National Day of Commemoration (Lá Cuimhneacháin Náisiúnta) held on the nearest Sunday to this date commemorating all Irish people who died in past wars or United Nations peacekeeping missions.

In Ireland, the National Day of Commemoration/Lá Cuimhneacháin Náisiúnta, commemorates all Irish people who died in past wars or United Nations peacekeeping missions. It occurs on the Sunday nearest 11 July, the anniversary of the date in 1921 that a truce was signed ending the Irish War of Independence. The main ceremony took place at […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 30 May:

1630 – Birth of Charles Stuart who will become Charles II of Great Britain and Ireland. 1784 – Belfast’s first Catholic church, St. Mary’s, opens for public worship. 1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: The Battle of Three Rocks – Rebels capture Enniscorthy and Wexford town. 1807 – During the election for Co Wexford, two of […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 16 May:

587 – St Brendan the Navigator, early transatlantic voyager, dies. In the Liturgical calendar, today is St Brendan’s Feast Day. 1907 – Birth of Robert Tisdall, gold medalist in the 400 meter hurdles at the 1932 Olympics. 1916 – The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign the secret […]

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#OTD in 1867 – Eoin MacNeill, Gaelic scholar and co-founder of the Gaelic League, is born in Glenarm, Co Antrim.

Born in Co Antrim to middle-class Catholic parents, he was educated at St Malachy’s College, Belfast and became law clerk. In 1893, together with Douglas Hyde and others he founded the Gaelic League, an organisation devoted to the preservation of the Irish language, literature, and traditional culture. A brilliant historian and linguist, he was the […]

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#OTD in 1878 – Birth of patriot, Kathleen Daly Clarke, in Co Limerick.

Kathleen Daly was born in Limerick, the third daughter of Edward and Catherine Daly. She was born into a prominent Fenian family. Her paternal uncle, John Daly, a subsequent Mayor of Limerick, was at the time imprisoned for his political activities in Chatham and Portland Prisons in England. Her uncle was released in 1896 and […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 7 March:

1777 – Sir Philip Crampton, surgeon, is born in Dublin. 1848 – First unveiling of the Irish Tricolour by Thomas Francis Meagher at 33 the Mall in Waterford city. He was an Irish nationalist and leader of the Young Irelanders in the Rebellion of 1848. 1864 – Archbishop Paul Cullen issues a pastoral for St. […]

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#OTD in 1922 – Cumann na mBan votes overwhelmingly to reject the Treaty.

On 7 January 1922 the Anglo-Irish Treaty was approved by the Second Dáil by a close vote of 64–57. On 5 February a convention was held to discuss this, and 419 Cumann na mBan members voted against as opposed to 63 in favour. In the ensuing Civil War, its members largely supported the anti-Treaty Republican […]

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#OTD in 1868 – Birth of Irish patriot and revolutionary, Countess Constance Markievicz, née Gore-Booth in London.

Countess Markievicz, born Constance Georgine Gore Booth, politician, revolutionary, tireless worker with the poor and dispossessed, was a remarkable woman. Born into great wealth and privilege, she lived at Lissadell House in Co Sligo. She is most famous for her leadership role in the 1916 Easter Rising and the subsequent revolutionary struggle for freedom in […]

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#OTD in 1972 – Éamon ‘Ned’ Broy, agent for Michael Collins, and later Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, passed away.

During the Irish War of Independence, Ned Broy was a double agent within the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP), with the rank of Detective Sergeant. He worked as a clerk inside G Division, the intelligence branch of the DMP. While there he copied sensitive files for Michael Collins. On 7 April 1919, Broy smuggled Collins into […]

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#OTD in 1922 – Dáil Éireann votes 64 to 57 to accept the Anglo-Irish Treaty, creating the Irish Free State, setting the scene for the Irish Civil War.

Possibly the saddest day in Irish history when a vote on the Treaty unfortunately set the scene for the Irish Civil War. Thirty-two days after Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith sign the treaty in London granting Ireland legislative and financial independence for the first time since 1800, the divided Dáil votes on the Treaty: sixty-four […]

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