Parliament’s passage of the Peel-sponsored Act ameliorates…

Parliament’s passage of the Peel-sponsored Act ameliorates the Irish tax burden and removes the last vestige of official oppression of Catholics in England, leaving only the crown, certain judicial offices, and positions in the established church barred to Catholics.

Passage of the Act comes too late to avert increasing unrest among the Irish; O’Connell demands an end to the 1801 union of England and Ireland.

At the same time, the property franchise is tightened, rising from a rental value of two pounds per annum to ten pounds per annum, so reducing the total number of voters, though it will later be lowered in successive Reform Acts from 1832.

The major beneficiaries are the Catholic middle classes who can now have new careers in the civil service.