended in 1922 with the establishment of theIrish Free State . Other Irish peers were able to stand for election to the UK House of Commons, provided they did not also hold a peerage, such as apeerage of the United Kingdom , which entitled them to sit in the House of Lords.Today the 18th century Irish Parliament building on
College Green inDublin is an office of the commercialBank of Ireland and visitors can view the Irish House of Lords chamber within the building.ee also
*
Kingdom of Ireland
*List of Irish Representative Peers
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