 At the very place in Westport where in 1879 Parnell once launched the Irish Land League, and in response to the near-famine of 1897–98, O’Brien established a new organisation, the "United Irish League" (UIL) in January 1898 under the banner of ‘’The Land for the People’.The League had as its prime declared object the breaking up of the large grassland farmers, by compelling them to surrender their lands voluntarily to the Congested Districts Board, established by Balfour in 1891, for redistribution among the tenants of smaller agricultural holdings.It was largely welcomed even among some of the clergy while the authorities on the other hand kept the new movement under close observation.