During the year 1799, the head-quarters remained at Stirling, and the recruiting went on but slowly.
In May 1800, the strength of the regiment amounted to about two hundred rank and file, when a route arrived changing the quarters to Paisley, but soon after the march an order arrived for its proceeding to Ireland. In June the regiment reached Portpatrick, and crossed immediately to Donaghadee, from whence it marched, under the command of Colonel Dalrymple, to Newry, and in a few days afterwards was removed to Dundalk.
In July the regiment received six hundred volunteers from the Scotch Fencible corps serving in Ireland, and remained at Dundalk until the close of the year, when a route for Dublin was received. At this period, Colonel Dalrymple was appointed brigadier-general, and the command of the regiment devolved on Brevet Lieut.-Colonel John French.
On the 6th of December Major Denis Pack was promoted from the fourth Royal Irish dragoon guards to be Lieutenant-Colonel in the SEVENTY-FIRST regiment, in succession to Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable John Lindsay, who retired from the service.
The regiment, early in the year 1801, marched from Dundalk to Dublin, and occupied the barracks in the Palatine Square. On the 24th of April, Lieut.-Colonel Pack joined, and assumed the command of the regiment.
In March 1802, in which month the Peace of Amiens was concluded, the regiment proceeded from Dublin, and was cantoned in the county of Wicklow. The corps was so divided, that at Arklow, the head-quarters, there were only two companies. In this situation it continued for the remainder of the year.
The regiment proceeded, in March 1803, in three divisions, to Ballinasloe, where it remained for a few days, and afterwards marched to Loughrea.
Major-General Sir John Francis Cradock, K.B., was appointed colonel of the SEVENTY-FIRST regiment on the 6th of August 1803, in succession to General the Honorable William Gordon, who was removed to the twenty-first Royal North British Fusiliers.
The regiment continued at Loughrea, but the light company was detached to Limerick, to join a light battalion which was being formed at that place.
In May the regiment proceeded from Loughrea to the county of Limerick, the head-quarters being stationed at Rathkeale; one detachment at Newcastle, another at Tarbert, and a third at Askeaton.