David Neligan, a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, acted as a valuable agent for Michael Collins by passing on vital information during the Irish War of Independence (1919–21). He subsequently became Director of Intelligence for the Irish Army after the Irish Civil War (1922–23). I’m sheepish to admit that I only came to learn of David Neligan through self-interest. … [Read more...] about The Spy in the Castle
February March 2016 Issue
The Irish Rebellion
in the Age of Cable News
Today world news is immediate but 100 years ago transmission depended on telegraph cables under the Atlantic ocean that were subject to wartime and censorship conditions.
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In April 1916, the front pages of America’s newspapers were dominated by headlines about the war on Europe’s western front, where the German and French armies were battling at Verdun, and by reports … [Read more...] about The Irish Rebellion
in the Age of Cable News
The Rising: A Guided Tour
Take a journey around Dublin to relive the events and see the locations of the Easter 1916 Rising. ℘℘℘ What could be better than having your own local expert on hand to answer your every question when you’re on holiday? That’s what I thought when I joined 27 tourists from all over the world for a special CIE tour of Dublin, a tour that follows Ireland’s road to freedom. “This … [Read more...] about The Rising: A Guided Tour
1916: Portraits and Lives
A Beautiful Tome
Unheralded men and women became leaders in the crucible of 1916. A new book by the Royal Irish Academy offers portraits and biographies of those involved in the Rising.
Irish people are raised on stories of 1916. We’re told of Pádraig Pearse reading the Proclamation of the Republic from the steps of Dublin’s G.P.O., James Connolly facing a firing squad strapped to a chair, … [Read more...] about 1916: Portraits and Lives
A Beautiful Tome
The Poets’ Revolution
Three of the men who signed the Proclamation of the Irish Republic had published poetry before the Rising. But many more revolutionaries who participated were writers, scholars, and artists, including several notable women. I am come of the seed of the people, the people that sorrow; Who have no treasure but hope, No riches laid up but a memory of an ancient glory […] And … [Read more...] about The Poets’ Revolution