Why did the British Parliament restrict cloth exports from Dublin?

The British Parliament restricted cloth exports from Dublin because the city's flourishing cloth trade—bolstered by the arrival of skilled Huguenot and Flemish weavers in the late 17th century—began to compete directly with English cloth interests.1

To protect domestic industry from this competition, the British Parliament imposed export restrictions on Irish goods. This policy was part of a broader pattern of British trade regulations during the 17th and 18th centuries, which often prioritized the economic interests of the home country and contributed to the decay of many small Irish towns outside of Dublin.12