New papers show influence with Reagan.℘℘℘Newly released files from the Reagan White House papers show that the Irish-American president was persuaded by a personal appeal by then House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill to intervene in the Northern Ireland issue.The Boston Globe, which surveyed the files under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that following O'Neill's … [Read more...] about Hibernia: O’Neill Was
a Key Figure on North
Irish History
Hibernia: O’Neill Was
Puddle Jumping
The English Catholic martyr, St. Edmund Campion, lived in Dublin for a while in 1569 and here is what he wrote about the Irish: "The people are thus inclined: religious, franke, amorous, irefull, sufferable of paines infinite, very glorious, many sorcerers, excellent horsemen, delighted with warres, great almes-givers, passing in hospitalitie: the lewder sort both clarkes and … [Read more...] about Puddle Jumping
Links in the Chain
Being Irish?Is being a clannish islander with all the good and all the bad that comes of that.Is being pagan and spiritual at the same time, in the same bone marrow, with all the good and all the bad that comes of that.Is not knowing how different you are until you meet the other islanders of all the world.Is being sad and happy in the one minute, changeable as the weather; … [Read more...] about Links in the Chain
English or Irish?
My south London schoolmates and I struggled with our Irishness during the 1970s. Nearly all of us had Irish parents who had settled in England in the 1940s and 1950s, but we had been born and raised in London. Did that make us English or Irish?Most of us made regular summer trips to Ireland, looked Irish, even knew a few Irish words. Some of us just felt Irish – all our … [Read more...] about English or Irish?
Tip O’Neill
Master of the House
Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1953 to 1987. His 10-year tenure as Speaker of the House was the longest consecutive run in U.S. history. Here he recalls growing up in Boston with his widower father, his relationship with President Reagan, and how the pendulum swings in American politics and will swing back.October, 1986: Weaned on the … [Read more...] about Tip O’Neill Master of the House