Seventy-plus years ago—February 1944—and it is at last clear that the Allies are going to win the Second World War (1939–45). In Eastern Europe, the Red Army’s march west is gathering pace. In Italy, the Allied offensive at Monte Cassino is under way. And in Northern Ireland, in anticipation of D-Day, the number of British … Read more
The centenary anniversary of the Howth gun-running falls this coming weekend. It is being marked by an official ceremony, and the weekend will also witness a commemoration of the related (though less well-known) Kilcoole gun-running, which is being marked with what looks like a very impressive ‘Heritage Weekend’. The Irish Times has given a good … Read more
Robert Erskine Childers wrote these words in the darkness of his damp prison cell less than an hour before his execution for unlawfully possessing a firearm (ironically given to him by Michael Collins) during the Civil War. It was then, and has since, been speculated that he had been an agent of the Crown and … Read more
There has always been indirect evidence in Dáil Éireann and trade union archives of republican infiltration, and recently released Military Service Pension applications show that a number of IRA and IRB activists were engaged in precisely this exercise. Some members of the group submitted identical statements with their applications that: ‘I was a member of … Read more
In June 1935 a Dublin Board of Works employee was among a group assigned to remove presses from the cellar of the Post Office’s customs parcels section in 10 Parnell Square. When he removed several presses, however, some mortar appeared insecure and collapsed when disturbed. Upon further investigation, the employee realised that he had uncovered … Read more