Tag: History
The Fall of the House of Desmond and the Plantation of Munster
In the late 16th century private dispute between two Old English families, the Butlers and the FitzGeralds, erupted into two rebellions against English rule that left the population of Munster devastated by plague and famine, with thousands of English families...
From Marxism to the Open Society: The Irish Stickie Story
The following piece first appeared on the Substack Creeve Rua and is syndicated with the permission of the author. This article establishes the timeline in which the Irish Left, epitomised by The Workers’ Party (or the Stickies, for short), abandoned...
Rose Dugdale: The Life of an Irish 68er
Seán O'Driscoll's riveting account of British aristocrat Rose Dugdale's topsy turvy life resembles a Monty Python thriller. Here is a niece of Oswald Mosley, a member of Britain's ruling elite, who had once prostrated herself in front of their Queen,...
Violet Gibson: Left Revisionism Enters Silly Season
The scrapping of the historic barrel rang out across Merrion Square yesterday with an unveiling of a plaque to Violet Gibson, an oddball Anglo-Irish schizophrenic who failed to assassinate Benito Mussolini in 1926. Born to the well heeled Baron of...
Ireland’s Greatest Moments: An Alternative to the Newstalk Dribble
As Ireland’s Decade of Centenaries (2012 – 2022) comes to an end, the enlightened Newstalk team have drafted a list of Ireland’s “greatest moments” throughout the past 100 years. The following 20 bullet points have undoubtedly been deliberated upon for...
The Irish Rally: Gaelic Ireland’s Medieval Fightback-Eoin MacNeill 1919
The following are tracts taken from the 1919 work Phases in Irish History by Eoin MacNeil courtesy of An Cartlann The most casual reader of Irish history knows that within a few centuries of the Norman invasion, the authority of...
Seán Mac Diarmada: The Rising’s Hidden Militant
“I say with every confidence that Tom Clarke’s person and Sean MacDiarmada’s energy and organising ability were the principle factors in creating a group and guiding events to make the Rising possible.” — Denis McCullough. For a period in Irish...
Griffith We Hardly Knew Ye
Betwixt the Marxian left pinning him down as an Irish Scrooge and a revisionist Fine Gael trying their best to bask in the shadow of Mick Collins, Arthur Griffith has fallen in between the gearbox of Irish public memory. With...
A Marginal Understanding : Why Left Republican Analysis of the Irish Right Flops
When reading about the emergence of the ‘far-right’ in Irish political journalism and opinion pieces, one is left feeling like they’re in the film Groundhog Day. Generally, a quick once over a few Wikipedia pages serves as the research basis...
What to do with Seán Russell?
Leo Varadkar is correct. We do need conversations about the statue of Seán Russell, the vandalism of the Booterstown plaque to Kevin O'Higgins, the vandals' Glasnevin victory, the Nenagh and Drumcondra monuments to rapist Martin Hogan, the statues in Crossmaglen,...