More than 3,300 obsolete laws enacted in the 19th century are to be repealed under a Bill due to go before the Dáil next week.
They include orders and proclamations that date from between 1821 and 1861, during British rule in Ireland.
They include more than 2,500 proclamations offering rewards for apprehending suspects for offences such as setting fire to houses, cow houses, ricks of hay, barns and flax and oat-mills; breaking eggs; and carrying out beatings with sticks, stones and nettles.
The incident that saw a beating with nettles happened in Mayo in 1834 after the attackers ordered two men to “sell potatoes on credit”. It is one of a number of potato-related incidents…