€50 Gold Proof Coin 2025- Daniel O’Connell

250th anniversary of the birth of Daniel O’Connell 

Born in 1775, to a wealthy Kerry family, Daniel O’Connell had limited access to a good education as a Catholic due to the Penal Laws. He was sent by his uncle to a local hedge school and later to France to finish his education. He would later flee to England to escape the violence of the French revolution to study law, before returning to Ireland to complete his studies. 

The French Revolution had inspired the Irish people to start a revolutionary movement of their own. However, after witnessing the violence in France, O’Connell believed in achieving greater freedom through more peaceful means. Following the 1798 rebellion, Britain passed the Act of Union in 1801, which abolished the Irish Parliament. Due to the continuing Penal Laws, Irish Catholics could not become members of the Parliament in London. 

O’Connell, while practicing as a lawyer, made plans to get the Act of Union repealed. In 1823, he helped set up the Catholic Association to demand Catholic Emancipation. He won the Clare by-election in 1828 by a large majority but, as a Catholic, he could not take his seat. 

Fearing another rebellion, the British government granted Catholic Emancipation in 1829. O’Connell could now take his seat and became known as The Liberator as he had ‘liberated’ Irish Catholics from the Penal Laws.