Central Board

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Central Board was a plan in the mid-1880s to shift some Irish law-making powers from Westminster to an elected board in Ireland. It was meant to help the Irish Home Rule movement by giving Ireland a degree of self-government, though not full legislative independence. The plan was never adopted and was superseded by the First Home Rule Bill of 1886. After the 1800 Act of Union, Ireland had been governed directly from England. While Catholic emancipation advanced Catholics' position, Daniel O'Connell's broader campaign to repeal the Union in the 1830s and 1840s had failed. In the 1870s–80s, reform of land ownership took center stage, and Irish Land Acts were passed, but many still wanted meaningful political structures. The Central Board scheme, proposed by Joseph Chamberlain in 1884–85, would have created local government with a national body chosen by democratically elected county councils, handling mainly local issues. Chamberlain won some Catholic bishops' support, and he hoped to negotiate with Charles Stewart Parnell through Captain O'Shea. But Prime Minister William Gladstone thought the plan too radical and, facing doubts about Home Rule, resigned. He later opposed the 1886 Home Rule Bill. The rejection of the Central Board may have left bitterness toward the Irish Parliamentary Party.