This essay addresses the question of why Ireland’s sheep and wool diminished in economic importance during an era in which they seemed to count so much in other European states not tomention more distant territories? From 1782 to 1800, the Irish government and parliament enjoyed greater autonomy than earlier in the 18th century to shape what Julian Hoppit describesas a “political economy of wool”. However, they used their relative autonomy to discount theimportance of sheep and wool, substantially undermining their importance in the kingdom ofIreland. After the Union, there was a belated effort by Irish political elites to restore sheep asa basis for their country’s improvement, but it was a spectacular failure. The Irish woollen manufacturing sector enjoyed an ambitious revival of its own before coming undone in the 1820s.Integrating political economy and economic history, the essay emphasises the important rolethat wool played in Ireland’s internal political dynamics and its changing political relationshipwith Britain, and it shows the profound impact of these politics on the economic history of Irishsheep and wool.