Hunger strikes are synonymous with Irish history. Some of our most famous men and women have taken part or died during a hunger strike. A hunger strike is used when all other avenues of communication have broken down. It is generally a last resort undertaken in order to bring attention […]
Following on from last month’s column on the Miami Showband Massacre, Shane Daly shares more on involvement of the soldier with the ‘educated English accent’, Captain Robert Nairac. “When it awarded him The George Cross, was Buckingham Palace aware that Captain Robert Nairac was named, in an official Ministry of […]
“That bomb was definitely placed there with a view to killing all in that band.”– James O’Neill On July 31, 1975, in County Down, five people were killed, including three members of the popular Miami Showband, in an attack in by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group. Despite the story of […]
“She is regarded today as one of the most significant figures of 16th-century Irish history and an inspiration to those who choose to live their lives according to their own rules and by no others.” – Joshua J. Mark Known in most historical records as Grace O’ Malley, Ireland’s most […]
On November 25, 1975, Francis Crossan, a 34-year-old father of two children and a Catholic from Belfast with no affiliation to any paramilitary organisations, became the first civilian to have his throat cut by the Shankill Butchers. During the most provocative times of the Troubles, he became the first of […]
The Shankill Bombing came at an extremely precarious time in the peace process in Northern Ireland. This attack and the resulting retaliation attacks that culminated over the following days, very nearly derailed the entire peace process altogether. At this stage of the Troubles, for the very first time, Loyalist paramilitaries […]