1992 The Maastricht Treaty, the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU), was signed by the then twelve member states of the European Communities. It was ratified by referendum in the Republic of Ireland in June by 69.1% to 30.9%. 1991 An IRA mortar bomb exploded in the garden of 10 Downing Street as Prime … Read more
1840 The Treaty of Waitangi proclaimed British sovereignty over New Zealand. Designed to safeguard the interests of the Empire and to appease sections of the native Maori population who sought Crown protection, the treaty was negotiated by the recently appointed lieutenant-governor, Captain William Hobson from Waterford. It was considerably flawed, however, not least because of … Read more
1992 Five Catholics were killed when UFF gunmen attacked a betting shop on the Ormeau Road, Belfast. Seven others were wounded. 1921 Katherine O’Shea Parnell (76), widow of Charles Stewart Parnell (1846–91), died at Littlehampton, Sussex. (See ‘100 Years Ago’, p. 70.) 1820 William Drennan (66), United Irishman, physician, co-founder of the Royal Belfast Academical … Read more
1922 John Butler Yeats (83), painter and father of W.B. Yeats and Jack B. Yeats, died. 1919 Éamon de Valera and two other prisoners escaped from Lincoln prison in a break arranged by Michael Collins and Harry Boland. 1963 Brinsley MacNamara (real name John Weldon), writer, notably of The valley of the squinting windows (1918), … Read more
1922 Ulysses by James Joyce was published in Paris by Sylvia Beach on the writer’s 40th birthday. 1939 Desmond O’Malley, Fianna Fáil TD and government minister in the 1970s and 1980s and first leader of the Progressive Democrats (1985–93), born in Limerick. 1969 Boris Karloff (81), stage name of William Henry Pratt, an English actor best … Read more