The Penal Laws made Irish Catholics an oppressed race in Ireland.

Evidence

As can be seen, the Penal Laws regulated every aspect of Irish life, civil, domestic, and spiritual. In effect they established Ireland as a country in which Irish Catholics formed an oppressed race. — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 127

Throughout most of the eighteenth century, Ireland was governed under a series of codes which have become known collectively as the Penal Laws. Under the terms of these Laws, Catholics were not permitted to vote or serve in Parliament or hold public office in any of the municipal corporations, or live within the limits of incorporated towns; they were forbidden to practice law or hold a post in the military or civil service. Catholics were forbidden to open or teach in a school, serve as private tutors, attend university, or educate their sons abroad. They were forbidden to take part in the manufacture or sale of arms, newspapers, or books, or possess or carry arms. No Catholic might own a horse worth more than five pounds. Except in the linen trade, they might take on no more than two apprentices, and Protestants might not take on Catholic apprentices. Catholics might not buy, inherit, or receive gifts of land from Protestants, nor rent land worth more than thirty shillings a year, nor lease land for longer than thirty-one years, nor make a profit from land of more than one-third of the rent paid; no Catholic estate could be entailed but instead had to be divided at death among all the children. By converting to Protestantism a Catholic son could dispossess his father and disinherit all his brothers. A Protestant landowner lost his civil rights if he married a Catholic, a Protestant heiress her inheritance. All bishops of the Catholic Church were ordered to leave the country under penalty of death if they remained or returned; no priest might enter the country from anywhere, and only one priest was permitted per parish, forbidden to set foot outside it without special permission. Like all Irish, Catholics paid taxes to support the Protestant Church of Ireland. Catholic orphans were to be brought up as Protestants. As can be seen, the Penal Laws regulated every aspect of Irish life, civil, domestic, and spiritual. In effect they established Ireland as a country in which Irish Catholics formed an oppressed race. On two occasions officials with judiciary authority in Ireland declared that “The law does not suppose any such person to exist as an Irish Roman Catholic.” It is impossible not to note the similarity of that summary with Judge Taney’s famous dictum in the Dred Scott case a century later: “The Negro has no rights a white man is bound to respect.” — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 127

Categorization

• XREF: The governing rationale for the reader’s interest: the Irish in Ireland were racialized under the Penal Laws, the starting point before emigration and the reclassification into whiteness in America. — connects to: Britain shifted Ireland from racial toward national oppression after 1801. — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 136; Religious identity racialized Irish Catholics as a separate inferior race; Employers justified Irish wage depression through racialized notions of Irish inferiority. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 256 (+9 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 127

Broader Connections

• Religious identity racialized Irish Catholics as a separate inferior race #corroborates (0.95)
• Racial categorization first targeted Ireland through internal colonialism #qualifies (0.78) — , Stephanie B. Martens - Civilization and…, 26
• Employers justified Irish wage depression through racialized notions of Irish inferiority. #complicates (0.75) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 256
• Post-Union free trade reduced Ireland to a dependent agricultural sector of England. #expands (0.75) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 252
• The 1801 Union reduced Ireland to a rural, dependent economy. #expands (0.72)
• A stabilized English monarchy enabled colonizing Ireland #expands (0.72) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 246
• Zionist press used Ireland’s independence struggle to justify similar tactics #responds-to (0.70) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 1161
• British colonial devastation made Ireland a primary labor source for British factories #expands (0.70) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3852
• Early twentieth-century US nativism racialized Irish Catholics, Eastern European Jews, and Mormons #corroborates (0.70) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 248