Tag: Ireland

#OTD in 1929 – Brian Friel, playwright and author of Dancing at Lughnasa, is born near Omagh, Co Tyrone.

09/01/2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

“It is not the literal past, the ‘facts’ of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language.” –Brian Friel When asked why he had two birth certificates, one dated 9 January 1929 and the other 10 January, the Irish playwright Brian Friel, replied: ‘Perhaps I’m twins.’ Originally from Tyrone, Friel moved […]

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#OTD in 1922 – Éamon de Valera resigns as President.

09/01/2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

In Dáil Éireann, Éamon de Valera resigns as President stating: “In view of the vote that was taken here on Saturday and which I had definitely to oppose as one that was tending to subvert the Republic which I was elected to my present position to defend and maintain; and as it appeared to me […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 9 January:

09/01/2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

1642 – Thirty Catholics are killed by the Scottish garrison and English settlers at Island Magee, Co Antrim. 1794 – Birth of Frances Ball in Dublin. Known as Mother Mary Theresa, she was the foundress of the Irish Branch of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM). In 1822 she opened the first institution […]

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#OTD in 1878 – Death of Fenian General John O’Neill.

08/01/2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

O’Neill is best known for his activities leading the Fenian raids on Canada in 1866 and 1871.   He was born in Drumgallon, Clontibrit, Co Monaghan, where he received some schooling. He emigrated to New Jersey in 1848 at the height of An Gorta Mór. He received an additional year of education there and worked […]

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#OTD in 1547 – Henry VIII suppresses the Chapter of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin; it will not be restored until 15 June 1555.

08/01/2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

The Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral is the head of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, elected by the Chapter of the cathedral. The office was created in 1219 or 1220, by one of several charters granted to the cathedral by Archbishop Henry de Loundres between 1218 and 1220.   For centuries, the Dean of St. Patrick’s […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 8 January:

08/01/2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

1547 – Henry VIII suppresses the Chapter of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin; it will not be restored until 15 June 1555. 1779 – Birth in Newry of actress Julia Glover. 1860 – The Church of St Andrew in Suffolk Street, Dublin, is destroyed by fire. 1871 – James Craig, Ist Viscount Craigavon, Unionist politician and […]

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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.

07/01/2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

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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#OTD in 2001 – Irish soil is sprinkled over the casket of Sister Theresa Egan as more than 2,000 mourners attend her funeral in St Lucia.

07/01/2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

Irish soil is sprinkled over the casket of Sr Theresa Egan as more than 2,000 people on the Caribbean island of St Lucia attended her funeral. She was killed in an attack on a Roman Catholic church on New Year’s Eve. Armed men with blowtorches and machetes attacked mass-goers of St Lucia. Seventy-two year-old Sr Theresa […]

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