Tag: Northern Ireland

#OTD in 1949 – Birth of snooker player and world champion, Dennis Taylor, in Coalisland, Co Tyrone.

19/01/2021.Reading time 2 minutes.

Dennis Taylor’s sole world championship victory in 1985 over world number one Steve Davis provided probably the most compelling moments in snooker history. In a final comprising of the best of 35 frames, Taylor lost all frames in the opening session to ultimately fall behind 8-0. A whitewash was on the cards as Davis was […]

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#OTD in 1978 – The European Court of Human Rights made its ruling on the case of alleged ill-treatment of internees during 1971.

18/01/2021.Reading time 5 minutes.

In 1971 the Hillside Singers, in a song designed to inspire worldwide unity, sang of how they’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony; apparently the inspiration for the song came from the writers’ experiences while delayed at Ireland’s Shannon Airport. Documents unearthed by the Irish human rights NGO and The Pat […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 13 January:

13/01/2021.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 […]

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The War Hollow

11/01/2021.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 […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 10 January:

10/01/2021.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 […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 4 January:

04/01/2021.Reading time 13 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 […]

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

03/01/2021.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 […]

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#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.

21/12/2020.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 […]

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

19/12/2020.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 […]

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

07/12/2020.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, […]

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