#OTD in 1896 – Birth of Kathleen Barry at 8 Fleet Street, in Dublin.

Kathleen Barry Moloney was the eldest of seven children. Her parents Thomas and Mary (née Dowling) and her aunt Judith ran a prosperous dairy that included an eighty-six acre holding at Tombeagh, Hacketstown, Co Carlow and a retail outlet below the family home in Fleet Street. When Thomas Barry died in 1908 the Barry family […]

Read More

#OTD in 1919 – Motion passed by Dáil that an Oath of Allegiance (to the Republic) should be taken by all members and officials of Dáil Éireann, and all Irish Volunteers.

Ernie O’Malley says that with this oath the Irish Volunteers became the Irish Republican Army (IRA). At a meeting of Dáil Éireann (the Irish Parliament not recognised by Britain), Secretary of Defence, Cathal Brugha called for all TDs to swear allegiance to the new parliament. Every person and every one of those bodies undermentioned must […]

Read More

#OTD in 1874 – Cathal Brugha (b. Charles William St. John Burgess) is born in Dublin.

Fuair sé bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. Twas England bade our wild geese go, that ‘small nations might be free’; Their lonely graves are by Suvla’s waves or the fringe of the great North Sea. Oh, had they died by Pearse’s side or fought with Cathal Brugha Their graves we’d keep where the Fenians […]

Read More

#OTD in 1922 – Death of Cathal Brugha from injuries received when shot by Free State forces on O’Connell Street on 5 July.

Fuair sé bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. Twas England bade our wild geese go, that ‘small nations might be free’; Their lonely graves are by Suvla’s waves or the fringe of the great North Sea. Oh, had they died by Pearse’s side or fought with Cathal Brugha Their graves we’d keep where the Fenians […]

Read More

#OTD in Irish History | 7 July:

1691 – Ginkel offers pardon and security of property to opponents. 1700 – MP for Co Sligo, Captain Hugh Morgan of Lord Dungannon’s Regiment, is summoned to appear before a board of general officers at the Curragh of Kildare to answer accusations of being ‘a rogue and rascal’ and several other complaints. (On 17 July, […]

Read More

#OTD in 1922 – A leading figure in the Anti-Treaty IRA who had refused to surrender, Cathal Brugha, appeared from the doorway of the Hammam Hotel, revolver in each hand, and was hit by a sniper’s bullet from the Findlater’s building. He would die two days later.

During the Battle of Dublin, Republican leader Cathal Brugha and a rearguard of 15 men, who stayed behind in the Hammam hotel after Oscar Trayner and most other IRA men had left. At 5.00pm, when the fires made the hotel untenable, Brugha ordered his men to surrender. He however, stayed behind, only to emerge from […]

Read More

#OTD in 1916 – Easter Rising Dublin | Day 4.

It is the fourth day of the Easter Rising and the remaining rebels are under constant attack. The GPO and Four Courts are being blitzed with machine gun and rifle fire, and large parts of Sackville Street (O’Connell Street) are up in flames. As British authorities come to terms with the situation in Dublin, fierce street […]

Read More

#OTD in 1919 – Third meeting of Dáil Éireann | Éamon de Valera was elected President of Dáil Éireann (or Príomh Aire) and appointed a cabinet.

De Valera issued a statement saying that “There is in Ireland at this moment only one lawful authority, and that authority is the elected Government of the Irish Republic”. When the First Dáil met in 1919, Éamon de Valera was the president of Sinn Féin and thus the natural choice for leadership. However he had […]

Read More

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

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

#OTD in 1919 – Daíl Éireann, chaired by Sean T. O’Kelly meets for the very first time at Mansion House in Dublin.

The first meeting of Dáil Éireann took place in the Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin. The session lasted a mere two hours. They were two of the most momentous hours in Ireland’s history. During this brief period the Dáil adopted a Constitution and approved the Declaration of Independence. By doing […]

Read More