Nick Maxwell
Neutrality then and now
In his review of T. Ryle Dwyer’s Behind the Green Curtain (HI 18.2,March/April 2010), Eoin Dillon states that the book ‘allows present-dayneutrality to be presented as contingent, a pragmatic response ratherthan a fixed principle of Southern foreign policy’. In 1939 the FiannaFáil government quoted the Hague Convention of 1907 to support Irishneutrality. It defines in … Read more
Boycott’s house at Keem, Achill
Sir,—First of all may I compliment you on the excellent layout of my article on ‘Captain’ Boycott in your last issue (HI 19.1, Jan./Feb. 2011). The featured photo of Boycott’s house at Keem was provided by a student of the Achill Archaeological School, Connie Harrison, and she had requested that she be credited in the … Read more
Who was IRA GHQ Director of Organisation in 1921?
Sir, —Your edition of Jan./Feb. 2009 contained an interesting article by Risteárd Mulcahy on Leo Whelan’s painting GHQ staff, 1921. The caption identifies two of the people portrayed as Eamonn Price (organisation) and Eóin O’Duffy (assistant chief-of-staff). But were either of these men members of GHQ in the stated positions at the time of … Read more
Cromwell and Irish republicanism
Sir,—Fergus Whelan’s fascinating article on Cromwell and Irish republicanism (HI 18.6, Nov./Dec. 2010) brought to mind two interesting parallels between the Irish republicans of 1798 and the English republicans of a century and a half earlier. The Roundheads and Croppies both wore their hair short as a badge, and both Levellers and United Irishmen adopted … Read more