Catholic Rent

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The Catholic Rent was the name of a subscription that was to be paid monthly to the Catholic Association. This was a tactic that was used by Daniel O'Connell to raise money for his campaign to gain Catholic Emancipation for Catholics, i.e. the right for Catholics to sit in parliament.

The Catholic Rent was a good method of campagining for Daniel O'Connell as it was cheap so the majority of Irish peasants could afford to pay it and it could be easily deduced how much support Daniel O'Connell had. Also it encouraged more Irish peasants to be actively involved in the campaign for Catholic emancipation as they would be encouraged to work harder for something that they were paying for.

This monthly subscription was so successful that O'Connell managed to successfully run his campaign for Cathoilc emancipation. This money was used for a number of purposes. The first was, of course, to fund the campaign for Catholic Emancipation. The money was also used for securing pro-emancipationist MPs a seat in Westminster so that they would be able to pressure the government from within the system.

Lastly and most important of all, the money was used to help Irish peasants in unfortunate circumstances and to help those tenants who were boycotting their Anglo-Irish landowners. This helped in gaining mass support as Irish peasants could see that O'Connell was promoting a good cause. Since this was the case it helped to attract support for the Catholic Association and its aims.