To be aired on TG4, 9.30pm, Wednesday 7 December 2022 Over three nights in April 1922, thirteen Protestant men were shot dead in West Cork. According to Peter Hart’s 1998 book The IRA and its enemies, they were shot because they were Protestants—sectarian killings carried out by members of the IRA—and ‘the nationalist revolution had also … Read more
While not in the vanguard of the War of Independence, Donegal became the scene of the last stand-up fight between the IRA (pro- and anti-Treaty) and British military (in the ‘Pettigo triangle’), with the latter using heavy artillery for the first time in Ireland since 1916. On the outbreak of the Civil War some of these … Read more
How have Irish Travellers fared since the foundation of the state a century ago, and in particular since the 1963 Report of the Commission on Itinerancy? What are the challenges facing the current generation of Traveller activists? How can non-Travellers be effective allies? To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Martin Collins, Rose … Read more
At the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in June 1922 the anti-Treaty IRA numbered some 15,000, holding key positions in Dublin and throughout the country, in particular behind a defensive line running from Limerick to Waterford (the so-called ‘Munster Republic’). Their pro-Treaty opponents in the newly-formed National Army numbered less than half that. Why … Read more
On 22 August 1922, Michael Collins was killed at Béal na Bláth, Co. Cork. But what if he had survived? Would he have become a military dictator? (Was he one already?) Would he have been more or less ruthless than his successors in prosecuting the Civil War? Would he have torn up the Treaty and … Read more