Home Rule

‘A united Ireland that is socially liberally, tolerant, European and economically successful is attractive’

Paul Gosling on July 27, 2020, 9:02 am

| Readers 7746

Irish unity could be an attractive option if the new nation is socially liberal, outward looking, multi-cultural, European and economically successfully, while respecting both the Irish and British cultures and traditions, believes Will Glendinning. To be economically successful it may need support from both the European Union and the United States, he adds. Will is a former chief executive of the Community Relations Council, has been an Alliance Party MLA for West Belfast and was also a member of the …

The Alternative – where does the power lie, who knows best, will anyone ask let alone listen? (Fishamble’s A Play For Ireland at Lyric Theatre until Sunday 13 October)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 10, 2019, 11:34 am

| Readers 760

Oisín Kearney and Michael Patrick’s playful counterfactual uses referendum concepts and lexicon – familiar from both Scotland’s indyref and the EU vote – to open up a conversation about who knows what is best for the people of Ireland, whether those who represent us actually listen to our views before making decisions, and ultimately where power lies in a society swayed by soundbite.

Ronan Fanning and the resonances of the history of a century ago

Brian Walker on January 19, 2017, 11:06 am

| Readers 770

A few years ago at a conference in King’s College London, the Irish historian Ronan Fanning who has just died could still get hot under collar about how the British politicians Asquith and Lloyd George exploited Irish Home Rule for their own political ends. We were about to enter the decade of commemoration culminating in the centenary of the anniversary of the Easter Rising, when these tumultuous events were being relived and tested for their relevance to the Troubles and …

Edward Carson, ‘No one on earth is so clearly the “typical Irishman”‘

Brian Spencer on August 28, 2016, 6:41 pm

| Readers 7195

Edward Carson rose in the Lords on December 3 1929 and made a number of points about the Irish Free State and the Privy Council, the legal forum the young Irish state was seeking to do away with. Interestingly, he called the Anglo-Irish Treaty the “Treaty of surrender and betrayal”. On the matter of his identity, he said: “I am very proud as an Irishman to be a member of the British Empire.” He also said: “I was born and …

Easter ’16, Once Again

Pádraig Belton on March 26, 2016, 2:50 pm

| Readers 1108

DUBLIN—Here in Ireland, this weekend, Yeats’s terrible beauty becomes a centenarian. It might have had a letter from the Queen, were history different. It is a pleasing sign of recent Irish social change that 1916 is not being commemorated as a good-and-evil struggle, one with Ireland on the side of the angels—and evil Britain receiving its due comeuppance and ouster. Call this the Wind That Shakes The Barley view of Irish historiography. Consider halfway back, 1966, for something less nuanced …

The “what ifs? ” of our past play a part in dealing with it today

Brian Walker on September 29, 2014, 10:09 am

| Readers 471

The row over former taioseach John Bruton’s regret that the Easter Rising ever happened goes on. Will historian Diarmaid Ferriter have the very last word? In his latest sally in the Irish Times, Ferriter attacks the exaggerated use of the counterfactual, the “what if” school of history. His argument to Bruton is basically simple –look, the Rising had the obvious effect of radicalising nationalist Ireland. It happened, get over it, stop regretting it. In an important sense Ferriter the historian …

“In the last analysis the test of nationality is the wish of the people.”

Mick Fealty on August 19, 2014, 11:36 am

| Readers 1147

Ronan Fanning took the theme for his most recent book from David Lloyd George in the House of Commons in 1919, “there is a path of fatality between the two countries and makes them eternally at cross purposes“. In the Irish Times Fanning takes John Bruton to task for suggesting that the Home Rule Bill be commemorated this September, for the very specific reason that (like the unified island it was supposed to presage) it never properly or fully came …

What was the Ulster Covenant about?

Brian Walker on September 10, 2012, 9:23 am

| Readers 805

What was the Ulster Covenant whose centenary is being commemorated on “Ulster Day” 29 September really about? 400,000 signed the Solemn League and Covenant and the Women’s Declaration in a vast demonstration of public opinion that still impresses today. The production of the largest Union Jack is history, 48’x25’was an example of PR sureness of touch that Unionism was never to equal although often tried to emulate. Nobody was killed. But how strong was the threat of force implicit in the …