"borne within this realme, or within the realme of England."[1]
It is to be noted that for the first time since the J invasion power was given to make provision for the Irish. Leix was to be divided, according to a subsequent project, between the original inhabitants and settlers whether from the Pale or from England, and such of the natives as were considered fit to receive grants were to be made freeholders.[2]
Already, three years before Mary's accession, there had been a plan for a settlement put forward by some of the gentry of the Pale. Some settlers had already penetrated into these districts, but this had only led to a new outbreak of the Irish, who were not subdued until 1556.
It is to be noted that the land of the O'Dunnes—Iregan—is not mentioned in the Act of Confiscation. This territory, in fact, was left in the hands of the Irish until the reign of James I. And although Clanmahere, the land of the O'Dempseys, was included in the confiscated area, no effectual confiscation ever took place. O'Dempsey, following the usual fatal policy of the petty Irish chiefs, broke away from his lord, O'Conor, and made terms for himself. In 1563 the then O'Dempsey received a grant which made him owner in fee of all the lands of his clan.[3]
The rest of Offaly, and Leix and Slewmargie[4] were divided among English and Irish grantees.
