According to Wikipedia the Penal Laws were intended to 'discriminate against Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters (for example Presbyterians) in favour of the established Church of Ireland.' However I have been unable to verify this elsewhere. Regards, Patsy - New Zealand. Subject: Re: [CoTyIre] History behind our history > And then the later penal laws dictated that one could not inherit the > land or do alot of other nice things unless one converted to the Church > of Ireland. There are lists of dissenters and non conformists as well as > lists of converts. Intended to address primarily Catholics, I think the > laws also applied to any protestant that was not Anglican. Does anyone > know?