The Irish Patriot Party was an Irish nationalist political party in the Kingdom of Ireland that was active from the 1760s until 1801, when Ireland was incorporated into the United Kingdom.
During the 1720s, the term "Patriot" came to describe Irish supporters of the British "Patriot Whigs", and they consisted of middle-class Protestants. By the 1750s and 1760s, the Patriots were allied to William Pitt the Elder, campaigning for England's legal and trading benefits and personal freedoms to be expanded to Ireland. Henry Flood and Henry Grattan became the leaders of the Irish Patriot movement, which came to consist of Protestant landowners and members of the Irish Parliament who sought greater autonomy for Ireland. The Patriots advocated for reforms to address economic grievances, protect Irish industries, and assert Irish independence from British control; they were thus rivaled by the conservative Castle Party. The Patriots played a major role in the formation of the Irish Volunteers during the American Revolutionary War; these armed citizen militias were initially formed for defense against potential French invasions, but it rapidly grew into a significant political force demanding greater Irish independence and reforms. The Patriots demanded free trade with the outside world (through reform of the Navigation Acts, achieved in 1779) and greater self-government through the abolition of Poynings' Law, and, in 1782, Grattan argued against compromise and secured autonomy, causing George Washington to praise the Irish cause. However, the Patriots could not agree on how far and fast the Penal Laws could be reformed in 1783-1784; while the Catholic majority in Ireland did not have a unified political party, there were individuals and groups that advocated for catholic rights and relief from discriminatory laws. In addition, the viceroy increased the conservative majority by wielding patronage when required, and Grattan's failure to reform the tithe laws in 1788 meant a loss of Catholic support. The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1793 finally enfranchised Catholic voters, but the French Revolutionary Wars saw the rise of the radical United Irishmen movement in 1791. This rebellion was crushed in 1798; although most liberal Patriots opposed the rebellion, they became tarnished by association, and their party was submerged within the Whigs after the Act of Union 1800.