The family of Irigaray[1] is of Basque origin;[2] in the early modern era one branch settled in southern Navarre, in the area along the Ebro known as Ribera Alta.

He was an excellent student who gathered meritissimus marks as sort of routine; however, at unspecified time though probably in the late 1860s he resigned the ecclesiastic path, reportedly because of his poor health.

Following the period of self-learning in 1877 he obtained the baccalaureate with an unspecified, probably Navarrese institution; he than moved to Madrid, passed most exams at Universidad Central[21] and graduated in civil and canonical law in 1878,[22] issued the appropriate ministerial certificate in 1879.

Irigaray lobbied on part of Navarrese wine growers[38] and demanded that the government introduce measures to limit production of “alcohol industrial”, nearing imposing a state monopoly.

However, the Carlist Navarrese daily El Tradicionalista sided with the breakaways; the loyalists decided to launch their own periodical, named La Lealtad Navarra.

[47] In 1890 Irigaray became secretary general of the Carlist Junta Directiva of Madrid, presided by the nationwide party leader, Marqués de Cerralbo.

[55] During the 1891 general elections Irigaray again stood as a Carlist candidate[56] in the district of Tafalla;[57] his counter-candidate was a conservative rival Cecilio Gurrea Zaratiegui.

The claim was endorsed in the Cortes by the fellow Carlist Matías Barrio y Mier, who agonized about buying votes in Caparroso;[72] however, the triumph of Gurrea was eventually confirmed.

[74] As member of the regional Madrid party leadership he had the opportunity to take part in gatherings of the nationwide Carlist command layer;[75] on exceptional basis he was seen beyond the capital and Navarre, e.g. in Manresa.

[77] In 1894 Spain was rocked by a scandal caused by a Carlist priest from Valencia, José Corbató; in his brochure he claimed that the regent Maria Christina was leading the Spanish freemasonry.

He then resolved to a number of tricks, e.g. he asked an auxiliary attorney, also a Carlist, to fake illness in order to save time,[80] or started calling numerous witnesses trying to demonstrate that their accounts were mutually conflicting.

In his 1896–1897 statements Irigaray remained entirely in line with the strategy adopted by Cerralbo;[87] he declared that colonial trouble was the result of Liberal mismanagement, that the Carlists for the time being were not gearing up to violent action, that they would do nothing which might endanger Spanish national interest, and that they had full trust in Carlos VII.

[98] He was among collaborators of Biblioteca Populár Carlista, a series of booklets launched by a Barcelona publishing house;[99] also some of his lectures in the círculo[100] were issued as separate pamphlets.

[103] It is not clear what was Irigaray's position about the conflict between the insurgent and the conciliatory factions within the party, which eventually led to the 1899 resignation of de Cerralbo and his replacement by Matías Barrio y Mier.

[104] Ahead of the 1901 elections Irigaray initially declared having been uninterested;[105] when an umbrella organization Unión de Católicos asked him to be its representative in another Navarrese district of Aoiz he declined, quoting poor health.

At that time the Liberals launched what is described in historiography as the first “campaña anticlerical del siglo XX”, with numerous related issues like status of religious orders, education, cemeteries, marriages etc.

[110] The Carlists were the first to mount a counter-offensive; in 1901 Irigaray with 4 other deputies filed a motion to derogate paragraph 11 of the constitution, which guaranteed religious liberty; the purpose declared was to re-introduce Catholic unity.

[112] Traditionalist press hailed his addresses as mastery of logic and rhetoric;[113] today scholars claim that they contained some canonical errors incompatible with the Catholic doctrine.

[117] Following the period of hectic activity in 1902 Irigaray had to temporarily withdraw into privacy, again because of his pulmonary problems;[118] he settled in Málaga, as its winter climate was recommended by doctors.

[121] Like 2 years earlier there was no counter-candidate standing and Irigaray got his mandate easily prolonged;[122] this time the Carlist minority in the chamber counted 7 deputies.