House of Lords

The Lords' function was to debate and approve, block or alter Bills that were passed by the Irish House of Commons and proposed by the Lord Deputy of Ireland on behalf of the monarch.

 The House of Lords was presided over by the Lord Chancellor, who sat on the woolsack, a large seat stuffed with wool from each of the three lands of England, Ireland and Scotland. At the state opening of the Irish parliament Members of Parliament were summoned to the House of Lords from the House of Commons chamber by Black Rod, a royal official who would "command the members on behalf of His Excellency to attend him in the chamber of peers" Sessions were formally opened by the Speech from the Throne by the Lord Lieutenant, who sat on the throne beneath a canopy of crimson velvet.

 Sessions were generally held at Dublin Castle in the 16th century and 17th century, until the opening of the Irish Houses of Parliament in the 1730s.