by Joseph E.A. Connell Jr In 1913, members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in Dublin began drilling in secret. While drilling continued, the IRB requested Bulmer Hobson to approach The O’Rahilly, a prominent nationalist, to ask him to approach Eoin MacNeill, Professor of Early and Medieval Irish History in University College Dublin. MacNeill had … Read more
Kevin O’Sullivan (Manchester University Press, £65) ISBN 9780719086021 Historic ties between Ireland and Africa run deep. The earliest mission stations along the Congo River were founded by the Grattan Guinness family back in the 1870s. They provided King Leopold II with the stepping-stones for building his Congo Free State. In 1900 the Kells-born historian Alice … Read more
Peter Daly: good cop/bad cop ‘Documentary on One’, RTÉ Radio 1, 14 September 2013 Citizens: Lockout 1913–2013 Episode 5: ‘Consequences 1914–1916’, RTÉ Radio 1, 7 September 2013 Listening to Peter Daly: good cop/bad cop, it was hard not to feel that the story being told was as fit for the big screen as for a … Read more
The massive industrial unrest in Poland in August 1980, centred on the famous strike in the Gdańsk shipyard, had led to the creation of Solidarność, the first independent trade union in the Soviet bloc. Led by the charismatic Lech Wałęsa, the union had expanded rapidly, to a point where, by late 1980, it could count … Read more
Among the most serious public order issues facing the Irish government in the 1930s were the disturbances that annually occurred on and around Armistice Day in November. The IRA and other republican groups often seized the opportunity presented by the presence of British flags and symbols to put a significant presence on the streets, obstructing … Read more