Poor Law Unions (PLU)

Under the Relief of the Destitute Poor in Ireland Act of 1838 (known as the Poor Law Act) Ireland was divided into 159 Poor Law Unions. Each union was responsible for administering relief to the poor and destitute within its boundaries. Unions were further subdivided into electoral divisions; each division elected representatives to serve on a Board of Guardians, which administered the workhouse in its area.

For administrative purposes Co. Kildare was divided into five Poor Law Unions (PLUs), with the workhouses of Edenderry (in Co. Offaly), and Baltinglass (in Co. Wicklow) Unions serving parts of the county, in addition to workhouses at Naas, Athy and Celbridge. The PLU administrative divisions were later used for other purposes, such as civil registration and elections. Minutes of the meetings of Boards of Guardians provide a detailed record of the workhouse and outdoor relief system. Surviving records are held in the County Archives. Substantial records survive for the Naas PLU, a fair amount for Athy and only fragments for Celbridge. 

A selection of the material is available online at the links below:

Athy Poor Law Union Indoor Relief Registers

Naas Poor Law Union Minute Books

Publications on Poor Law Unions in Co. Kildare available in the Kildare Local Studies collection 

150 years of caring: a history of St. Vincent's Hospital, Athy, by Frank Taaffe (1994)

Naas Poor Law Union during the Famine, by Karel Kiely (1994)

A history of Naas Hospital from Workhouse to Hospital, Naas Local History Group (1998)

Poverty in Naas Parish 1835-1849, by Diarmaid Russell (2019)

'Celbridge Charter, Celbridge Workhouse', in Whistlers and Runnners-In, by Lena Boylan (1984)

A brief history of Celbridge Poor Law Union, by Seamus Cummins (undated)