March 28

1820 Sir William Howard Russell, one of the first modern war correspondents, whose coverage included the Crimean War and the American Civil War, born in Tallaght, Dublin. 1969 Death of Dwight D. ‘Ike’ Eisenhower (78), American army general, supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe during the Second World War and 34th (Republican) president … Read more

March 27

1972 Eight people, seven of them young girls, died when fire destroyed the offices of Noyek’s timber merchants in Parnell Street, Dublin. 1972 Eight people, seven of them young girls, died when fire destroyed the offices of Noyek’s timber merchants in Parnell Street, Dublin. 1968 Yuri Gagarin (34), Russian pilot and cosmonaut who was the … Read more

March 26

1922 An army convention held in the Mansion House, attended by 220 delegates representing 52 of the IRA’s 73 brigades, repudiated the authority of Dáil Éireann. 2000 Vladimir Putin, who had served as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for sixteen years, was elected president of Russia in succession to Boris Yeltsin. 1920 Alan Bell, a magistrate investigating … Read more

March 25

1981 The government and Dáil Éireann condemned the decision of the IRFU to send an Irish national rugby team to South Africa. 1957 The Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community (EEC). 1996 Mary Lavin, short-story writer (notably of ‘Tales from Bective Bridge’) and novelist, died. 1987 Lord Justice Gibson, of the Northern Ireland … Read more

March 24

1972 Following the resignation of the Northern Ireland prime minister, Brian Faulkner, and his cabinet over the transfer of security to Westminster, Prime Minister Edward Heath announced that the Northern Ireland government would be suspended and replaced by direct rule from Westminster, with William Whitelaw as secretary of state. 1922 Uniformed police officers broke into … Read more