Born in Washburn, Illinois, Ireland attended the common schools, Cheltenham Military Academy, Ogontz, Philadelphia, and Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois.

He was graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1901 and from the Illinois College of Law at Chicago in 1908.

He served as chairman of the Committee on Accounts (Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh Congresses).

He was appointed a director of the department of trade and commerce of Illinois in 1923, serving until his resignation in 1926.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress