Nick Maxwell The numbers taking part in protests during the national day of mourning were unprecedented. In Waterford 20,000 took part in the ‘biggest demonstration for almost 60 years’, while in Castlebar 5,000 people joined in the ‘greatest show of unity in the county town since the days of the Land League’. There were estimates of 10,000 … Read more
Sir, —In response to my necessarily brief article on the EucharisticCongress (HI 15.6, Nov./Dec. 2007), Anthony Jordan (letters, HI 16.1,Jan./Feb. 2008) remarks on my neglect in not mentioning the Cumann nanGaedheal government, led by W. T. Cosgrave, which, in Mr Jordan’swords, ‘did much of the long-term planning for the Congress’. TheEucharistic Congress was in fact … Read more
Sir, —Your Jan./Feb. 2008 issue proves that controversy still haunts the Irish revolutionary period. Brian Hanley (‘Fear and loathing at Coolacrease’) rightly cautions against emotive approaches to the past, yet he steps into another ahistorical snare: believing that our present republic is a more or less inevitable consequence of the events of that period, rather … Read more
In July 1920 the IRA shot dead Lt Colonel Brice Ferguson Smyth, who had earlier made an infamous speech in Listowel, where he said that the police were perfectly justified in shooting people who did not immediately put their hands up when challenged and that, if mistakes were made, policemen should not face court proceedings. … Read more
‘Try telling that to young people today . . .’ In these recessionary times, with the future uncertain, it’s nice to be involved in a publication whose focus is on the past and give readers a break from current travails. But, as I scan the contents of this issue, it’s clear that there’s no getting … Read more