Under the terms of Poynings' Law of 1495, no law could be passed by the Parliament of Ireland that was not first approved by the Privy Council of England. In 1719, the Parliament of Great Britain passed the Declaratory Act which further restricted Irish legal independence by declaring that the British Parliament could directly pass laws in Ireland and that the British House of Lords was the highest court of appeal for Ireland.
These laws gave the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the representative in Ireland of the British government, control over the agenda of the Irish Parliament and authority to restrict its ability to legislate contrary to the objectives of the British government in London.
The British Rockingham Ministry had conceded the act in fear of an American-style revolt. This concession was followed by the Irish Appeals Act 1783, commonly known as the Renunciation Act. By the terms of this act, the Parliament of Great Britain renounced all right to legislate for Ireland, and declared that no appeal from the decision of any court in Ireland could be heard in any court in Great Britain.
Grattan's Parliament also achieved greater control over the Royal Irish Army.