By Paul Dixon On 12 April 1975, the general officer commanding (GOC) Northern Ireland (1973–5), General Sir Frank King, launched a remarkable public attack on the Labour government’s Northern Ireland policy. The government’s ceasefire with the IRA (1974–5) and determination to end internment had, effectively, stabbed the Army in the back. The ceasefire could hardly … Read more
By Tim Ellis-Dale On 2 May 1945 the streets of Monkstown, Co. Dublin, bore witness to the spectacle of Taoiseach Éamon de Valera entering Gortleitragh, a comfortable, if not overly grandiose, Victorian villa. From 1932 to 1936 it had been the residence of Domhnall Ua Buachalla, the last governor-general of the Irish Free State, but … Read more
By Jack Traynor In February 1933 Eoin O’Duffy was sacked as Garda Commissioner by Éamon de Valera. Turfed out of the Phoenix Park depot and deprived of his former privileges, O’Duffy became a private citizen after eleven years in the high-powered role. He was soon sucked into the vortex of politics, becoming leader of the … Read more
By Kieran Rankin Among the artist Lilian Lancaster’s renowned array of artfully drawn and vividly coloured maps of Ireland are some instances that combine Irish figures such as St Patrick with the map image of Ireland in a distinctive folkloric style. In contrast to more common feminised representations of Ireland in the form of Erin … Read more
By John Grant When Seán O’Faolain’s application for a service certificate landed on a clerk’s desk, signed and dated 22 July 1936, the document offered a private unveiling. His request to apply ‘for a pension as a member of the Irish Republican Army from 1918 to 1924’ was not administered for a year and, writing … Read more