As President John F. Kennedy prepared to leave Ireland after his June 1963 visit he spoke of his love for the nation and promised to return ‘in the springtime’. ‘This is not the land of my birth’, he told the crowds, ‘but it is the land for which I hold the greatest affection. I am … Read more
In the Great War, Belfast contributed more voluntary recruits per head of population than any other part of Ireland. Out of an Irish recruiting total of some 144,000 men, Belfast—which represented less than a tenth of the Irish population—provided 46,000. What factors motivated so many Belfast men to enlist? A unionist interpretation, formed during the … Read more
Thomas Westropp Bennett is one of those largely forgotten earnest, elder statesmen who were the political and administrative midwives to the infant Irish Free State. The son of a British army captain, he was the first Catholic in an old Limerick family of Protestant gentry; an ancestor sat in Grattan’s parliament. Active in elected local … Read more
The pious old man clutches his pilgrim staff as he crests a hill overlooking Lough Gill. He turns to view his kingdom laid out before him. It is Tiernan O’Rourke (Ua Ruairc), prince of Breffni (Bréifne), on his way to make pilgrimage to the holy island of St Patrick at Lough Derg. His sweeping gaze … Read more
Sir,—Your otherwise excellent article on Bloody Sunday 1920 was spoiledfor this reader, and I would imagine many others, by the words ‘Was thegovernment claim that their forces were fired on first true?’ At thattime the legitimate government of Ireland was Dáil Éireann, to whichthe vast majority of the Irish people gave their allegiance. The forcesof … Read more