Why did it take the Irish so much longer to get Independence from Britain than the Americans?

The Irish and the American colonials had their own grievances with the crown but while the Americans found independence in 1783 the Irish not until the 1920's. Why the big disparity?

Loooooocation! Location! Location! How I love our Location! We're not on the far side of the Irish Sea! ;).

Cheers, Joho.
 
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There are plenty of hostile natives in Ireland: the British Army and Irish loyalists (including both ones loyal to Britain and those just opposed to the French Revolutionary Army and its not-so-great relationship with the Catholic Church). And large armies in the 18th century had a way of developing plagues all on their own.

The British are perfectly capable of blocking both the Channel and Ireland; where do you think supplies for the French army in Ireland are going to come from?
I see your point but French ships could depart from the Atlantic ports, or Britanny and land in Galway or Kerry for example. That's a lot of (broken) coast to cover.
Ireland is a massive weak point of England, if it's taken it's surrounded in a way.

Of course such a task wouldn't be easy but the majority of the population would welcome the effort and would probably support them.

As you point out, the question is about the Catholic church. Will the French "liberators" be pragmatic or ideologists?
 
Most lay-man New Zealanders fall into the same category as many others I expect; Britain is an identity all on its own with no thought given to any other nationality except the Scots, who are clearly Scots. Most can't pick a Welsh accent out, of course, and anyone from Northern Ireland just gets lumped in with 'Irish'.

Part of that is history, in that in the 19th century NZ didn't have mass Welsh migration like it did from Ireland, Scotland and England. The NZ government never properly targeted Wales either for assisted passengers.
 
The Irish had less guns. Catholics were banned under the penal laws from owning guns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_Laws_(Ireland)
Most is rebels were armed with pikes.
pikemenshad.jpg

http://taramagick.com/1798.html
28187722_1_x.jpg

Maybe this is one of the reason why the American have the right to bear arms.
 
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Any hope of an independent Ireland is caught in a vicious catch 22.

Ireland by itself is too small and poor to have any chance of beating England by itself and needs the support of a European power.

However, due to its position, a strong power based in Ireland is a mortal threat to the U.K. and securing Ireland will become a top priority.

In that sense any Irish rebellion is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
 
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