Irish Houses of Parliament - After 1800: From A Parliament To A Bank

After 1800: From A Parliament To A Bank

Initially, the former Parliament House was used for a variety of purposes, including being used as a military garrison and an art gallery. In 1803 the fledgling Bank of Ireland bought the building from the British Government for £40,000 for use as its headquarters. One proviso was stipulated; it was to be so adapted that it never could be used as a parliament again. As a result, the only recently rebuilt House of Commons chamber, though one of Dublin's finest locations, was broken up to form a number of small offices; but primarily replaced by a magnificent cash office added by the architect employed to oversee the conversion, Francis Johnston, then the most prominent architect working in Ireland. However, contrary to the stipulation, the House of Lords chamber survived almost unscathed. It was used as the board room for the bank until the 1970s, when the Bank of Ireland moved its headquarters elsewhere. The chamber is now open to the public and is used for various public functions, including music recitals.

Of the contents of the building, some have survived in different locations. The Mace of the House of Commons remained in the family of the last Speaker of the House of Commons, John Foster, MP. The Bank of Ireland bought the Mace at a sale in Christie's in London in 1937. The Chair of the Speaker of the House of Commons is now in the possession of the Royal Dublin Society, while a bench from the Commons is in the Royal Irish Academy. The original two tapestries have remained in the House of Lords. The chandelier of the House of Commons now hangs in the Examination Hall of Trinity College, Dublin. The Woolsack, on which the Lord Chancellor of Ireland sat when chairing sessions of the House of Lords, is now back in location in the chamber on display. Copies of debates of the old Irish Parliament are now kept in Ireland's modern-day parliament house, Leinster House, on nearby Kildare Street, so keeping a direct link between the old bicameral Parliament of the Kingdom of Ireland and the modern-day bicameral parliament, the Oireachtas, of the modern Republic of Ireland.