Tag: Eoin O’Duffy

#OTD in 1892 – Birth of General Eoin O’Duffy, near Castleblaney, Co Monaghan.

20/10/2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

Birth of Eoin O’Duffy, IRA man, Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and General Franco supporter, near Lough Egish, Co Monaghan. O’Duffy first came to fame when he led an IRA group which captured the first RIC barracks at Ballytrain taking from it weapons and explosives, during the War of Independence. Also present at this victory […]

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#OTD in 1933 – Fine Gael was following the merger of Cumann na nGaedheal, the National Centre Party and the National Guard, popularly known as the “Blueshirts.”

08/09/2023.Reading time 25 minutes.

In the face of intimidation of Cumann na nGaedheal meetings by the anti-treaty IRA and the rise in support for Éamon de Valera’s Fianna Fáil from 1926, a new strategy was required to strengthen the voice of the pro-Treaty tradition who now found themselves in opposition. The National Guard, popularly known as the Blueshirts, and […]

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#OTD in 1933 – The anti-Fianna Fáil Army Comrades Association, which developed into a fascist-inspired group nicknamed the “Blueshirts,” is outlawed.

22/07/2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

Éamon de Valera denounced the Blue Shirts organisation as unlawful, yet despite the Government’s ban, the Blueshirts also known as the National Guard paraded throughout the country. The Army Comrades Association (ACA), later the National Guard, then Young Ireland and finally League of Youth, but better known by the nickname The Blueshirts, was a far-right […]

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#OTD in 1893 – Peadar O’Donnell, novelist, editor of the newspaper An Phoblacht (The Republic) and social reformer, is born in Co Donegal.

22/02/2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

A school teacher by profession, he taught on Arranmore Island before leaving for Scotland to assist migrant labourers in their strike for improved pay and conditions. Returning to Ireland, he became involved in the Republican Movement and played an active part in the War of Independence. O’Donnell opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and in January 1922 […]

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#OTD in 1922 – An Garda Síochána | Guardians of the Peace of Ireland is founded.

21/02/2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

Prior to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921, Ireland was policed by the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Dublin Metropolitan Police. Needless to say, due to their loyalty to the old British regime and their association with the Auxilliaries and Black and Tans, the RIC was totally unacceptable to the vast majority […]

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#OTD in 1892 – Birth of General Eoin O’Duffy, near Castleblaney, Co Monaghan.

20/10/2022.Reading time 3 minutes.

Birth of Eoin O’Duffy, IRA man, Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and General Franco supporter, near Lough Egish, Co Monaghan. O’Duffy first came to fame when he led an IRA group which captured the first RIC barracks at Ballytrain taking from it weapons and explosives, during the War of Independence. Also present at this victory […]

Read More

#OTD in 1933 – Fine Gael was following the merger of Cumann na nGaedheal, the National Centre Party and the National Guard, popularly known as the “Blueshirts.”

08/09/2022.Reading time 25 minutes.

In the face of intimidation of Cumann na nGaedheal meetings by the anti-treaty IRA and the rise in support for Éamon de Valera’s Fianna Fáil from 1926, a new strategy was required to strengthen the voice of the pro-Treaty tradition who now found themselves in opposition. The National Guard, popularly known as the Blueshirts, and […]

Read More

#OTD in 1933 – The anti-Fianna Fáil Army Comrades Association, which developed into a fascist-inspired group nicknamed the “Blueshirts,” is outlawed.

22/07/2022.Reading time 3 minutes.

Éamon de Valera denounced the Blue Shirts organisation as unlawful, yet despite the Government’s ban, the Blueshirts also known as the National Guard paraded throughout the country. The Army Comrades Association (ACA), later the National Guard, then Young Ireland and finally League of Youth, but better known by the nickname The Blueshirts, was a far-right […]

Read More

#OTD in 1885 – Birth of Michael Staines in Kiltarnaght near Newport, Co Mayo.

01/05/2022.Reading time 4 minutes.

Michael Joseph Staines was born in Kiltarnaght near Newport, Co Mayo. His family moved to Dublin in 1904 and lived at Murtagh Road in Stoneybatter. Staines worked at Henshaw’s ironmongers on Parliament Street and joined the Irish Volunteers at their inaugural meeting in November 1913. Following a stint as quartermaster of the Dublin brigade, he […]

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