The Palatine arrivals reveal a striking tension between Protestant solidarity and the realities of urban scarcity. Dublin’s authorities presented protection from overcharging and assault as both charitable duty and a safeguard against disorder, while the refugees’ rural settlement promised landlords means of enlarging the Protestant population. This suggests that humanitarian welcome, confessional politics and economic calculation were inseparable in 1709. Their experience also contrasts with the insecurity facing Catholic families and displaced smallholders elsewhere in Ireland. How far should we interpret the Palatines’ reception as genuine refuge, and how far as a strategy for reshaping land, labour and religious power?