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Notes -
Put simply the aristocratic land-owning class of Ireland were Anglican, and the urbanised industrial area of Ulster was mostly Presbyterian. Catholics were harshly restricted by the Penal Laws but Presbyterians were deprived of certain rights also.
The United Irishmen, formed in Belfast by Presbyterian merchants in 1791, were inspired by American and French revolutionary ideals and saw the source of their evils in British rule and the Protestant (Anglican) Ascendency. They were happy to make common cause with Catholics, and Catholics were happy to do the same for obvious reasons. There were also some Anglicans involved who ended up making a majority of the actual military leaders during the coming rebellion.
Supported by a (late) French invasion the United Irishmen led a failed rebellion in 1798 to end British rule. Ironically it was the justification Britain needed to deprive Ireland of its parliament and form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which led to another abortive uprising in 1803.
I'll quote Wolfe Tone, one of the Leaders of the United Irishmen, because it's about a concise a statement of Irish nationalism as you'll get:
This was the first and I think the only time Catholics and Presbyterians worked together under the banner of republicanism. In the 19th and early 20th centuries you started seeing a lot more Anglican figures amongst Ireland's republican and nationalist movements.
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