The month of July is named after Caius Julius Caesar—‘husband to every man’s wife, and wife to every woman’s husband’. But in Northern Ireland July is unquestionably the month of King Billy. The first half is taken up annually with the various events surrounding the commemoration of William’s victory in 1690 over his uncle and … Read more
Omagh-born Labour PRO John Devine enjoyed a particularly good rapport with the Northern activists. Before joining the staff in Labour’s head office in October 1968, he had been a journalist with the Irish Times for fifteen years, and before that with the Belfast Telegraph. His contacts in the North were good to begin with and … Read more
The year 1941 started ominously in Ireland with a number of bombings by German planes from 1 to 3 January, which many feared were a prelude to an invasion. When compared to what was happening in Britain the attacks were small, carried out by one or two planes; three people were killed in Borris, Co. … Read more
Relations between individuals in Labour in the south and their comrades in the North, including Gerry Fitt of the Republican Labour Party and Paddy Devlin of the Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP), had been reasonably strong in the late 1960s and were bolstered by the events of August 1969. When violence broke out in Derry … Read more
On Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, a small group of Irish Citizen Army soldiers under Captain Seán Connolly (no relation to James Connolly) attacked the centre of British administration in Ireland—Dublin Castle. At the time it was largely in the hands of civil servants, and sections of it had been handed over to a Red … Read more