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{{Short description|Debate over calls for Irish independence}}
{{for|issues related to the Irish border and Brexit|Irish border question}}{{for|the overall context|Irish issue in British politics}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Two Forces - Punch, 29 October 1881.jpg|thumb|[[Britannia]] protecting her sister [[Hibernia (personification)|Hibernia]] from the [[anarchy]] of Irish nationalism – ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'', 1881]]

The '''Irish question''' was the issue, debated primarily among the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British government]] from the early 19th century until the 1920s, of how to respond to [[Irish nationalism]] and the calls for [[Irish republicanism|Irish independence]].

The phrase came to prominence as a result of the [[Acts of Union 1800]] which merged the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]] with [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] to create the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]], and merged the [[Parliament of Ireland]] into a single governing body with the [[Parliament of Great Britain]]; the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] based in [[Westminster]]. Doing so forced the British government to pay closer attention to the state of Ireland and its people.

In 1844, a future British prime minister, [[Benjamin Disraeli]], defined the Irish question:

{{blockquote|
That dense population in extreme distress inhabited an island where there was an established church which was not their church; and a territorial aristocracy, the richest of whom lived in distant capitals. Thus they had a starving population, an absentee aristocracy, and an alien Church, and, in addition, the weakest executive in the world. That was the Irish question.<ref>{{cite hansard |title=State of Ireland |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1844/feb/16/state-of-ireland-adjourned-debate-fourth#column_1016 |speaker=Benjamin Disraeli |jurisdiction=United Kingdom |house=House of Commons |date=16 February 1844 |column=1016 }}</ref>}}
 
In the [[1868 United Kingdom general election|United Kingdom general election of 1868]], a coalition of [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberals]] and [[Nationalist Party (Ireland)|Irish Nationalists]] formed based on the fact that a wrong was done to Ireland and that it must be corrected.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Hayes|first=Carlton J.H.|title=A Political and Social History of Modern Europe|publisher=The Macmillian Company|year=1929|location=New York, USA|pages=319}}</ref> From the general election of 1868 to 1929, and most likely past the latter year, the Liberal Party's primary platform of reform was based on Irish reform.<ref name=":0" /> During the first ministry of [[William Ewart Gladstone]], a total of three "grievances" were made to him by the Irish: "religious, agrarian, and nationalist".<ref name=":0" /> These were, but not limited to, the Roman Catholic faith being persecuted since the 16th century, the poverty wrought upon by legislation, such as Ireland's woollen industry, and English landlords, and "[[Poynings' Law (on certification of acts)|Poyning's Law]]", which held the Irish government's action subject to the acceptation of the government of England under [[Henry VII of England|King Henry VII]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hayes|first=Carlton J.H. Hayes|title=A Political and Social History of Modern Europe|publisher=The Macmillan Company|year=1929|location=New York, USA|pages=320, 321, and 322}}</ref>

In 1886, with the introduction of the [[Government of Ireland Bill 1886|first Home Rule Bill]] in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], the term ''the Anglo-Irish quarrel''<ref>''The Anglo-Irish Quarrel: A Plea for Peace'', John O'Connor Power, London, 1886</ref> gained favour and became more acceptable than the implied condescension of ''the Irish question''.

The [[Irish issue in British politics|Irish question affected British politics]] in much the same way that the nationalities problem affected [[Austria-Hungary]]. Normal British domestic issues could not be adequately addressed because of the political divisions created by the status of Ireland. The [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] split over Home Rule, with the unionist faction leaving to create the [[Liberal Unionist Party]], ceding control to the Conservatives, thus hurting the cause of further social and political reform.

==Post-independence and contemporary usage==
Following [[Irish War of Independence|Irish independence]] and the [[Partition of Ireland|partition of the island]] in the 1920s, issues relating to [[Northern Ireland]] have often been referred to as either "[[The Troubles]]" or "[[The Irish Problem]]".

In 2017, the term was also used to describe issues associated with the [[Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border#brexit|UK-Irish border]] and [[Brexit]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Toynbee|first1=Polly|title=The Irish question may yet save Britain from Brexit {{!}} Polly Toynbee|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/27/irish-question-save-britain-brexit-leo-varadkar|work=The Guardian|date=27 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-41689168|title=Brexit viewed from Brussels: The Irish question}}</ref> The term [[Irish border question]] has been used more widely in recent years.

==See also==
* [[Armenian question]]
* [[Aromanian question]]
* [[Condition-of-England question]]
* [[German question]]
* [[Jewish question]]
* [[Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question|Negro question]]
* [[Polish question]]
* [[The Race Question]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Case, Holly. ''The Age of Questions'' (Princeton University Press, 2018)  [https://www.amazon.com/Age-Questions-Aggregate-American-Tuberculosis/dp/0691131155/ excerpt]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Question}}
[[Category:History of Ireland (1801–1923)]]
[[Category:19th century in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:National questions]]