In the Liturgical calendar, it is the Feast day of St Éogan of Ardstraw.

1170 – Richard De Clare (Strongbow), a henchman of Henry II, arrives in Waterford at the behest of Dermot McMurrough, an event described in the Annals of Ulster as “the beginning of the woes of Ireland”.

1742 – Birth of Walter Hussey (Burgh), lawyer, politician and orator.

1749 – Birth of John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare PC, in Dublin. He was the son of John FitzGibbon and his wife Isabella Grove, daughter of John Grove, of Ballyhimmock, Co Cork. FitzGibbon, later known as Earl of Clare or Lord Clare, was Attorney-General for Ireland in 1783, then Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1789, (in which capacity he was first promoted to the Irish peerage). He was a controversial figure in Irish history, being described variously as a Protestant hardliner, a staunch anti-Catholic, and an early supporter of Union with England (which finally happened shortly before his death). He is said to have been an early opponent of measures for Catholic political relief (meaning the removal of some or all legal disabilities against Catholics) in both Ireland and Great Britain, and may have been the first to suggest to George III that the King would violate his coronation oath if he consented to the admission of Catholics to Parliament.

1825 – Death of Michael Dwyer. He was a Society of the United Irishmen leader in the 1798 rebellion. He later fought a guerilla campaign against the British Army in the Wicklow Mountains from 1798-1803. Dwyer was born in Camera, Co Wicklow. In 1784 the family moved to a farm at Eadesown in the Glen of Imaal. Dwyer was a cousin of Anne Devlin who would later achieve fame for her loyalty to the rebel cause following the suppression of Robert Emmet’s rebellion.

1887 – The Land Act gives courts the power to revise and fix rents.

1908 – Birth in Dublin of Mervyn Wall, writer who wrote under the pseudonym of Eugene Welply.

1912 – Birth of Irish American actor Gene Kelly.

1914 – Death of Maurice Dease the first soldier to win a Victoria Cross medal in WWI. Dease was born in Coole, Co Westmeath. He won the posthumous award for his bravery during the Battle of Mons Belgium, just nineteen days after World War I breaks out.

1920 – Violent clashes in Belfast; 30 people are killed between 23 August and 31 August; Catholics are expelled from shipyards and engineering works.

1953 – Birth of John Rocha, fashion designer, based mainly in Dublin since the late seventies.

1971 – A British soldier was killed by the IRA in Belfast.

1972 – Four civilians and a British Army soldier were injured in separate overnight shooting incidents in Belfast, Holywood, and Lurgan.

1972 – Lord Killanin becomes the first Irish president of the International Olympic Committee.

1988  – Gerard Harte was extradited from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland.

1993 – Both the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and Republican sources denied a report on 22 August 1993 in the Sunday Times that the British Government and army had drawn up a secret peace strategy towards the end of 1992 involving contacts and eventual talks with the IRA. A similar claim was made by James Molyneaux, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), on 11 July 1993. The newspaper claimed that the strategy involved a 60-point blueprint for reducing violence. The NIO reiterated the British government’s position that “there cannot be talks or negotiations with people who use or threaten violence to advance their arguments.” Details of a series of secret talks were revealed on 28 November 1993.

1995 – RTÉ reports on the closure of the Irish Press newspaper.

1998 – Christopher McWilliams, Officer Commanding (OC) of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in Long Kesh Prison, declared that the “war is over”.

1998 – A memorial service for the victims of the Omagh bombing is held at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin and attended by many dignitaries including President Mary McAleese.

1998 – David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), travelled to Portadown for a meeting with local representatives of the Orange Order about the continuing protest at Drumcree. Trimble was called a “traitor” by Loyalists as he entered the meeting.

1999 – Dublin Bus opens the controversial Stillorgan Quality Bus Corridor and triples travelling time for city bound motorists.

1999 – Bus Éireann announces a luxury Expressway coach hourly daily service from Limerick to Dublin.

1999 – Death of James White, author of science fiction novellas, short stories and novels. He was born in Belfast and returned there after spending some early years in Canada. After a few years working in the clothing industry, he worked at Short Brothers Ltd., an aircraft company based in Belfast, from 1965 until taking early retirement in 1984 as a result of diabetes. White married Margaret Sarah Martin, another science fiction fan, in 1955 and the couple had three children. He died of a stroke.

2000 – Samuel Rockett (21), a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), was shot dead while in his girlfriend’s home in the Lower Oldpark area, north Belfast. The Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), a cover name (pseudonym) used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), was responsible for the killing. The killing was part of a feud between the UDA and the UVF.

2001 – An Bord Pleanála grants permission to build a four-lane bridge between Macken Street and Guild Street in Dublin.

2001 – The security alert on the railway line by the Foyle Bridge in Derry continued for a second day causing disruption to traffic in the city. Later in the afternoon British Army technical officers defused a bomb at the site. The bomb, estimated at 60 kilograms, was based on ‘home-made’ explosives and was planted by the “real” Irish Republican Army (rIRA). British Army personnel dealt with two pipe-bombs that were uncovered during a search of the Desertmartin Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club near Magherafelt, Co Derry. There were two other pipe-bomb attacks on GAA clubs at Garvagh and Gulladuff in Co Derry the previous day.

2001 – The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) published a report on the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Northern Ireland. The report found that discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual people was widespread in the region. The report ‘Enhancing the Rights of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual People in Northern Ireland‘ was compiled by the University of Ulster.

2001 – Fowlk Richts, an Ulster Scots human rights group, provided details (Irish Times) of a report it had passed to the British government and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission on the number of Protestants that had been forced from their homes since 1970. The report stated that an estimated 250,000 protestants had moved home because of direct threats, or indirect threats, or intimidation. The figure of 250,000 appears to be much higher than previous estimates. The major periods of forced movement of population occurred during 1969 and 1971 particularly in the Belfast area. Studies at that time showed that of those families forced to move approximately 60 per cent were Catholic and 40 per cent were Protestant.

Image | Rockfleet Castle, or Carrickahowley Castle, a tower house near Newport, Co Mayo. It was built in the mid-sixteenth century, and is most famously associated with Gráinne O’Malley.

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