On April 28 1916, as the fierce fighting of Easter Week began to abate, one of the most notorious events of the rising took place. 15 civilians were killed in houses and business premises on North King Street by British soldiers. The street had been the scene of some of the stoutest resistance by the […]
ON THIS DAY: Good Friday: Poem written by Joseph Mary Plunkett referencing Good Friday Joseph Mary Plunkett (Irish: Seosamh Máire Pluincéid, 21 November 1887 – 4 May 1916) was an Irish nationalist, republican, poet, journalist, revolutionary and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. He was married to his childhood sweetheart Grace Gifford in 1916, 7 hours before […]
My grandmother, Esther Hannon, had two heroes other than Mattie my namesake granddad who was from Tipperary and whose own history remains a mystery. We are not closely related to the most famous Treacy who was from the football part of the county. She was a Dub going back generations, although her own mother, a […]
Last week, Facebook went wild over photos of Rod Stewart who was snapped while he placed flowers on the grave of Grace Gifford in Glasnevin Cemetery. The singer’s championing of the Jim McCann song Grace is a somewhat curious landmark for those who remember when not only was the Section 31 ban in force, but when any […]
Pádraig Mac Piarais (Padraig Pearse) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary; he who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. Following his execution along with fifteen others, Pearse came to be seen by many as the embodiment of the rebellion. Pádraig, his brother Willie, […]
Kevin Gerard Barry was the first Irish republican to be executed by the British since the leaders of the Easter Rising. He was a 18-year-old medical student who had won a merit-based scholarship given annually by Dublin Corporation, which allowed him to become a student of medicine at UCD. Born on Fleet Street, Dublin, the […]