#OTD in Irish History – 13 January:

13/01/2019.Reading time 9 minutes.

1695 – Jonathan Swift was ordained as a priest in the Church of Ireland. 1702 – Birth of Thomas Arthur Lally in Romans, France. He was a French General of Irish Jacobite ancestry. Lally commanded French forces, including two battalions of his own red-coated Regiment of Lally of the Irish Brigade, in India during the […]

The War Hollow

11/01/2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

Viking influence in the Celtic lands goes back to the very beginning of the Viking Age, when men from Scandinavia decided to make the perilous journey across the seas to take what treasures they could. One of these Viking raiders was Magnus Olaffson (Magnús Óláfsson), better known as Magnus Barelegs or Barefoot, the king of […]

#OTD in Irish History – 10 January:

10/01/2019.Reading time 10 minutes.

1751 – Cornelius Bolton, politician, Volunteer and improving landlord is born. He was a very progressive landlord and was very interested in helping his tenants progress. 1814 – Aubrey Thomas De Vere, a poet who adapted early Gaelic tales, is born in Co Limerick. He helped the Celtic revival encouraging the study of Celtic legend […]

#OTD in Irish History – 4 January:

04/01/2019.Reading time 10 minutes.

1581 – Birth of prolific scholar and church leader, James Ussher, in Dublin. He was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. Most famous for his chronology that sought to establish the time and date of the creation as ‘the entrance of the night preceding the […]

#OTD in 1922 – Michael Collins Defends Treaty as Debate Resumes.

03/01/2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Treaty debate resumes in Dáil. An emotional Michael Collins said: “Well, the suggestion is this: I have my own feelings about the Treaty. I have feelings about it perhaps very much keener than Deputies who are against it. Well, I believe that the Treaty was inevitable, and this is the suggestion: that the men and […]

#OTD in 1948 – The Republic of Ireland Act is signed into law by President Seán T. O’Kelly at Áras an Uachtaráin in the presence of the Government of Ireland.

21/12/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 is an Act of the Oireachtas which declared that Ireland may be officially described as the Republic of Ireland, and vested in the President of Ireland the power to exercise the executive authority of the state in its external relations, on the advice of the Government of Ireland. The […]

#OTD in 1921 – Vitriolic Treaty debate starts in Dail Éireann.

19/12/2018.Reading time 14 minutes.

Ireland starts to tear itself apart as opposing forces debate the Treaty, setting the stage for a vicious Civil War. Following are some passionate speeches from Arthur Griffith, Éamon de Valera and Michael Collins. Arthur Griffith: “(I move) that Dáil Éireann approves of the Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland, signed in London on December […]

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

07/12/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

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, […]

#OTD in 1921 – Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith and the other plenipotentiaries return from London to present Britain’s proposed treaty draft to government colleagues.

02/12/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Presentation of the British draft of the Anglo-Irish Treaty took place from 1-6 December, with the delegates returning to Dublin on this date for two days to present the proposed draft to their colleagues, they returned to London to further negotiate and signed the Treaty (Articles of Agreement) on 6 December 1921. Collins was not […]

The Stolen Children – Hopes and Dreams Deported Down Under

20/11/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

They were sent from orphanages from the north of Ireland and Britain to Australia with the promise of freedom. Many ended up in the care of the notorious Christian Brothers where they were treated as slave labour and suffered horrific physical and sexual abuse. Between 1947 and 1967 up to 10,000 children were shipped to […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Tag: Northern Ireland