In July 1660, he was appointed Solicitor General for Ireland, and in May 1661, he was elected to the Irish House of Commons as member for Carlow Borough; in September, he became the Speaker of Parliament in Ireland. On the death of King Charles II in 1685, Temple, although a staunch Protestant was happy to continue in office under the Roman Catholic James II, and so remained until the Jacobite takeover of 1689, which involved the exclusion of all Protestant office holders in Ireland; at which time he fled to England, and had his estates confiscated by the Patriot Parliament. He was knighted on 15 August 1663.