Nick Maxwell

1985 The Progressive Democratic (PD) Party was founded by Desmond O’Malley. The first public meeting took place the following month. 1948 The Republic of Ireland Act repealed the External Relations Act (1936), providing for the declaration of an Irish Republic. 1917 Heinrich Boll, author of Irish journal (1957) and Nobel Laureate (1972), born in Cologne. … Read more

2004  Around £26.5 million was stolen from the headquarters of the Northern Bank, Belfast, allegedly by the IRA. It was the biggest bank robbery in Irish history. 1968  John Steinbeck (66), American novelist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1962), died. In his early days, Steinbeck spent much of his time on the … Read more

1985 All fifteen Ulster Unionist MPs resigned their seats in the House of Commons in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement. 1936 Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Flores, Buenos Aires, the eldest of five children of an Italian immigrant accountant (80 today). 1911 The Local Authorities (Ireland) (Qualification of Women) Act allowed women to … Read more

1971 General Richard Mulcahy (85), revolutionary and politician, and founder-member of Fine Gael (1933), died. 1971 General Richard Mulcahy, second-in-command to Thomas Ashe in Easter Week 1916, chief-of-staff of the IRA during the War of Independence, GOC of Provisional Government military forces during the Civil War, government minister and leader of Fine Gael (1944–59), died. … Read more

1930 Edna O’Brien, novelist, most famous for her first, The country girls (1960), born in Tuamgraney, Co. Clare, the daughter of a farmer. 1920 Canon Thomas Magner and a local man, Tadhg Crowley, were shot dead by an Auxiliary officer in Dunmanway, West Cork. 1994  John Bruton, leader of Fine Gael, was elected taoiseach in succession … Read more