Much has been written about the politics and government of nineteenth century Ireland at a national level. Yet the point at which government touched the lives of most people was the local. Over the course of the nineteenth century new local government structures, especially the grand jury, replaced the older parishes. In addition they acquired many duties in addition to the responsibility for roads and bridges that they had held in the eighteenth century. Tramways, gaols, aspects of public health, including dispensaries, and compensation for malicious injuries all came within the ambit of the grad juries. This study shows how one grand jury, that for County Dublin, faced the challenges presented by the expansion of their duties and how it rose to those challenges in making County Dublin a better place to live in the course of the nineteenth century.

This is a study of the nature and operation of the Irish poor law system in the post-famine period. It traces the expansion of the system to encompass a wide range of welfare services, and explains the ideological and political context in which expansion took place. The only local government bodies in rural areas to include elected members, poor law boards provided many Irish nationalists with their first experience of administrative power. As the influence of the nationalist guardians in the south and west grew, so the character of poor law administration in these areas began to change. Crossman explores the nature and significance of this process through detailed analysis of local decision-making and official actions, providing a new perspective on relationships between central and local administrators, welfare providers and welfare recipients, and the respectable and non-respectable. Topics covered include the politicisation of the welfare system, the relief of distress, the provision of labourers’ cottages and the role of women in poor law administration.

Ireland in the Nineteenth Century: A Breviate of Official Publications offers information on the compilation of documents regarding Ireland from the 1-000 Act of Union until the 1970's, covering subjects such as education, agriculture, poverty, finance, health, and transport. The book first focuses on government documents, including the Act of Union, parliamentary privilege, peerage, public offices and public works, local government areas, and grand jury presentments. The text also looks at documents in finance, ownership and valuation of land, agriculture, and poverty and health measures. Topics include employment of the poor, emigration, drainage and reclamation of waste areas, fisheries, land legislation, and survey and valuation of Ireland. The manuscript touches on documents on health and living conditions and transport and communications. Areas covered include hospitals, charitable institutions, roads, railways, navigation, shipping, ports and harbors, and overseas communications. The book also ponders on documents on education and culture, ecclesiastical matters, trade industry and labor, legal administration, and civil commotion. The text is a dependable reference for readers interested in documents relating to education, agriculture, poverty, finance, health and transport, and government functions of Ireland.

In Ireland, politics and the law have long been closely intertwined. Maintaining law and order involved far more than the suppression of crime, since the popular legitimacy of the law came to stand for the legitimacy of British rule. This book examines the political framework in which law was administered over the course of the 19th century. It argues that violence and disorder were active ingredients in politics, and were exploited as political issues by politicians in Britain and Ireland. -- Publisher description

However, after Independence, the progress of the municipal revolution was stifled by the establishment of an over-centralised administrative machine that belittled the role of cities and towns in Irish life in favour of the rural and agricultural. --