The UVF man incinerated in the bungled Ballyshannon attack in October 1969,Thomas McDowell, a quarry worker and father of ten, is stillcommemorated on UVF rolls of honour. As recently as 2006 one of itspublications, The Fallen and the Brave, puts his name at the head of alist of its volunteers killed in the Troubles. It … Read more
In April 1966 the Revd Ian Paisley, who had already earned his first token conviction for a public order offence, addressed the inaugural meeting in Belfast’s Ulster Hall of what became the Ulster Constitutional Defence Committee. In the course of a fiery speech he told his audience that in anticipation of republican subversion to accompany … Read more
Towards the end of 1968 Northern Ireland seemed to have pulled back from the brink. In response to pressure from the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) and from the Labour government in Westminster, and in spite of opposition from within his own cabinet, Prime Minister Terence O’Neill announced a reform package. Buoyed up by … Read more
In introducing this special issue Brian Hanley touches on some of the complexities and contradictions of that fateful year. The events in the North in 1969 transformed Ireland; it could be argued that the violence of that August continues to shape this country to the present day. Yet in comparison to ’68, commemorated last year … Read more
Sir, —In relation to Joost Augusteijn’s review (HI 17.2, March/April2009) on the controversy over the June 1921 shootings of the Pearsonbrothers at their family farm in Coolacrease, Co. Offaly, by the IRA,your readers may be interested in a scrap of information that I cameacross when editing Wilfrid Ewart’s A Journey in Ireland 1921 for UCDPress … Read more