Sean Mac Diarmada was born in Corranmore, near Kiltyclogher in County Leitrim, the third youngest of ten children. He grew up in an area scarred by the sad history of Ireland’s experience under English rule. Surrounding his boyhood home there was an ancient sweathouse, Mass rocks from the penal law days when the Catholic faith was illegal and priests hunted like wolves and countless abandoned homesteads as the silent testament to when England allowed Ireland to starve. These atrocities were … [Read more...]

On April 24, 1916 amidst the chaos of the newly seized Dublin General Post Office (GPO), a fifteen year old Roddy Connolly, acting as an aide to his father James Connolly, noticed a peculiar site. He saw men putting down a mattress in front of the stamps counter and a man in a resplendent uniform complete with saber then lying upon it while everyone else was dashing about him. Rather contemptuously he asked his father who this man was who was lying down during a revolution? James Connolly … [Read more...]

In the aftermath of the Easter Rising, 16 men were executed for taking part in the fight for Ireland’s freedom.  Naturally, the majority of the attention falls upon the leader and the signatories of the Proclamation.  It would, however, be a grave injustice to not remember the other gallant men who willingly made the ultimate sacrifice for Ireland; among the foremost would be Con Colbert. Cornelius Colbert was born in Moanleana, Castlemahon, County Limerick; the ninth of thirteen children … [Read more...]

Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa was born Jeremiah O'Donovan in Reenascreena, County Cork on 10 September 1831. While he was the son of tenant farmers, the family could trace their ancestry back to nobler days when before the English confiscation of Irish land they had held the parish of Kilmeen, the honorary title "Rossa" coming from the town of Rossmore in that parish. Rossa saw the horrors of the Great Hunger and Britain's indifference to Irish suffering first hand as a child; losing his own father … [Read more...]

Since the time of the Greeks, the myths and legends of heroes have followed a consistent pattern. The hero enjoys initial success and is catapulted to fame to only just as quickly have everything taken away from him and to fall from grace; then in the time of dire need the hero reemerges and asserts his nobility of character often by his personal sacrifice in the face of hopeless odds. Such is the story of Major John MacBride. John MacBride was born in Westport, County Mayo on 8 May 1868. … [Read more...]

On Friday, April 24th 2015 we will mark the 99th Anniversary of the Easter Rising and the declaration of the Irish Republic. There has already been considerable commentary, which shall only intensify over the course of the coming year, as to the significance of the proclamation and the motives of the signers and key participants. There is a great deal of material for those who wish to "spin" the events to their agendas to work with when looking back at 1916 with 20-20 hindsight. Some … [Read more...]

Of the seven names signed on the proclama­tion of the Irish Republic, as read from the front of the General Post Office (GPO) in Dublin on 24 April 1916, only one name stands alone and above all the rest. Ironically, some of the best known figures of the Rising today are actually amongst the later signatories; despite being President of the Provisional Government, Padraig Pearse is the fourth signatory; James Connolly is relegated to the sixth position. The man accorded the honor of being … [Read more...]