Category Archives: History

Remarks of former taoiseach stir debate over Home Rule, revolution

UPDATE:

Some thoughtful pieces have been added to the debate: Ronan Fanning writes on why it is unwise to commemorate the September 1914 Home Rule Bill. Stephen Collins says that Bruton’s proposal deserves serious consideration. Both are good reads.

ORIGINAL POST:

Former taoiseach John Bruton has stirred up debate in Ireland by insisting that it’s better to note the centenary of Home Rule, this September, than the 1916 Easter Rising and subsequent War of Independence.

Such armed revolutions would have been “completely unnecessary,” Burton says, if Ireland had stuck to the parliamentary path. In public comments and a post on his website, Bruton argues:

Ireland could have achieved better results, for all the people of the island, if it had continued to follow the successful non violent parliamentary Home Rule path, and had not embarked on the path of physical violence, initiated by the IRB and the Irish Citizen Army in Easter Week of 1916.

1914-ireland-propaganda-home-rule-1d-harp_180587208483

Others disagree, among them (no surprise here) Gerry Adams. He was quoted in The Irish Times as saying:

For the record, the 1916 Rising was a seminal event in Irish history, a decisive blow in the struggle for Irish freedom. It is incredible that a former taoiseach – a position that would never have existed but for the Easter Rising and the [Black and] Tan War – would denigrate the sacrifice of the participants and their families in this way.”

And here’s a more detailed op-ed by Éamon Ó Cuív, a grandson of Irish-American republican leader Éamon de Valera.

Centennial of Howth gun running/Bachelor’s Walk killings

Before the Easter Rising of April 1916, there was the Howth gun running and Bachelor’s Walk killings of late July 1914.

John Dorney sets the stage in this overview for The Irish Story website:

In the summer of 1914 Ireland was in turmoil over whether Home Rule or self government would be granted to it. In the north the Ulster unionists had formed their own militia, the Ulster Volunteer Force to resist Irish self government. In April they imported over 25,000 rifles and five million rounds of ammunition at Larne. In June, 60 officers at the British Army garrison on the Curragh threatened to resign their commissions if they were ordered to occupy strategic positions in Ulster in aid of the civil power.

Guns being landed at Howth in 1914. National Museum of Ireland via The Irish Times.

Guns being landed at Howth in 1914. National Museum of Ireland via The Irish Times.

In response to these events, Irish Volunteers landed some 1,500 surplus Mauser rifles from Germany at Howth on a sunny Sunday at the end of the July. Outnumbered Dublin police and British troops were mostly helpless to stop the weapons from being spirited away. But the day devolved into violence as the troops were heckled returning to their barracks and opened fire on the crowd. Three people were killed and dozens were injured.

While the weapons haul of the nationalists was a small fraction of that secured months earlier by unionists, “it was clear the political and military temperature in Ireland was dangerously high, and the arms had been landed in defiance of a British proclamation prohibiting such importations,” Diarmaid Ferriter writes in the Irish Independent.

This critical event of Ireland’s revolutionary period was overshadowed a few days later with the start of World War I, and 21 months later in the Rising.

Boston Mayor Walsh named Irish-American of the Year

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was named Irish American of the Year by Irish America magazine. He was elected in November and moved into City Hall in January.

In remarks at the magazine’s ceremony, Walsh said:

Whether they were in the South during the turn of the century in counties like Cork and Kerry, or in the North in Belfast and Derry in the Troubles, or whether it’s on the east coast or the west coast, or in Dublin or Galway, or anywhere in between, we have to remember our history. Irish history is not one filled with victories in battle; it was one of struggle where we ultimately persevered and got those victories through hard work.

AP corrects Tuam reporting as Donohue blasts media coverage

The Associated Press issued an extended correction of its coverage of mid-20th century infant and child deaths at Tuam, County Galway. At the same time, Catholic League President Bill Donohue issued a blistering report about coverage of this story, the Magdalene Laundries and the movie “Philomena,” a drama that purports to tell the “true story” of a woman’s search for the son she was forced to give up for adoption from an Irish orphanage.

The story of nearly 800 bodies in unmarked graves at the Tuam orphanage for unwed mothers “caused stark headlines and stirred strong emotions and calls for investigation,” the AP says. “Since then, however, a more sober picture has emerged that exposes how many of those headlines were wrong. The case of the Tuam ‘mother and baby home’ offers a study in how exaggeration can multiply in the news media, embellishing occurrences that should have been gripping enough on their own.”

The story says one London editor “noted several top newspapers in the United States stated that 800 baby skeletons had been found in a septic tank, and that commentators fueled by a “Twitter mob” mentality compared the deaths to Nazi-era genocide.” Further evidence indicates there was no such septic tank, but rather a burial shaft that was common for the period.

Donohue quotes the same London editor in his spirited rebuke of the media coverage. The long-time church defender says,

The evidence that the public has been hosed is overwhelming. Truths, half-truths, and flat-out lies are driving all three stories. That’s a bad stew, the result of which is to whip up anti-Catholic sentiment. This is no accident.

Irish Central has done an extended interview with Donohue.

I tend to agree with Donohue that anti-Catholic bias colors at least some of the coverage. He rightly points out that many of those who claim to be shocked and dismayed about the treatment Irish nuns might or might not have subjected children to in the last century are only too willing to allow abortions to continue today. There’s more than whiff of hypocrisy.

Remembering the Washington Arsenal explosion

My wife and I attended the 150th anniversary of the Washington Arsenal explosion, which killed 21 women, most of them poor Irish immigrants. The memorial at the historic Congressional Cemetery in Southeast D.C. capped a week of remembrances. Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore visited the cemetery to place a wreath at the monument, titled “Grief,” in addition to meeting with U.S. political leaders about immigration issues.

There also was a memorial at the former arsenal site.

event

Here’s a taste of contemporary coverage of the explosion from the Washington Star the day after the horrible event:

The excitement attendant upon the terrible explosion and loss of life at the Arsenal yesterday was kept up throughout the entire day. An excited crowd of relatives of the laboratory employees, parents, brothers, sisters, anxious as to the fate of those dear to them, thronged about the outer gate leading to the Arsenal, and the scenes here were heart-rending. …

The scene while the fire was in progress was truly heart-rending. Those who could, jumped from the windows, and many of them fainted as soon as they alighted on the ground. By the heroism of some persons present, some of the girls who were enveloped in flames, were saved from a frightful death. One young lady ran out of the building with her dress all in flames, and was at once seized by a gentleman, who, in order to save her, plunged her into the river. …

A singular feature of the sad spectacle was that presented by a number of the bodies nearly burned to a cinder being caged, as it were, in the wire of their hooped skirts. These bodies seemed more badly burned than those not enveloped in hoops, and it is probable that the expansion of the dress by the hoops afforded facilities for the flames to fasten upon them with fatal effect.

For more detail, blogger Allen Brown published this excellent post (with better photos than mine) about the event. And here’s a link to “The Washington Arsenal Explosion: Civil War Disaster in the Capital,” a definitive book by the late Brian Bergin.

150th

Bergin’s daughter, Erin Bergin Voorheis, gave remarks at the cemetery memorial. She pointed out that shortly before the explosion a letter was read to the woman acknowledging receipt of their $170 contribution to the erection of a monument to the victims of a similar disaster at Pittsburgh 21 months earlier. Seventy-eight workers were killed in the explosion, again mostly poor Irish immigrant women.

At the Washington arsenal, “the surviving workers were poor, but rich in organizing skills,” Bergin Voorheis said. Within two days of the tragedy they managed to stage what was until then the city’s largest funeral. President Abraham Lincoln lead the throng of mourners to Congressional Cemetery.

Again, the surviving workers and other city residents collected donations to fund a monument for the Washington victims. Irish sculptor Lot Flannery of Limerick was given the commission. His work, “Grief,” was erected by March 1865 and was to be dedicated at the cemetery on the one-year anniversary of the explosion. But Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865 diverted the nation’s attention, and the ceremony presumably never took place, according to Paul Williams, president of Historic Congressional Cemetery.

The north face of the monument’s base panel makes note that the memorial was “Erected/By Public Contribution/By the Citizens of/ Washington D.C./June 17th 1865. And on June 22, 2014, it was “officially” dedicated in remembrance of the female victims.

Tragedy and triumph in Irish transportation

I’ve come across two historical transportation stories.

This month marks the 125th anniversary of the Armagh train tragedy, which remains Ireland’s largest rail disaster. The Belfast Telegraph explains:

The train was packed as it pulled away from the station at 10:15 am, but around three miles out of the city a nightmare unfolded as the train was trying to pull up the slope out of Armagh, but was pulled back by its weight. A decision was taken to decouple the front four carriages, move them to Hamiltonsbawn, and then to return for the remaining eight carriages. Stones were placed behind the wheels of those carriages, but they rolled backwards, crushed the stones and began to build up speed as they continued back down the slope. The runaway carriages crashed into another train, resulting in the loss of 89 lives. All denominations suffered – Catholic, Church of Ireland, Methodist and Presbyterian.

June 1889 rail disaster at Armagh.

June 1889 rail disaster at Armagh.

This August will mark the centennial of the death of John Phillip Holland, builder of the first successful submarine, known as the Fenian Ram. His experimentation began in Drogheda, County Louth. In America, a later design became the U.S. Navy’s first commissioned submarine, according to this story in The Irish Times.

He died in August 1914, relatively poor, and just weeks before HMS Pathfinder became the first ship to be sunk by a torpedo fired by submarine – and nine months before a German U-boat set its sights on the Lusitania.

Dissecting the Irish banking and economic crisis

UPDATE: Couple of related editorials in The Irish Times within days of this post. Here, Vincent Browne poses “13 questions that have to be answered” about the banking crisis. And here, Ray Kinsella says that financial ethics are more important than regulation.

ORIGINAL POST:

Could the Irish banking and economic crisis been prevented? Is a similar financial fiasco likely in the future?

The answers appear to be maybe and probably, according to former International Monetary Fund economist and Irish Fiscal Advisory Council member Donal Donovan. He fielded questions from Irish Times Washington correspondent Simon Carswell and audience members during a 5 May forum sponsored by Irish Network-DC.

Donovan has served on two panels investigating Ireland’s property bubble, which fueled the country’s banking and budget bust. He said there is “high risk of another crisis.”

Despite such government probes, courtroom dramas and media headlines of the past few years, “more national debate” is needed about the systemic issues at the heart of Ireland’s financial woes, Donovan said.

Those problems can not be simply set at the feet of a few greedy bankers and civil servants who looked the other way as their elected bosses focused on the next election, he said. The Irish people also enjoyed riding the Celtic Tiger, and even financial experts from the IMF missed signs of the pending disaster.

A suggested third investigative committee might provide a “cathartic exercise,” Donovan said. “Only if we do this are we going to be able to go on.”

Simon Carswell, standing left talking with woman, and Donal Donovan, seated in tan jacket, sign copies of their books.

Simon Carswell, standing left talking with woman, and Donal Donovan, seated in tan jacket, sign copies of their books.

Some other highlights of the evening:

  • Amazingly, there was no record made of the government’s 2008 guarantee to back the failing banks, Donovan said.
  • Most of Ireland’s crushing debt was related to its inflated national budget, not the bank’s bad loans. But all the problems were driven by the property bust.
  • 3 percent annual growth appears to be the best Ireland can hope for in the near future, gradually lowering unemployment and emigration. “Four to five percent is hard to see,” Donovan said, adding the country still has to cope with high cost of living.
  • One member of the audience suggested the influence of Roman Catholicism is at the heart of the financial crisis in Ireland and other South American and Southern European nations. The religion’s “lack of contrarianism” and group think “could have played a role,” Donovan agreed.
  • Another audience member said the roots of the problem date to Alan Greenspan’s decision to lower interest rates in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

Donovan is co-author of “The Fall of the Celtic Tiger: Ireland & the Euro Debt Crisis. Carswell is the author of “Anglo Republic: Inside the Bank That Broke Ireland.”

Gerry Adams questioned about ’72 IRA murder

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has been arrested for questioning about the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville, a widow wrongly suspected of informing against the Irish Republican Army.

Adams2Feb14_Swf

Adams was implicated by two IRA veterans who gave taped interviews to researchers for a Boston College oral history project on the four-decade Northern Ireland conflict known as the Troubles. The tapes were made available to Northern Ireland/British police in a complicated court battle. Here’s some perspective from a B.U. trustee.

Adams made himself available to the authorities, but denies any role in the killing. Here’s his statement on the Sinn Féin website.

Obviously, this story is developing. We will have to see if Adams is charged, and what impact this might have on upcoming elections and the ongoing peace process in Northern Ireland. No doubt many on the island of Ireland would like to see Adams removed from politics and the public stage. But he has his supporters, as well, and has demonstrated an amazing talent for survival over the decades.

Royals to visit Ireland for 1916 Rising centennial

Of all the memorable words and images to emerge from the four-day state visit to England by Irish officials , the most memorable might be yet to come. Queen Elizabeth confirmed that a member of the royal family will plan to attend the centennial commemoration of the Easter Rising in April 1916. Such an invitation has been discussed publicly for some time.

Stephen Collins wrote in The Irish Times:

Many in the mainstream Irish political parties feared the 1916 Rising commemorations might be hijacked by Sinn Féin, but republicans may now begin to fear the British royal family could steal the show. The presence of a member of a royal family should help ensure nobody steals the show and that the commemorations marking the first World War and the events that led to Irish independence will be truly inclusive of all strands of political opinion on the island of Ireland.

The decision is drawing criticism from historians such as Diarmaid Ferriter, a member of the advisory group working on the centenary.

The GPO after the Rising.

The GPO after the Rising.

“The State can make this invitation, but what are we there for if we are not going to be asked for advice on big decisions like that?” Ferriter told the Times. “The State doesn’t own the legacy of 1916. Nobody does except the people. We are trying to organise public consultations to get people’s views.”

Irish, English continue historic reconciliation

The full day of a state visit to England by Irish President has gone off without a hitch, continuing the work began three years ago when Queen Elizabeth II visited Ireland.

The Irish Times headlines “Ireland and Britain ‘walking to a brighter future,'” while The Times of London declares, “Former IRA chief has dinner with Queen.” The BBC offers numerous videos of the visit.

Along with the social and political symbolism of the visit, this military history story caught my eye. It’s about a ceremony in England retiring the flags of six Irish regiments after the Irish Free State was created in 1922. The regiments were the Royal Irish Regiment, the Connaught Rangers, the Leinster Regiment, the Royal Munster Fusiliers, the Royal Dublin Fusilers and the South Irish Horse.