The Liberator

Programme Outline

The programme begins with the defeat of the United Irish Rebellion of 1798. This defeat led to the Act of Union (1801), which brought together the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland. After the failure of Robert Emmet’s revolt in 1803, the Irish looked to other less violent ways of securing their rights. The programme examines in detail the life and times, and successes and failures, of Daniel O’Connell, the ‘Liberator’, up to his death in 1847. It shows how O’Connell used the Catholic Church to support his popular campaigns, first to achieve Catholic Emancipation, and then to fight for the repeal of the Union. In doing this, O’Connell aroused the suspicions of Protestants and made it more difficult for him to justify his claim to speak for all Irish people. Despite the introduction of a national school system for children regardless of religious background, problems in Ulster were growing between groups like the Catholic Ribbonmen and Protestant Orangemen, fuelled by land rivalries and O’Connell’s political activities. By 1848 the country was in a tense state. O’Connell was dead, having failed to secure repeal, and former followers of his – the Young Ireland Movement – were again about to embark on violent action. In addition the country was in the grip of a great famine.