#OTD in 1869 – Birth of athlete, Tom Kiely, in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary.

Tom Kiely competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri, in the all-round, which consisted of 100 yd run, shot put, high jump, 880 yd walk, hammer throw, pole vault, 120 yd hurdles, 56 pounds weight throw, long jump and 1 mile run. He won the gold medal. Kiely was thirty-four at […]

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#OTD in 1920 – The Restoration of Order in Ireland Act received Royal assent.

The Act gave Dublin Castle the power to govern by regulation; to replace the criminal courts with courts-martial; to replace coroners’ inquests with military courts of inquiry; and to punish disaffected local governments by withholding their grants of money. The violence of the War of Independence was at first deeply unpopular with the broader Irish […]

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#OTD in 1775 – Birth of Daniel O’Connell in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry.

Daniel O’Connell was born in Cahirsiveen, Co Kerry. He would go on to be one of the most important figures in Irish political and Catholic civil rights history. He campaigned for Catholic Emancipation – the right for Catholics to sit in the Westminster Parliament, denied for over 100 years – and Repeal of the Union […]

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#OTD in 1999 – A report of the Victim’s Commission, established by the Irish government, into the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings recommended the appointment of a former Supreme Court judge to inquire privately into events surrounding the bombings.

Thirty-four people were killed and over 400 were injured in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Although it was intended that the findings would eventually be made public, the families of the victims wanted the immediate establishment of a public tribunal of Inquiry. Other recommendations of the report were that a similar Inquiry be established into […]

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#OTD in 1877 – Death of Gaelic scholar, John O’Mahony, founding member of the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States, sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

THE FENIAN MOVEMENT – The Fenians wanted one simple desire for Ireland – Independence from British rule. The Great Hunger had a massive impact on Ireland. Many in Ireland believed that the government in London, to solve the ‘Irish Problem’, had deliberately did as little as possible to aid the people of Ireland – in […]

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#OTD in 1867 – A bomb was planted at Clerkenwell gaol, in London, in an attempt to free Irish Fenian prisoners, notably Richard Burke.

The Fenians simply wheeled a barrel of gunpowder up to the wall of the facility when they expected the inmates to be at exercise in the adjacent yard. The explosion blasted a 60-foot gap in the wall; the inward-collapsing rubble might easily have been the death rather than the salvation of the prospective beneficiaries, except […]

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#OTD in 1922 – The Parliament of the occupied six counties of Northern Ireland opt out of the Free State.

The parliament of Northern Ireland exercises its option to opt out of the Irish Free State and petitions King George V: “MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN, We, your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Senators and Commons of Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled, having learnt of the passing of the Irish Free State Constitution Act, 1922, […]

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#OTD in 1869 – Birth of athlete, Tom Kiely, in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary.

Tom Kiely competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri, in the all-round, which consisted of 100 yd run, shot put, high jump, 880 yd walk, hammer throw, pole vault, 120 yd hurdles, 56 pounds weight throw, long jump and 1 mile run. He won the gold medal. Kiely was thirty-four at […]

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#OTD in 1920 – The Restoration of Order in Ireland Act received Royal assent.

The Act gave Dublin Castle the power to govern by regulation; to replace the criminal courts with courts-martial; to replace coroners’ inquests with military courts of inquiry; and to punish disaffected local governments by withholding their grants of money. The violence of the War of Independence was at first deeply unpopular with the broader Irish […]

Read More

#OTD in 1775 – Birth of Daniel O’Connell in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry.

Daniel O’Connell was born in Cahirsiveen, Co Kerry. He would go on to be one of the most important figures in Irish political and Catholic civil rights history. He campaigned for Catholic Emancipation – the right for Catholics to sit in the Westminster Parliament, denied for over 100 years – and Repeal of the Union […]

Read More