Independent Ireland
on the issue of Irish Independence
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Another forgotten centenary of Britain’s Great War just passed by without comment. In August 1915 a Catholic Bishop, Edward O’Dwyer of Limerick, shattered the Redmondite propaganda about the Great War by stating that it was all about destroying Germany as a commercial rival and that anyone wishing to prolong it was guilty of a “crime…
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The Easter Proclamation which Padraig Pearse read from the steps of the GPO at Easter 1916 is the founding document of the Irish Republic. It makes specific reference to “our gallant allies in Europe.” Who else could these “gallant allies” be but the Germans and Turks? The founding fathers of what was to become the…
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The centenary of a most important event passed by unnoticed in Ireland last month. And yet it was an event that more than anything else went into another famous event which will be commemorated next year, Easter 1916. An understanding of what happened in Ireland in Easter 1916 is impossible without an understanding of what…
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One hundred years ago this week, in Dublin, a very significant event occurred – or an event that was supposed to be of the utmost significance. It was an assembly of the embryonic Irish Home Rule army past the Irish Home Rule government-in-waiting that the British Government had promised would come into operation at the…
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Lord Hankey’s ‘The Supreme Command’ was preceded by ‘Government Control in War’ (1945) a collection of the Lees Knowles series of lectures given by Hankey in Trinity College, Cambridge at the end of the second war on Germany. In these lectures Hankey gave a taste of what he was going to say in far greater…
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In view of the entertaining RTE series on Charles Haughey it is worth considering Charlie’s role in the Irish Peace Process. The following account is from ‘Resurgence – The Catholic Predicament in ‘Northern Ireland’, 1969-2015’ which is due for publication in the spring: An important development occurred in the 26 Counties in December 1979 when…
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Gerry Adams recently referred to the fact that Ulster Unionists have a big problem with equality. The question must therefore be asked, why? Unionism seems uninterested in equality even when and where there is numerical equality between the communities in the North. It is determined to fly the flag over “Fenians” as much as it…
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Here is a version of a talk I gave on 31st August 2014, at St. Mary’s College, Falls Road as part of Féile an Phobail (West Belfast Festival) on the Catholic predicament in ‘Northern Ireland’ 1914-68. The event was chaired by Mark Langhammer and introduced by Jim Gibney. “In 1920/1 the Catholics of the North…
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The Gerry Adams slip that described the Sinn Fein equality agenda as a Republican Trojan Horse has, says Unionism, let the cat out of the bag. Mike Nesbitt, the UUP leader, said that the Sinn Fein leader “has taken what we all politically assumed was a core value and part of the vision for the…
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Jack Lane’s Address at the 94th Kilmichael Commemoration, Co. Cork, scene of the devastating ambush of Crown forces in Ireland, refers to the fact that the Irish War of Independence is being fought all over again today. He emphasises that the Boys of Kilmichael “should be honoured without qualification or reservation”. Jack Lane also says…
