Shortly before he died tragically earlier this year, the late Shane MacThomáis told the story of Martin Doyle in his regular column in the Northside People West. As historian and resident author at Glasnevin Cemetery, Shane was particularly familiar with the Dublin dead of the First World War and the Irish Revolution. His great empathy … Read more
Now that the centenary is upon us, isn’t it time that we stopped congratulating ourselves on rediscovering our First World War heritage? Isn’t it time to assess what that heritage actually amounts to? For all the pain, sacrifice and heroism of individual soldiers, not to mention the profound bereavement suffered by their families, the First … Read more
Ihe landing of arms at Larne on 30 March 1914 prompted the Irish Volunteers to purchase and bring ashore their own arms shipment. The O’Rahilly directed Darrell Figgis and Erskine Childers to a firm in Hamburg, where they purchased 1,500 rifles and 45,000 rounds of ammunition. Historian Alice Stopford Green was responsible for raising most … Read more
BARRY KEANE Mercier Press £19.99 ISBN 9781781172032 The killing of thirteen Protestants in West Cork in April 1922—the ‘Ballygorman and Dunmanway massacre’—is one of the most disputed incidents in modern Irish history. On 26 April 1922, Michael O’Neill (a local IRA man) was shot dead by Herbert Woods during an arms raid on the farm … Read more
ANGUS MITCHELL O’Brien Press £13.85 ISBN 9781847172648 Amongst the sixteen men executed after the 1916 Rising, the one whose role is most difficult to evaluate is Roger Casement. He comes across as a quixotic figure on the revolutionary margins, his importance and achievements overshadowed by controversy about the authenticity of records of his sex life … Read more