The Rising
Posted by Jim on April 27, 2023
Easter Rising 1916:
Posted by Jim on April 24, 2023
Easter Rising 1916: Six days of armed struggle that changed Irish and British history
- Published 23 March 2016
The years leading up to the rebellion against British rule in Ireland in April 1916 were marked by significant political, cultural and military developments in Ireland and throughout Europe.
The rebellion became known as the Easter Rising.
Home Rule came to dominate domestic British politics in the era from 1885 to the start of World War One.
Under Home Rule, Ireland would be given more say in how it was governed while continuing to remain part of the United Kingdom.
More than 100 years earlier, Ireland lost its parliament in Dublin and was governed directly from Westminster as a result of the Act of Union in 1800.
The threat of Home Rule led unionists in Ulster to establish the military organisation, the Ulster Volunteer Force, which in turn prompted the formation of the Irish Volunteers.
The emergence of these forces undermined British rule in Ireland.
However, the possibility of violence in Ulster was averted by the outbreak of World War One.
The main party in favour of Home Rule, the Irish Parliamentary Party, agreed that attempts to secure self-governance should be postponed for the duration of the war.
Many Irishmen joined the call to arms and fought in western Europe.
However, others were angered by what they regarded as the Irish Parliamentary Party’s acquiescence to Westminster.
Three groups were behind the rising but the most important was the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) which was formed in the mid-19th century.
Thomas Clarke and Seán Mac Diarmada were the key figures in the IRB.
The Irish Volunteers were a military group formed in 1913 and its members accounted for the largest number of men who were called out on Easter Monday.
The Irish Citizen Army, a socialist militia, led by James Connolly also played an important role.
Over 200 women, most members of Cumann na mBan, the ‘League of Women‘, also played a role in the rising.
The key group was a seven-man IRB military council, drawn from those three organisations, which planned the Easter Rising with complete secrecy.
The decision to rise was based on the traditional dictum that England’s difficulty was Ireland’s opportunity.
But it also reflected the military council’s fear that Irish nationalism was in decline, a concern reinforced by popular Irish nationalist support for the aims of the Irish Parliamentary Party and the British war effort.
On 23 April, the council agreed to proceed with the rising the next day, Easter Monday.
The drafting of a proclamation declaring the establishment of a republic was one of the final steps taken by those who planned the rising.
It decided that the proclamation should be read to the public outside Dublin’s General Post Office (GPO) by the president of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic.
Despite Thomas Clarke’s seniority, it was agreed that Pádraig Pearse should act as president.
Shortly after noon on Easter Monday, Pearse accompanied by an armed guard, stood on the steps of the GPO and read the proclamation, signalling the beginning of the Easter Rising.
Ireland’s ‘national right to freedom and sovereignty’ was asserted.
The conflict that followed was largely confined to Dublin.
The British military onslaught, which the rebels had anticipated, did not at first materialise.
When the rising began, the authorities had just 400 troops to confront roughly 1,000 insurgents.
As the week progressed, the fighting in some areas became more intense, leading to several prolonged, fiercely contested street battles. Military casualties were highest at Mount Street Bridge.
By Friday 28 April, about 18-20,000 soldiers had been amassed in the capital against about 1,600 rebels while much of the city centre had been destroyed by British artillery fire.
The next day, Pearse surrendered unconditionally on behalf of the Volunteers and issued orders to this effect.
A total of 450 people were killed during the rebellion, among them 64 rebels. 2,614 were injured, and nine others were reported missing, almost all in Dublin.
The British capture of a shipment of German arms three days before the rebellion was partly responsible for the failure of the nationwide mobilisation.
In addition, confusion was caused by conflicting orders sent out to the Irish Volunteers by their leader Eoin MacNeill,
Dr Fearghal McGarry, from Queen’s University Belfast, said although there was very little support for the rising at the time, it was enormously successful in terms of what the organisers of the rising wanted to achieve.
“They did not expect it to win power, what they planned was a spectacle, a gesture to transform public opinion,” he said.
“They knew they would not win, they knew some of them would die.”
He said that, in political terms, the rising achieved everything that the organisers thought it would.
“It destroyed the Irish Parliamentary Party’s credibility and it derailed Home Rule,” he said.
“It exposed the oppressive nature of British rule and it transformed public opinion by winning public support for republicanism.
“What might have surprised the leaders was how quickly all this happened. Within a year and a half republicanism had become the most important movement in Ireland.”
Dr McGarry suggests that, for many Irish people, the significance of the rising lies less in the events of Easter week than in their longer term legacy.
“I think for most Irish, certainly people south of the border, the event’s significance is not primarily centred on the week-long violence that took place in Dublin,” he said.
“Rather it’s focused on the attainment of Irish sovereignty, self-determination.
“It’s bound up with national identity. In contrast, the rising’s significance for many northern nationalists over the past century reflects partition and the failure to achieve a united Irish Republic.
“In the south, the rising is increasingly seen as history, not politics.”
BIDEN HONORS IRISH HEROES, PATRICK GALLAGHER
Posted by Jim on April 19, 2023
Patrick Gallagher
Biden Honors Irish Heroes, Patrick Gallagher
News April 18, 2023 by Ray O’Hanlon
During his rousing speech in Ballina, County Mayo, President Biden paid homage to the many Irish who have fought and died for the United States down the generations,
And he paid particular tribute to Mayo native Patrick Gallagher, in whose name and honor a U.S. Navy destroyer is currently under construction in Maine.
Said the president: “When one other Irish-Catholic President — only other one — John F. Kennedy, visited Ireland 60 years ago — and you can clap for him, man. He was something else. He presented your parliament with the flag of the regiment of that Irish Brigade, honoring Ireland’s great contributions to American freedom. It still hangs there to this day.
“It’s a legacy of faith and fidelity to freedom to one another that has been handed down generation to generation to generation.
“Today, the United States continues to honor that legacy, including that one of a Mayo-born Marine named Patrick Gallagher. Patrick immigrated to New York in 1962. He worked for the
Senate campaign of one of my political heroes, Robert F. Kennedy.
“A few years later, when he wasn’t even a U.S. citizen, Patrick joined the United States Marine Corps and deployed to Vietnam. In 1966, Patrick’s team was attacked in an ambush.
When the enemy hurled a grenade at his team, Patrick threw himself on top of that grenade. He was willing to sacrifice his life to save his brothers-in-arms. He survived that attack, was awarded the Navy Cross for his bravery. Sadly, he was later killed in action.
But this year, his name will be honored in iron as the United States launches a new Navy destroyer, the USS Patrick Gallagher — from Mayo.”
Don’t be too hard on yourselves
Posted by Jim on April 18, 2023
Mitchell: “Don’t be too hard on yourselves, but don’t give up on the belief you can do better and better…”
At ninety George Mitchell rocked the house yesterday treating his audience to the wisdom, humour and realism no doubt honed over many years in American public life. For today, I’ll stick to his opening remarks (and a recurring theme here of renewal)…
On the evening the Agreement was reached I commended the men and women who wrote and signed it. But I also said that it would take other leaders in the future to safeguard and extend their work. And so it has. I am here, with many others, to sound that bell one more time.
Life is change: For every human being, for every family, for every government, for every society. All human beings, every single one of us, is fallible, as are all human organisations and institutions. In human affairs the answer to every problem contains within it the seeds of a new problem.
Today, a quarter century after the agreement, the people of Northern Ireland continue to wrestle with their doubts, their differences, their disagreements.This of course is only natural. They will continue to do so, no matter how successful their political leaders are.
The answer is not perfection, or permanence. It is now, as it was then, for the current and future leaders of Northern Ireland to act with courage and vision, as their predecessors did 25 years ago.
To find workable answers to the daily problems of the present. To preserve peace.To leave to the next generation peace, freedom, opportunity, and the hope of a better future for their children.
One of the strengths of democracy is the right of all citizens to publicly disagree with and to criticize their government officials and their policies. But all values, when carried to extremes, can become vices.
So, if there’s one bit of unsolicited advice I’d give to the people of Northern Ireland, it’s this, “Don’t always be so hard on yourselves”. At the same time, never ever give up on the belief that we all can do better and be better.
The future becomes the present in a heartbeat.
Perhaps the most poignant moment was when he called for a moment of silence, which he presaged with the following in which he highlights the full extent of the cost of our brutal and unnecessary war (in the frighteningly large number of its casualties):
According to the Northern Ireland Police Service and the Northern Ireland Statistics Agency, from the start of The Troubles until 1998, over three thousand and five hundred people were killed, and an estimated fifty thousand were injured in sectarian violence.
In the twenty-five years since the agreement was reached there have been about one hundred sixty-four security-related deaths. But don’t think of them just as numbers, because they are not.
Think of them as mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, whose lives were cut short, or were permanently impaired. Still, to this day their lives echo down the years.
The rest you can watch for yourself…
GERRY ADAMS: On Agreement anniversary, direct rule is not an option
Posted by Jim on April 15, 2023
April 15, 2023 10:57
PART OF THE UNION: Richard Neal, Bill Clinton and Gerry Adams in New York
THE 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement has attracted considerable national and international interest in recent weeks. Part of this involved me travelling last week once again to the USA. It must be four years since I was last there. While a lot has changed politically in that time both here and in the US, some things never change – among them the multiple stamping in red capitals of SSSS (Secondary Security Screening Selection) on our boarding passes and suitcase labels. It is explained as a random process whereby travellers are selected for ‘enhanced’ searches. I have been getting the SSSS stamp on every visit to and from the USA for over 20 years. Randomly routine.
But apart from that the visit was an opportunity to catch up with many old friends and thank them for the crucial role they played in 1998 and continue to play today. If Irish America ever had any doubt about its political strength it was evident last week in President Clinton’s presence at a Cooper Union event in New York, the visit by President Joe Biden to Ireland – North and South – this week and the expected presence of President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at events in Belfast this weekend.
The Cooper Union event was hosted by seven Irish American organisations: The Irish-American Unity Conference; Friends of Sinn Féin; The Ancient Order of Hibernians; The Friendly Sons of St Patrick; Brehon Law Society; James Connolly Irish American Labor Coalition; and Ladies’ Ancient Order of Hibernians. President Clinton reminded the audience of the challenges he faced in engaging with the process, of the decisions he took, including giving me that first all-important 48-hour New York visa in January 1994 and his appointment of George Mitchell. He was forthright in his call for the Assembly and the Executive to be restored.
The following night I spoke at a dinner hosted by the Martin McGuinness Peace Foundation. Thanks to Marty Glennon and friends for their involvement in both events.
The day after I returned from the USA I was in Parliament Buildings. Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey had organised a really good ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the Agreement. Entitled ‘A New Beginning’, the event brought together many of those who had taken part in the negotiations to reflect on the process and its outcome.
The choir of the Belfast School of Performing Arts were outstanding and the young people from the Youth Assembly who introduced each of the speakers were a reminder that the future we are building is an investment in them. Thanks also to Dana Masters for her songs.
I said that I believe Jeffrey Donaldson when he says that First Minister designate Michelle O’Neill taking up that office is not a problem for him. So when the DUP has concluded its internal processes all of us can look forward to a new phase of the northern Assembly. No other scenario is viable.
Of course that does not mean that everyone else should sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting for the DUP. The present English Government has no real investment in the Agreement. So there is a heavy onus on the Irish Government to use all the Good Friday Agreement mechanisms, including the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, to make progress. English direct rule is not an option.
Our responsibility is for the future. The past will take care of itself. Let’s plan for the day when we will all govern ourselves without the corrosive rule of London.
In the past 25 years we have fallen down many times. In fact we are very good at that. But we also are good at getting back up again. We are very successful at that. Let’s be successful once again.
Agreement talks very much a team effort
THIS week Alex Maskey shares his reflections on the negotiations for the Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago…
They say a week is a long time in politics. This month we mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and we all should reflect on why it is that the Agreement is not yet fully implemented.
One thing is certain and that is that republicanism is stronger now across the island than it has been at any time in this past century, with the continuing growth of Sinn Féin and the emergence of civic United Irelanders while other progressives search for a political home, including within a new Ireland. I believe that the GFA itself remains a work in progress. However, I also believe passionately that it has successfully set the template for all of our politics since 1998.
I would say, however, with some frustration that many commentators often name-check a number of participants and leaders in the negotiations. I won’t take away from the contributions made by many in making the Agreement possible and effectively helping to end what had been the latest 30-year phase of conflict. But rarely do those same commentators get beyond citing Martin McGuinness or even Gerry Adams (on a good day) as architects of the GFA despite the critical role played by them both and many others. But that’s a discussion for another day.
Building the peace process through the mid-nineties was met with many challenges. However, progress was made, though perhaps with two steps forward and one step back until 1997 when all changed. In 1997 Sinn Féin was eventually formally admitted into the talks at Castle Buildings, Stormont.
As a member of our talks team I had the great pleasure to work closely on a day-to-day basis with our late and dear friend Siobhan O’Hanlon, who managed our administration with absolute professionalism and discipline. Part of my own work was to ensure that as many of our local party organisers and elected representatives could visit to either observe or participate in some element of the talks process in order to give as many as possible greater insight into the process of negotiations. For us, this was essential to underline to our members the premise that negotiations should always be much more than what goes on “in the room”. In the room or outside the room, as activists we all had to complement each other by campaigning, fighting elections, engaging with our communities and winning the arguments we faced daily.
At times as we moved closer to an Agreement the pace was frantic, which only served to keep our team even more focused on the job in hand. But I must say it was also at times nerve-racking because we all understood how pivotal and important, even historic, that an actual peace agreement could be reached under our watch.
Once agreement was reached on Good Friday under the brilliant leadership of US Senator George Mitchell, we knew that our work was only just beginning as we set about establishing a new Assembly and so on, but that the experience we had gained would serve us very well.
Me and my music
I LOVE music. All kinds of music. I listen to the radio a lot. I still have cassette tapes and vinyl from the 1970s. I play them also. And CDs. And an iPod. I also have music on my phone.
Every so often my devices organise my music into a Favourite Mix. For those of you who share my love for music here’s a sample of what my phone has selected for me. It includes Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor. The Byrds. Them. Sharon Shannon. John Spillane. Christy. Lisa O’Neill. The Bothy Band. Cormac Breathnach. The Animals. Mary Coughlan. Planxty. Liam O’Flynn. Frances and Mary Black. The Gloaming. Bob Dylan. John Prine. Pavoratti. Leonard Cohen. Cormac Begley. Ry Cooder. Altan. Willie Nelson. Paddy Glackin. John McCormack. Caitlín Maude. The Chieftains. Ray Charles. Pete Seeger. Sean O Sé. Clannad. The Saw Doctors. Luka Bloom. Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh. Joe Heaney. Simon and Garfunkel. The Rolling Stones. The Beatles. Skara Brae. Woody Guthrie. Van Morrison. Willie Nelson. Eileen Ivers.
Like books, dogs and children, it’s hard to pick a favourite song or musician. I love many, many more. Let the music keep your spirits high.