There has always been indirect evidence in Dáil Éireann and trade union archives of republican infiltration, and recently released Military Service Pension applications show that a number of IRA and IRB activists were engaged in precisely this exercise. Some members of the group submitted identical statements with their applications that: ‘I was a member of … Read more
Farmleigh is hosting quite a few festive events in the run-up to Christmas. But if anyone is planning a festive visit, they might also have a look at the exhibition on Sean O’Casey currently on display in Farmleigh House itself. O’Casey was born on Dublin’s Dorset St in 1880, into a Church of Ireland family … Read more
Monday 25 November marks the centenary of the foundation of the Irish Volunteers: an organization that remains strangely neglected by historians. There are a couple of articles on the Volunteers in the current issue of History Ireland, but a quick glance through our back catalogue didn’t turn up much. We have some very good articles … Read more
On 24 October 1913 Jack White organised a pro-Home Rule rally in Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, aimed at rallying Ulster Protestants who supported Home Rule. While support for nationalism and unionism was usually intertwined with confessional affiliation – nationalists tended to be Catholic, unionists tended to be Protestant – there had always been a small minority … Read more
There are historical commemorations all year round, and the significance of these will surely intensify in the course of the ‘decade of centenaries’. But how inclusive will these commemorations be, and how inclusive should they be? A case in point is the Kilmichael ambush of 18 November 1920. In early August The Southern Star reported on … Read more