Róisín Ni Mhéara—it is important to remember that she was not what she seemed. By Mark M. Hull When the Irish-language book Cé hí seo amuigh? appeared in 1991 it created momentary excitement, though the discussion was confined largely to the Irish-language press. The author was Róisín Ni Mhéara, an Irishwoman who had lived through … Read more
Dr Patrick McCartan’s mission to Moscow, spring 1921. By Michael Quinn When Éamon de Valera, president of the First Dáil Éireann, boarded the SS Celtic bound for New York out of Liverpool in June 1919, his mission to the USA was twofold: to seek recognition for the Irish Republic from the US government and to … Read more
‘A blow delivered against the British imperialist bourgeoisie in Ireland is a hundred times more significant than a blow of equal weight in Africa or Asia’ (Lenin on the 1916 Easter Rising). By Jérôme aan de Wiel In April 1917 the Germans sent Lenin aboard a sealed train from Switzerland to Russia with the aim … Read more
By Fiona Fitzsimons In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries some Huguenots fled the religious wars in France and settled in England and Ireland. As a group they had diverse social origins, and they assimilated into Irish society at every level, not only as artisans and businessmen. They were military pensioners, linen- and silk-weavers, silver- and … Read more
Images of the Irish in a revolutionary painting. By Royston Spears Between 1815 and 1845 perhaps half a million men and women left Ireland to escape economic hardship and famine, and crossed to Britain in search of work. There many of them began new lives as navvies, farm labourers and street traders. For much of … Read more