Tag: Austin Stack

#OTD in 1916 – Sir Roger Casement arrived in Tralee Bay, Co Kerry on board a German U-boat.

21/04/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

From 1915 Kerry was central to plans for the Rising. In autumn of that year Austin Stack, the leader of the Volunteers in Kerry and a member of the IRB was informed by Pádraig Pearse of the plans for the Rising. Arrangements were being made for an arms shipment from Germany to arrive in Tralee […]

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#OTD in 1921 – Dáil Éireann debated, resolved and finally on 11 March declared war on the British administration.

11/03/2018.Reading time 6 minutes.

In January 1921, at his first Dáil meeting after his return to a country gripped by the War of Independence, de Valera introduced a motion calling on the IRA to desist from ambushes and other tactics that were allowing the British to successfully portray it as a terrorist group, and to take on the British […]

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#OTD in 1921 – In an extremely hostile environment over the Treaty debate, Michael Collins smells some dirty work and addresses the House.

15/12/2017.Reading time 2 minutes.

MR. MICHAEL COLLINS: Mr. Speaker, there is just a little matter to which I would like to refer before anything else is said. It is this. My private office was raided last night and important books and documents were taken. Is there any member here who accepts responsibility for that raid? PRESIDENT DE VALERA: As […]

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#OTD in 1879 – Birth of anti-Treaty nationalist and politician, Austin Stack, in Tralee, Co Kerry.

07/12/2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

Under the influence of his father, Austin Stack joined the local Young Ireland Society and the local branch of the Irish National Foresters, and was a keen student of Irish history. Appalled at the Cinderella status of Gaelic football and hurling, he co-founded the John Mitchel club in Tralee and became its secretary. The remarkable […]

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#OTD in 1981 – Death of Bridget ‘Brede’ Connolly. Born in Co Carlow, she played a pivotal role in the 1916 Rising by dispatching messages for James Connolly in the GPO.

15/11/2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

Born in Friarstown near Killerig, Co Carlow in 1890, her parents were Peter Connolly and Elizabeth Gaynor, the daughter of a nearby farmer in Grange. By 1911, the Connollys were living in Artane, Dublin and, according to local tradition, they may have been evicted from their home and farm in Friarstown. While no trace of […]

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#OTD in 1917 – Thomas Ashe dies in the Mater Hospital in Dublin from the combined effects of a hunger strike and forced feeding at Mountjoy Jail.

25/09/2017.Reading time 3 minutes.

“You cannot put a rope around the neck of an idea… you cannot confine it in the strongest prison cell that your slaves could ever build.” –Sean O’Casey Ashe was born in Lispole, a Gaeltacht village in Co Kerry in 1885 and at an early age became involved in nationalist politics. He joined the Irish […]

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#OTD in 1916 – Sir Roger Casement arrived in Tralee Bay, Co Kerry on board a German U-boat.

21/04/2017.Reading time 3 minutes.

From 1915 Kerry was central to plans for the Rising. In autumn of that year Austin Stack, the leader of the Volunteers in Kerry and a member of the IRB was informed by Pádraig Pearse of the plans for the Rising. Arrangements were being made for an arms shipment from Germany to arrive in Tralee […]

Read More

#OTD in 1893 – Birth of Richard ‘Dick’ McKee at Phibsborough Road in Dublin.

04/04/2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

Richard ‘Dick’ McKee was born at Phibsborough Rd in Dublin. He became an apprentice in the publishing business at Gill & Son, Upper O’Connell Street, and then a compositor. McKee was a prominent member of the IRA. He was also friend to some senior members in the republican movement, including Éamon de Valera, Austin Stack […]

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#OTD in 1921 – Dáil Éireann debated, resolved and finally on 11 March declared war on the British administration.

11/03/2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

In January 1921, at his first Dáil meeting after his return to a country gripped by the War of Independence, de Valera introduced a motion calling on the IRA to desist from ambushes and other tactics that were allowing the British to successfully portray it as a terrorist group, and to take on the British […]

Read More

1921 – In an extremely hostile environment over the Treaty debate, Michael Collins smells some dirty work and addresses the House.

15/12/2016.Reading time 1 minute.

MR. MICHAEL COLLINS: Mr. Speaker, there is just a little matter to which I would like to refer before anything else is said. It is this. My private office was raided last night and important books and documents were taken. Is there any member here who accepts responsibility for that raid? PRESIDENT DE VALERA: As […]

Read More