After this had been completed, the lieutenant and council, according to the act, were required to certify the request for parliament "under the great seal of that land [Ireland]”,[2] and then forward it to England for approval.

As the point above demonstrates, parliament was virtually a rubber stamp, and it was the Irish executive who made the actual decisions in proposing policy.

[5] But as a result of the way it was framed in the act, it also removed that capacity from the English parliament and administration as well: legislation could only be submitted for approval by the Irish executive.

Clearly, this created severe inefficiencies in the legislative process, and thus gave the executive in Ireland as well as the crown an interest in relaxing procedure.

As early as 1496 "the rigid procedure laid down by Poynings' Law was not being adhered to",[7] and additional bills were commonly sent to England after the original request and were returned to Ireland before the meeting of a new parliament.

At this time, because the rigid procedure of Poynings' Law was not in the interest of any of the parties involved, especially the Crown and Irish executive, Quinn argues that "no hesitation was felt about transmitting additional bills" after the licence had been granted.

[8] After the Revolution of 1688 and the ensuing Williamite War, an important development in the Poynings' Law procedure took place in the 1692 parliament as some members of the Irish House of Commons sought to establish for themselves a more central role in the process of drafting legislature.

[9] Opposition to the executive was then expressed as the Commons used its veto power under Poynings' Law to reject "virtually two-thirds of the meticulously prepared government bills".

Although judicial opinion in both Ireland and England served to vindicate the position of the Lord Lieutenant and the English Government in the matter, it became clear that a compromise solution must be reached before parliament could be called again.

Now the Irish House of Commons had major input into the substance, or 'heads', of supply bills that would then be transmitted to the English Privy Council for approval, amendment or rejection under the Poynings' Law procedure.

The Declaratory Act 1719 declared the right of the Parliament of Great Britain to make laws for Ireland and overrule judgments of the Irish House of Lords.