1916 (80 page)

The golden jubilee of the 1916 Easter Rising

1. Bhreathnach-Lynch, Sighle, ‘The Easter Rising 1916: constructing a canon in art and artefacts’,
   History Ireland
   , vol. v, no. 1, spring 1997, p. 40.
   
2. Staunton, Enda,
   The nationalists of Northern Ireland, 1918–1973
   , Dublin, Columba, 2001, p. 247.
   
3. In his autobiography, Terence O’Neill noted how the improved north– south relations of the period were ‘shattered by the insistence of the Belfast Catholics in celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Dublin rebellion. It was 1966 which made 1968 inevitable and was bound to put the whole future of Northern Ireland in the melting pot.’ David Trimble has also referred to the jubilee events ‘starting the slide which became apparent two or three years later’.
   
4. Cruise O’Brien, Conor, ‘From one civil war to the next’,
   Irish Times
   , 4 December 1981.
   
5. Keogh, Dermot,
   Twentieth century Ireland: nation and state
   , Dublin, Gill Macmillan, 1994, p. 289.
   
6. For a detailed background to the events in Northern Ireland, see O’Dwyer, Rory, ‘The Golden Jubilee of the 1916 Rising’, unpublished MA thesis, University College Cork, 2003, pp. 44–57.
   
7. Girvin, Brian, ‘Uneasy alliance of traditional and modern’,
   Cork Examiner
   , 2 April 1991.
   
8. Ibid
   .
   
9. Idem., ‘Changing interpretations’,
   Cork Examiner
   , 6 April 1991.
   
10. Bew, Paul and Patterson, Henry,
    Seán Lemass and the making of modern Ireland, 1945–66
    , Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1982, p. 184.
    
11. Ibid
    .
    
12. Coiste Cuimhneachán, report of first meeting, 19 February 1965, D/T 97/6/57, National Archives, Dublin.
    
13. Ibid
    .
    
14. Irish Times
    , 19 February 1965, D/T 97/6/157, National Archives, Dublin.
    
15. Department of Justice to Taoiseach, 22 February 1966, D/T 96/6/161 S17607E, National Archives, Dublin.
    
16. Irish Press
    , 9 February 1966.
    
17. Evening Herald
    , 13 March 1965.
    
18. Coiste Cuimhneachán, report of meeting, 18 November 1965, D/T 97/6/159 S17607C, National Archives, Dublin.
    
19. Ibid
    .
    
20. Ibid
    .
    
21. Department of External Affairs, Cuimhneachán 1916–1966,
    Commemoration: a record of Ireland’s commemoration of the 1916 Rising
    , Stationery Office, Dublin, 1966.
    
22. Irish Times
    , 19 February 1966.
    
23. Boyce, D.G. ‘“No lack of ghosts”: memory, commemoration, and the state in Ireland’ in McBride, Ian (ed.),
    History and memory in modern Ireland
    , CUP, Cambridge, 2001, p. 267.
    
24. Irish Times
    , 1 April 1966.
    
25. See O’Dwyer, ‘The Golden Jubilee of the 1916 Rising’, pp. 44–45.
    
26. Lemass, Seán, ‘The meaning of the commemoration’,
    Easter commemoration digest
    , Graphic, Dublin, 1966.
    
27. Irish Independent
    , 8 April 1966.
    
28. Department of External Affairs,
    Cuimhneachán 1916–1966
    , p. 23.
    
29. The remains had been buried in a quicklime plot within Pentonville prison.
    
30. Department of External Affairs,
    Cuimhneachán 1916–1966
    , p. 24.
    
31. Ibid
    .
    
32. The tricolour has been flown from the GPO every day since, following a government decision in 1966;
    Ibid
    ., p. 28.
    
33. The Four Courts, the Mendicity Institution, Jacob’s factory, Boland’s mills, Mount Street bridge and the South Dublin Union were the principal sites in question.
    
34. The Kilmainham Gaol Restoration Committee was a voluntary group that had commenced the restoration of the historic old building in 1960.
    
35. Department of External Affairs,
    Cuimhneachán 1916–1966
    , p. 33.
    
36. Ibid
    ., p. 43.
    
37. Ibid
    ., p. 45.
    
38. Ibid
    ., p. 47.
    
39. Ibid
    ., p. 48.
    
40. Ibid
    ., p. 54.
    
41. The
    Times
    (London), 16 April 1966.
    
42. Department of External Affairs,
    Cuimhneachán 1916–1966
    , p. 64.
    
43. Ibid
    .
    
44. Details are to be found in ‘Government Reception, Dublin Castle’, D/T 97/6/490 S17955 & 97/6/583 S17955 (annex).
    
45. Ibid
    .
    
46. Department of External Affairs,
    Cuimhneachán 1916–1966
    , p. 71.
    
47. Ibid
    ., p. 72.
    
48. Ibid
    .
    
49. This was revealed in an interview with Liam Sutcliff, one of three IRA dissidents responsible for the destruction of the pillar, featured in a television documentary on Nelson’s pillar. (Tall Tales: From pillar to spire, Stopwatch productions, 2003.)
    
50. Belfast Newsletter
    , 9 April 1966.
    
51. Irish News
    , 7 April 1966.
    
52. See ‘Berry explains his job’,
    Magill
    , vol. ix, no. 3, June 1980.
    
53. ‘IRA organisation’, 10 December 1966, D/T 98/6/495 S16571H, National Archives, Dublin.
    
54. Ibid
    .
    
55. Tuairisc
    , (newsletter of the Wolfe Tone society), p. 5.
    
56. United Irishman
    , vol. xx, no. 5, May 1966, p. 5.
    
57. Irish Times
    , 11 April 1966.
    
58. Ibid
    .
    
59. Ibid
    .
    
60. Ibid
    .
    
61. The correspondence between the two committees is included in D/T 97/6/162 S17607F, National Archives, Dublin.
    
62. Ibid
    .
    
63. Department of Justice to Lemass, 22 February 1966, D/T 97/6/161 S17607E, National Archives, Dublin.
    
64. Ibid
    .
    
65. Ibid
    .
    
66. Lemass to Childers, 23 February 1966, D/T 97/6/161, National Archives, Dublin.
    
67. Lemass to Childers, 23 February 1966, D/T 97/6/161, National Archives, Dublin. For more details on the security committee see O’Dwyer, ‘The Golden Jubilee of the 1916 Rising’, p. 47.
    
68. The historians involved were F.S.L. Lyons, F.X. Martin, T. Desmond Williams, R. Dudley Edwards, Maureen Wall, G.A. Hayes McCoy, Donal McCartney, J. Boyle and Brian Ó Cuív.
    
69. Martin, F.X., ’1916: myth, fact and mystery’, in
    Studia Hibernica
    , no. 7, 1967, p. 39.
    
70. Caulfield, Max,
    The Easter rebellion
    , Frederick Muller, London, 1964.
    
71. O’Broin, Leon,
    Dublin Castle and the 1916 Rising
    , Sedgwick and Jackson, London, 1966; Mac Giolla Choille, Breandán,
    Intelligence notes 1913–16
    , Stationery Office, Dublin, 1966.
    
72. McHugh, Roger,
    Dublin 1916
    , Arlington, London, 1966.
    
73. Martin, ‘1916: myth, fact and mystery’, p. 48.
    
74. Martin, F.X. (ed.),
    Leaders and men of the Easter Rising: Dublin 1916
    , Methuen, London, 1967.
    
75. Boyce, D.G., ‘1916: Interpreting the Rising’ in Boyce, D.G. and O’Day, A. (eds),
    The making of modern Irish history: revisionism and the revisionist controversy
    , Routledge, London, 1996, p. 165.
    
76. Dudley Edwards, Owen and Pyle, Fergus,
    1916: the Easter Rising
    , Mac-Gibbon and Kee, London, 1968.
    
77. Ibid
    ., pp. 223–40.
    
78. Martin, ‘1916: myth, fact and mystery’, p. 50.
    
79. Cruise O’Brien, Conor, ‘The embers of Easter’,
    Irish Times
    , 8 April 1966.
    
80. Coogan, Tim Pat,
    Ireland since the Rising
    , Greenwood, Connecticut, 1966.
    
81. Foster, R.F., ‘History and the Irish question’, in Brady, Conor (ed.),
    Interpreting Irish history: the debate on historical revisionism 1938–1994
    , IAP, Dublin, 1994, p. 141.
    
82. Quoted in Boyce, ‘1916: Interpreting the Rising’, p. 179.
    
83. Murphy, John A.,
    Ireland in the twentieth century
    , Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1975, p. 145.
    
84. Department of External Affairs,
    Cuimhneachán 1916–1966
    , p. 74.
    
85. Arnold, Bruce, ‘The arts’ in
    1916–1966: 50 Years On
    , np, Dublin, 1966, pp.12–14.
    
86. Martin, F.X.,
    The Easter Rising, 1916, and University College Dublin
    , Browne and Nolan, Dublin, 1966.
    
87. Greaves, C. Desmond,
    The life and times of James Connolly
    , Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1961.
    
88. Dáil Debates
    , vol. 241, 30 October 1969, col. 2281.
    
89. As recalled in an interview with Pádraig Ó Cuilleanáin, a fellow member of the Coiste Cuimhneachán.
    
90. Irish Independent
    , 22 March 1966, D/T 96/6/162 S17607F, National Archives, Dublin.
    
91. ‘Better than Bunting’,
    Irish Times
    , 14 April 1966.
    
92. Address by Lemass at dinner arranged by Dublin Comhairle Dáil Cheantair Fianna Fáil in honour of the twenty first anniversary of the election to Dáil Éireann of Patrick Burke, TD, Spa hotel, Lucan, 9 October 1965, D/T 96/6/159 S17607C, National Archives, Dublin.
    
93. Lemass to Aiken, 7 March 1966, D/T 97/6/162, National Archives, Dublin.
    
94. Irish Times
    , 18 April 1966.
    
95. Belfast Newsletter
    , 19 April 1966.
    
96. Ibid
    ., 21 April 1966.
    

The commemoration of the ninetieth anniversary of the Easter Rising

1. The full text of the speech can be found on the website of the Department of the Taoiseach (
   www.taoiseach.gov.ie
   ). Excerpts are contained in reports in the national press on Monday 10 April 2006.
   
2. Report of the director of the Bureau, 1957, as quoted in Doyle, Jennifer, Clarke, Frances, Connaughton, Éibhlís and Somerville, Orna,
   An introduction to the Bureau of Military History, 1913–1921
   , Military Archives, Dublin, 2002, p 1. See also Ferriter, Diarmuid, ‘“In such deadly earnest”: the Bureau of Military History’,
   Dublin Review
   , vol. xii, 2003, pp. 36–65.
   
3. It should also be noted that small quantities of original material for other aspects of the Rising have recently been made available to researchers, with the discovery of a cache of letters from Roger Casement in the archives of Clare County Council in 2003 being but one example. See
   Irish Times
   26 April 2005.
   
4. An interesting exchange of views on the economic legacy of the Rising took place in the columns of the
   Irish Times
   between Dr Garret FitzGerald and Ian d’Alton of Naas, Co. Kildare. See the original contribution on the topic by Dr FitzGerald (
   Ibid
   ., 12 April 2006) and the instructive subsequent exchange of letters between the two, beginning with Ian d’Alton’s initial reply on 19 April, with further correspondence on 24, 28 and 29 April.
   
5. See the article ‘1916: the debate continues’ by Professor Dermot Keogh in The Word
   , April 2006, pp. 4–5.
   
6. See, for example, the article ‘Ahern’s Rising’ in the
   Sunday Times
   , 5 February 2006.
   
7. The party-political dimensions of the commemoration are explored in more detail later in the article.
   
8. See, for example, several references to the riot, and its consequences for the planned parade, in the
   Sunday Independent
   , 26 February and 5 March, in Fintan O’Toole’s column in the
   Irish Times
   , 28 February, and in the
   Belfast Telegraph
   on the same day. Details of the security operation undertaken to protect the parade from any untoward incidents can be found in most national newspapers over the Easter weekend.
   
9. A marked disagreement between Fintan O’Toole and the Minister for Defence, Willie O’Dea, over the reasons for the suspension of the parade at this time was a central feature of an extended panel discussion on the Rising on the popular Late, Late Show, broadcast by RTÉ on 3 March.
   
10. This dealt with the mis-handling by members of the Catholic hierarchy of allegations of sexual abuse levelled against certain clergymen in the Ferns diocese.
    
11. The speech also warranted less extensive coverage in the Independent and Examiner on the same day, with immediate reaction from public representatives aired on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics and Questions and Answers shows over the following days.
    
12. Advance notification of the President’s appearance at the conference appeared in various newspapers, including the
    Sunday Independent
    ,
    Irish Examiner
    ,
    Irish Times
    and Cork’s
    Evening Echo
    , during the week prior to her address, with local and national radio reports on the day. See also the reference to the conference by Taoiseach Ahern during a Dáil discussion in December 2005 on arrangements to mark the Rising;
    Dáil Debates
    , vol. dcxi, 7 December 2005, col. 1446.
    
13. See Mark Brennock’s report in the
    Irish Times
    , 24 February 2006.
    
14. These quotations are but a selection of the favourable and critical comments contained in the national press in the weeks and months following the speech.
    
15. See, for example, the swift, negative response from Senator David Norris, Seanad Debates
    , vol. clxxxii, 1 February 2006, col. 900.
    
16. Sunday Independent
    , 26 February 2006. See also his insightful article in the
    Irish Times
    15 April 2006, wherein he cited Gustave de Beaumont’s recently re-published and highly influential study of mid-nineteenth century Ireland,
    Ireland: social, political and religious
    , HUP, Cambridge, 2006, (most especially from the ‘Preface’ to the 1863 edition;
    Ibid
    ., p. 402).
    
17. Irish Examiner
    14 April 2006. The same article appeared in
    History Ireland
    , vol. xiv, no. 2, March – April 2006, pp. 37–39.
    
18. The worst afflicted was Kevin Myers, long-time columnist for the
    Irish Times
    (who rather suddenly transferred his allegiances to the
    Irish Independent
    in the middle of the commemoration debate). See his ‘Irishman’s diary’ columns in the
    Irish Times
    , 31 January and 1 February 2006. For the response by the editors of this volume see the same newspaper, Saturday 4 February.
    
19. An interesting response to the charges contained in the letter came from Professor John A. Murphy, who, in the same newspaper on 20 February, referred to Mr Bury’s ‘sensational assertion’ regarding the alleged campaign of intimidation and persecution of southern Protestants, and requested that ‘the detailed evidence and the documented statistics’ relating to same be furnished forthwith.
    
20. Sunday Independent
    , 5 February 2006.
    
21. Tullamore Tribune
    , 8 February 2006.
    
22. See also the praise for the President’s ‘pre-emptive success’ in delivering the speech in a letter from Peter Kennedy, Dublin, published in the
    Village
    , 30 March–5 April 2006. The magazine was one of the principal forums for debate on the commemoration.
    
23. See the national press on 22 October, and the local press over the following week, for immediate reaction to the announcement.
    
24. Irish Independent
    , 17 April 2006.
    
25. Irish Examiner
    , 15 April 2006.
    
26. Dáil debates
    , vol. dcix, 3 November 2005, cols. 594–96.
    
27. Irish Independent
    , 17 April 2006. A discordant note was struck by the
    Belfast Telegraph
    , 19 April 2006, which described the event as ‘Kremlinesque’. For a more positive view from the other side of the Atlantic see the
    New York Times
    , 17 April 2006.
    
28. Irish Independent
    , 25 October 2005; also Martin Kettle in the
    Guardian
    , 29 October 2005.
    
29. Letter from Patrick Goggin, Dun Laoghaire,
    Irish Times
    , 27 February 2006.
    
30. Irish Times
    , 20 December 2005.
    
31. Sunday Independent
    , 12 February 2006.
    
32. Irish Times
    , 25 October 2006.
    
33. Ibid
    ., 15 April 2006.
    
34. See the comments of Labour leader, Pat Rabbitte, in the Dáil on 28 February 2006 (Dail debates, vol. dcxv, col. 1170) and Gerry Adams, president of Provisional Sinn Féin, in his speech to the party’s árd fheis, as reported in the
    Sunday Independent
    , 19 February 2006.
    
35. Irish Examiner
    , 18 April 2006.
    
36. In its final form the parade commemorated two distinct elements of the tradition of the defence forces: the spirit of 1916, and the sacrifice of those who had died in the service of the United Nations.
    
37. Dáil debates
    , vol. dcxi, 7 December 2005, col. 1444.
    
38. Ibid
    ., vol. dcxv, 23 February 2006, col. 971. The membership of the committee was as follows: Willie O’Dea (Fianna Fáil), Billy Timmins (Fine Gael), Liz MacManus (Labour), Éamonn Ryan (Greens), Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Sinn Féin) and Tony Gregory (Independent, representing the Dáil’s ‘technical group’).
    
39. I am grateful to Mr Jerry Kelleher of the Department of the Taoiseach for this information. See also the statement made by the Taoiseach,
    Dáil debates
    , vol. dcxviii, 25 April 2006, col. 9.
    
40. For more details of the route see the daily press on Saturday and Sunday 16–17 April 2006.
    
41. The guest list was divided between leading state functionaries and members of the diplomatic corps, relatives of Volunteers killed during the Rising, and members of the defence forces and gardai who had died while on duty with the United Nations.
    
42. Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP member of parliament, spoke of the Rising as ‘an act of terrorism directed against the British state’,
    Irish Times
    17 March 2006. Michael Copeland, a spokesman for the UUP, spoke of the event in similar terms: ‘It heralded the end of the long and honourable tradition of constitutional Irish nationalism and brought to the fore the blood-sacrifice ethos of armed republicanism which led directly to the partition of this island and the Irish civil war.’ The irony of such a comment, bearing in mind the vituperative contemporary criticism of the Irish party by northern unionists, the formation of the UVF from within their ranks, and their support for partition during the debate over home rule, was apparent to many south of the border. See also the
    Irish News
    , 7 March 2006.
    
43. Interview with Anna Pas, of the
    Polish Express
    magazine, quoted in the Irish Times
    , 15 April 2006.
    
44. It noted that the ‘British fought for the independence of other small European countries but did not recognise the needs of a nation, just across the Irish sea, which had fought for its independence for years already’, and ‘When the first executions started, when hundreds went to detention camps in Wales and prisons in England, Irish people woke up from the malaise that had lasted for years. The Rising was a spark, which started a fire known later as the War of Independence.’
    Polish Express
    , April 2006. I am indebted to Ms Bozena Cierlik, of the Department of History, UCC, for her help in translating this piece.
    
45. Dáil Debates
    , vol. dcxv, 23 February 2006, cols. 970–71. See also the favourable response given by Minister O’Dea at that time,
    Ibid
    .
    
46. Dáil debates
    , vol. dcxviii, 25 April 2006, cols. 15–16.
    
47. Such criticisms had been aired intermittently ever since the original árd fheis announcement. Gay Mitchel, the Fine Gael MEP, equated Ahern’s action with the statement by Louis XIV, ‘l’état c’est moi’ (
    Irish Times
    , 31 October 2005), while his party colleague Billy Timmins TD denounced the nature of the announcement as amounting to ‘bread and circuses’ (Dáil Debates, vol. dcix, 3 November 2005, col. 614). Liz McManus TD, deputy leader of the Labour party, was also critical, and suggested that the arrangements amounted to Fianna Fáil ‘trying to claim Irish history as their own’.
    Irish Times
    , 18 February 2006.
    
48. See the
    Irish Times
    and
    Irish Independent
    14 April 2006.
    
49. Evening Echo
    , 13 April 2004. The series of articles in the
    Echo
    during the week prior to the parade are particularly interesting.
    
50. See, for example, his speech on 6 April at the unveiling at the Curragh camp of a granite stone honouring the signatories of the Proclamation. Therein he re-iterated one of the principal motifs of the commemoration, that is, the role of defence forces, through the United Nations, in assisting other small war-torn nations ‘to achieve the peace and freedom which we ourselves long sought’. See the ‘Speeches’ section of the Department of Defence website,
    www.defence.ie
    .
    
51. See the
    Village
    , 13–19 April 2006, for an article by Vincent Browne on O’Dea’s role.
    
52. Irish Times
    , 30 March 2006.
    
53. A brief report of the speech can be found in the
    Irish Examiner
    , 6 May 2006. In addition to these ministerial level interventions one should also note that numerous Fianna Fáil cumann arranged commemorative events at various locations around the country, as did constituency organisations for the other political parties.
    
54. See his article in the
    Irish Times
    , Tuesday 11 April, wherein he described as ‘self-indulgent’ attempts to ‘rubbish’ the ‘patriotism or sacrifices’ of the insurgents. ‘In a liberal democracy such as ours,’ he wrote, ‘there are no mandates from history’ – a reference, possibly, to the ‘dead generations’ cited by the Proclamation as well as the more obvious target, Provisional Sinn Féin.
    
55. See the insightful article by Pól Ó Muirí in the
    Irish Times
    28 October 2005, which noted the discomfiture of the opposition parties in the wake of Ahern’s árd fheis speech, and the fact that there existed ‘a constituency who are far more comfortable wearing the green than respectable newspapers might have us believe’. Also the article on the same theme by Eoin Ó Murchu in the
    Village
    , 13–19 April 2006.
    
56. The speech can be accessed in the ‘News’ section of the party’s website,
    www.finegael.ie
    .