to English subjects by checking and sometimes rejecting existing legal titles to land. This led to D'Arcy's involvement in politics, as he, Clanricarde, Richard Martyn and their generation tried to solve "a more complex political" problem. Writing in 1984, Liam O'Malley put it as follows:How could the Old English Catholics create a political structure in which they could have sufficient influence to safeguard their interests in the face of a Dublin administration appointed by a Protestant, and often hostile, English government? ... They felt constantly threatened by an intolerant Protestant administration and a hostile Established Church. Their position was being gradually undermined by confiscation of Irish lands and the steady build-up on the Protestant population of English and Scottish settlers ... Darcy had to cope with these difficulties in the course of his political career. By using their influence both in Dublin and London, led by the Earl of Clanricarde, the landowners of Connacht did what they could to prevent confiscation. Lord Deputy Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford called for a parliament to meet at Dublin in July 1634; D'Arcy having already been returned as Member of Parliament for Navan, Richard Martyn for Athenry. Others in attendance included Sir Henry Lynch and Dominick Browne, along with other Galwegians. However, Wentworth ensured that a Protestant-majority jury was returned, and from there cleared the ground for the confiscations to take place. By June 1635 preparations were in earnest, and inquisitions were to be held in Boyle, Mayo, Sligo and Portumna for juries to find the King's Title to the lands concerned and thus give a legal fiction to the proceedings. However, the jury of Galway found against the King, leading them to be imprisoned and D'Arcy to be fined 1,000 pounds. To combat this, D'Arcy, Martyn, and Sir Roger O'Shaughnessy travelled to London to present a petition on behalf of the Connacht landowners at court. As Wentworth considered the refusal of the Galway jury had put the entire plantation scheme in jeopardy, he did much to frustrate their efforts. Ultimately, all three returned to Ireland by May 1635, their mission a failure. Along with the Galway jury, they were tried, censured 400 livres each, and convicted. D'Arcy and Martyn refused to take the Oath of Supremacy and were instantly disbarred. D'Arcy's brother, Sheriff Martin D'Arcy, had been the head of the jury, and died in prison in June after ill-treatment. The