Irish History, Culture, Heritage, Language, Mythology
“Give us the future, we’ve had enough of your past, give us back our country to live in, to grow in, to love.” –Michael Collins, during the treaty negotiations. Michael Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the […]
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First meeting of the two month negotiations commences at 11.00am. The Irish delegation which had arrived in London two days previously to a rapturous reception from their exiled kinfolk consisted of Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith (Chairman of the delegation), Robert Barton (Minister for Economic Affairs), George Gavan Duffy and Eamonn Duggan, The delegates were styled […]
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1430 – A great council meets at Dublin on this date; it states that Irish enemies and English rebels have conquered almost all of Limerick, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Wexford, Carlow, Kildare, Meath and Louth, so that hardly anything but Dublin remains in the colony. 1598 – The English poet Edmund Spenser is appointed Sheriff of Cork. […]
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In what would turn out to be a momentous decision, de Valera opted NOT to be one of the negotiators stating that the Irish parliament “recognised themselves but no one else did. He really believed it was vital at this stage that the symbol of the Republic should be kept untouched and that it should […]
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Arthur Griffith was one of the most important players in Irish Independence. Griffith founded Sinn Féin in 1905 as an Irish nationalist party whose objective was “to establish in Ireland’s capital a national legislature endowed with the moral authority of the Irish nation”. It was not until after the 1916 Rising that Sinn Féin became […]
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In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast day of St Muiredach mac Echdach of Killala. 1646 – Archbishop Giovanni Rinuccini, papal nuncio to the Irish Confederate Catholics, condemns their adherence to Ormond’s peace terms for failing to fully recognise Catholicism. 1652 – ‘Act for the Settling of Ireland’ allows for the transplantation to Clare […]
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‘At this moment, there is more ill-will within a victorious assembly than ever could be anywhere else but in the devil’s assembly. It cannot be fought against. The issues and persons are mixed to such an extent as to make discernibility an utter impossibility except for a few.’ –Michael Collins Although the Anglo-Irish Treaty of […]
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During 1899 and 1902, members of the British-Israel Association of London came to Co Meath to dig up the Hill of Tara. These ‘British-Israelites’ believed they would find buried there the Ark of the Covenant, the chest said to contain the Ten Commandments inscribed on stone tablets. Their strange and unlawful activity provoked a protest […]
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Lily O’Brennan, sister of Áine Ceannt, was born in Dublin in 1878. She was a writer and playwright and joined Cumann na mBan upon its inception; she was a member of the Inghinidhe Branch. During the Rising she served with the Marrowbone Lane garrison. She was arrested and held in Kilmainham Gaol and was released […]
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In a dramatic midnight swoop, police and military authorities arrested leading members of the Sinn Féin movement. Among them were a number of MPs and the party’s president, Éamon de Valera, who was seized at his home in Greystones, Co Wicklow and taken to Kingstown Police Station. Constance Markievicz was apprehended in Rathmines. Party Secretary, […]
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