The developments and achievements of the Irish administration, overshadowed by the more spectacular aspects of Irish history have received comparatively little attention. But Irish conditions in the 19th Century encouraged and compelled the state to exert itself on a more extensive front than in contemporary England and a number of government departments played a very active and often creative part in Irish social and economic life. In this work, originally published in 1964, and based on a wide range of printed and manuscript sources, the author shows how the administrative structure was drastically rationalised and modernised. The author is also interested both in the work the administration performed and the men who staffed it. The Irish administration during the century came into contact with many different aspects of Irish society.