The Inchicore Friends of the International Brigades is a local group dedicated to remembering those who volunteered to defend the Spanish Republic against the forces of international fascism and capital. As part of the Friends of the International Brigades in Ireland (FIBI), the group is affiliated with the International Brigades Memorial Trust. Future projects include the erection of a memorial to Jim Prendergast in Temple Bar in September 2013 and the continuation of a second-level schools’ essay competition, launched successfully in 2012. ... read full story / add a comment

Revisionists given a hammering by John Borgonovo . They are searching for an ouija board to contact Peter Hart for advice. Full text at link.

UCC historian John Borgonovo casts doubt on some claims made in the TV3 series ‘In The Name Of The Republic’
TV3’s TWO-PART documentary series, In the Name of the Republic has created a stir among historians, though perhaps not in the way the filmmakers intended. The programme illustrates the danger of accepting local folklore as historical fact, especially during this much-heralded “decade of centenaries”.

In the first episode, viewers met an aged Co Laois man who related his boyhood encounter with a neighbouring farmer, who claimed he had dug up a body while ploughing his field, one of three corpses supposedly buried there by the IRA. Series host Prof Eunan O’Halpin (of Trinity College Dublin) told the audience hisresearch had uncovered two civilians abducted by the Tipperary IRA and “never seen again”. The rest of the episode attempted to prove his theory that they were interred in this Laois field. The episode concluded with O’Halpin opening the sealed files, only to learn that both had survived the conflict. They were never killed by the IRA, much less secretly buried in Laois. The obvious lesson here is: Finish your research before you rent the JCB.

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Kildare Republican Sinn Féin will be marking the 90th anniversary of the execution of seven soldiers of the Irish Republican Army with a commemoration in Kildare Town on Sunday December 16. The Free State Army executed the men in the Glasshouse on the Curragh on December 19 1922. The seven were: Patrick Bagnall and Patrick Mangan, Fairgreen, Kildare; Joseph Johnston, Station Road, Kildare; Bryan Moore and Patrick Nolan, Rathbride, Kildare; Stephen White, Abbey St. Kildare and James O’ Connor, Bansha, Co. Tipperary. This was the single biggest execution of the civil war or counter-revolution of 1922-23. ... read full story / add a comment

Rory O' Connor , Liam Mellows , Dick Barrett and Joe McKelvey to be commemorated in Dublin on Saturday 8th December 2012. ... read full story / add a comment

The 28th September 2012 will be the centenary of the Ulster Solemn League and Covenant against Home Rule.

Far less well known is the ‘Alternative Ulster Covenant’, signed in October 1913 by some twelve thousand Protestants from County Antrim in support of Home Rule and against partition.

The Alternative Covenant was written by Rev JB Armour and Roger Casement.

A Public Talk on the Alternative Covenant will be held on 3rd October in the Belvedere Hotel, Denmark Street, Dublin, at 7pm. Speakers to include Rev David Frazer and Bill O'Brien. All Welcome. (See http://www.indymedia.ie/article/102491 )

A historical pamphlet discussing not only the Alternative Covenant but also what James Connolly predicted would be a ‘carnival of reaction’, north and south, will be launched on the night. ... read full story / add a comment

Historian Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc examines the decision by former members of the Gardaí & RUC to hold a commemoration in Dublin for the members of the RIC / Black and Tan killed during the War of Independence. ... read full story / add a comment

A SON of a war of independence veteran has accused a historian of publishing "untrue and unchecked claims" relating to a disputed IRA ambush in which his father participated 92 years ago.

Edward "Ned" Young was the last known survivor of the Kilmichael ambush, when the IRA killed 17 police auxiliaries on November 28, 1920. His son John Young has described as "palpably untrue" assertions made by Dr Eve Morrison about a phone conversation he had with her last month. Morrison's claims appear to contradict an affidavit Young signed five years ago, in which he denied that his father co-operated with a controversial book about the ambush. ... read full story / add a comment

A documentary about leaders of the German Red Army Faction and the Japanese Red Army. ... read full story / add a comment

Annual Bobby Sands Commemoration. ... read full story / add a comment

History Ireland Editor Tommy Graham will chair a Hedge School debate

National Library of Ireland (Dawson Street). 11 January 2012, 7pm

The War of Independence: ‘four glorious years’ or squalid sectarian conflict?
with David Fitzpatrick (TCD), John M. Regan (Dundee), Eve Morrison (TCD) and John Borgonovo (UCC) ... read full story / add a comment

On the 15th October 2011 the Ireland Institute on Pearse Street played host to the second annual Raymond Crotty lecture, which was sponsored by the People’s Movement. The topic of this year’s lecture was Rancher and Banking interests in the modern Irish Economy and was delivered by Conor McCabe. McCabe’s recent book, Sins of the Father, is an examination of the Irish economy from the Anglo – Irish Treaty up to the present day. http://www.theirishstory.com/2011/10/21/review-conor-mc...ITBIH ... read full story / add a comment

To mark the 30th anniversary of the ending of the 1981 hunger strike. ... read full story / add a comment

7 cyclists who are touring round memorials to the International Brigade will lay a wreath at the Belfast memorial, Thursday 22nd, 9.30am. ... read full story / add a comment

The Annual 'Eve Of All-Ireland Rally' will be held in Dubin this coming Saturday ,17th September 2011. ... read full story / add a comment

N.G.A. hunger striker commemoration, Belfast, September 25th. ... read full story / add a comment

Considering the dismal economic state of a growing number of EU nations, it is more important than ever for them to protect their cultural heritage, as it is firmly linked to their economies in the form of tourism.  Though one tends to think of cultural heritage as something taught in schools and preserved in museums, it goes well beyond that, as evidenced by the attraction of archaeological and cultural World Heritage Sites to millions around the world. Though sites such as the Bend in the Boyne and Stonehenge play a significant role in our understanding of who we are and where we came from, every site, however small, is just as important, and they deserve to be indentified, excavated, restored and preserved for future generations. ... read full story / add a comment

Galway Trades Council was established following the annual meeting of the Irish Trade Union Congress in the Town Hall during June 1911. Strikes and lock-outs ensued as Galway workers fought for respect as well as for improved wages and conditions. The Trades Council returns to the Town Hall where it was established on 8 June for a varied programme of events, which will celebr ... read full story / add a comment

An introductions to wwww.staireire.com ... read full story / add a comment

Today, members and supporters of Anti - Fascist action remodeled posters that were put around Dublin city centre, by a tiny far-right Autonomous Nationalist group, to mark the 30th anniversary of Bobby Sands' death. ... read full story / add a comment

Mark Fischer interviews Clive Bloom on his new book 'Restless revolutionaries'. A book which examines the legacy of Republicanism in British history. Full text at url.

You talk about the history of republicanism’s “crushing failures” in the book. One way that these struggles are crushed, of course, is that the victor writes the histories ...

Exactly. You have to unearth these histories, the documentation. You have to search for the graves where these people are buried - there are no monuments to guide you. More than that, you have to reconstruct the politics of the time to understand these rebellions in their context.

In the case of William Courtney and the 1838 rebellion in Dover, for example, there is a plaque on the church wall commemorating the dead. But why, when this guy turned up preaching as he did, were people prepared to believe it and to die for it? When we understand that, then history comes alive for us and speaks directly to how we live now, the struggles that surround us in today’s world. ... read full story / add a comment