In the early years of the twentieth century the common ‘marching songs’ for nationalists were T.D. Sullivan’s God Save Ireland and Thomas Davis’s A Nation Once Again, both of which were identified with the Irish Parliamentary Party. By 1907 Peadar Kearney (Peadar Ó Cearnaigh) wanted to write something more rousing and original. Along with … Read more
In January 1914 James Nowlan, president of the GAA, advised every member to join the Irish Volunteers and ‘learn to shoot straight’. Nowlan took his own advice and, as a member of the Volunteers, was imprisoned in Frongoch internment camp following the Easter Rising. As a prisoner, he was among many who engaged in sporting … Read more
Located at 18 Beresford Place at Eden Quay, the current headquarters of SIPTU stands on the site of the original Liberty Hall, which faced the Custom House, not the quays. In the early nineteenth century the building had been a chophouse. Later it was the site of the Northumberland Commercial and Family Hotel and the … Read more
At the end of the nineteenth century most efforts at improving the lot of the Irish were constitutional, led by Charles Stewart Parnell. Parnell believed that solving the land question would be the first step on the road to Home Rule. For almost half a century—from the early 1870s to the end of the First … Read more
By Conor Carley WHY I PICKED THIS TOPIC I picked this topic because I love reading about the War of Independence. Even more interesting to me is the fact that a relative, James O’Donoghue, fought and died in that war. The O’Neill side of my family have always lived in Bandon. My grandfather, Brendan, owned … Read more