I’ve just finished reading Cormac Moore’s book on the Irish Boundary Commission (published this year, the 100th ‘anniversary’ – if that’s the right word – of the conclusion of the Commission’s enquiries). The broad facts behind the setting up of…
Tag: Anglo-Irish relations
Link
The Irish government has released some previously classified documents at the turn of the year. There are some that cast light on events in Northern Ireland and Ireland more generally.
The Guardian reports on stories aof acrimonious meetings between David Trimble, leader of the UUP, and Tony Blair, in the period after the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1997: David Trimble was ‘extraordinarily rude’ to Tony Blair at Good Friday talks
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/27/david-trimble-was-extraordinarily-rude-to-tony-blair-at-good-friday-talks
Another headline, “Diana apparently believed Northern Ireland part of the Republic, archive shows” seems to put the worst spin on what may have been a slip of the tongue or a poorly expressed pleasantry. Make up your own mind here.
Link
Anyone interested in modern Irish and especially Northern Irish history will definitely want to listen to ex-taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s recently launched podcast on the Northern Ireland peace process.
Here’s a link:
On this day: the Opening of the Northern Irish Parliament
One hundred years ago this week, on 22 June 1921, the official opening of a new parliament within the the United Kingdom took place. After elections on 24 May across the newly created entity of “Northern Ireland” (made up of…
Propaganda posters and postcards on Pinterest
![](<iframe style="margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 22px;" src="https://assets.pinterest.com/ext/embed.html?id=207939707774124671" width="345" height="546" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"><span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span></iframe>)
That’s a very alliterative title! I’ve been neglecting the Irish History Compressed Pinterest pages for quite a while now but just recently I’ve added some new pictures, all related to publicity campaigns/propaganda from the period of the Irish revolution. It’s meant to show many contrasting threads of opinion, so there are posters issued by Irish nationalists and Ulster Unionists, with a few others such as the ICA (who I hesitate to lump in with “Irish nationalists”, as their initial aims were quite different1). The one pictured here is interesting. I’ve never seen something like it before. I assume the rather odd promise not to conscript anyone into the Cumann na mBan sports days is simply a device to get a poster that prominently declares “NO CONSCRIPTION!” past the censor.
- As it happens, I’m reading The Irish Citizen Army by Ann Matthews (Mercier Press, 2014) at the minute. ↩
Review of The Border by Diarmaid Ferriter
The Border: The Legacy of a Century of Anglo-Irish Politics Diarmaid Ferriter Profile Books London A combination of the Decade of Commemoration in Ireland and the shenanigans around a Brexit deal have led to a renewed focus on the…
Ulster v Eire: The Unification Question (1938)
An ex-colleague sent me this link. It’s apparently a contemporary newsreel, and the general tone is all very much of its time. It’s quite odd, though, and a bit inaccurate too. At 1 min. 28 they show what must be…
Book Review: Bitter Freedom: Ireland in a Revolutionary World 1918-1923
Bitter Freedom: Ireland in a Revolutionary World 1918-1923 Maurice Walsh Faber & Faber So much has been published about the Irish revolutionary period (1910-1923) over the course of the last few years that one has to be selective about…
A Beginner’s Guide to the First Dáil
What? The first Dáil. OK, and again, what? “Dail”? No, “Dáil”, with a fada. That accent thingy? Yes. What does it do? It changes the pronunciation. And the correct pronunciation would be? Doyle. As in Mrs Doyle? From Father Ted?…
‘Kevin O’Higgins’ Comma’
One of the most popular posts on this website – for whatever reason – is Significant Commas in Irish History. While looking for something completely different, I came across an article in The Irish Jurist about the second of the…