Ireland was a fertile ground for revolutionary principles

The revolution, rather than soften the stance of the Ascendancy against parliamentary reform, served to increase their determination not to share their political power with the Irish masses. The elite became stubborn as their natural conservatism became preponderating, and attempts at relaxing the Penal Code were opposed without prior thought. The London administration, finding Catholic Relief less contentious, begrudgingly pressurized the Irish administration to grant concessions to the Catholic community. The Irish government though, due to their intransigent approach to Catholic Relief, ruled this out of the question, rejecting the Catholic Committee petition for the extension of the franchise in February 1792. Even when Catholic Relief did make it through the Irish Commons, it met with fierce opposition from conservative elements who accused the Catholic Committee of being 'men of very low parentage', further acting to radicalize the Committee. The French Revolution further affected the actions of the Ascendancy as the war with France, which broke out in 1793, led to a clamp down on Irish radicals. Leading radicals were imprisoned, as the administration grew more intransigent towards their ideological beliefs, which were undoubtedly linked to those of the French. This served to drive Irish radicals underground and further increased ill feeling towards the Ascendancy. The Ascendancy were also forced by the war to reconsider the attitudes of Catholics, since:

to gain acceptance due to previous developments and the tradition of dissent, which existed throughout the country. The tradition of Colonial Nationalism, and wide belief in the Social Contract Theory combined with the experiences of the American War and Volunteering meant that the country was already rich in the principles expressed in France, and had experience in opposing a corrupt system of government. The subsequent failure of 'Grattan's Parliament' to represent the views of the Irish Presbyterian and Catholic communities, and the failure of the reform movement, caused by the Catholic question, had already induced feelings of frustration within the country, making the message from France attractive to the majority of the population.

The French Revolution served to radicalize the Irish Catholic community as they began to question the idea of the Protestant Ascendancy in Irish politics and society. The source of the majority of this new radicalism came from the urban middle class Catholics who believed the French Revolution to be the opportunity to gain the political rights, which were denied by the Penal Code. This radical middle class body soon came to replace the old cautious elite, who had led the somewhat circumspect campaign for Catholic Emancipation. The Catholic Committee began a period of revival under this new leadership and its radicalization was soon apparent as it began to demand rights rather than exhaust the roads of supplication, a fact made evident in the pamphlet produced on 21st October by the Catholic Society in Dublin, which called for the repeal of the Penal Code as a 'matter of right'.

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Approximate Word count = 2591
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)