[quote=“Turenne, post: 754343, member: 232”]Look lad, its a reality that during the period people in the IRA - and outside of it - used the lawlessness and their sense of power to ‘settle’ old grudges, usually about land, with the barrel of a gun. People were murdered purely because they were Protestant and for no other reason, and this is something that has been whitewashed from Irish history by the Irish state via secondary school history books. Myers is correct in stating that Tom Barry’s eye for an eye response to the British burning of IRA sympathiser’s homes was fundamentally bigoted and aimed at the Protestant community in Cork, effective as though it was.
At the end of the day the old ‘shur the old IRA were a mighty bunch of lads, these lads up North are evil cunts altogether’ is a load of bollocks and should be dealt with. The Old IRA did things every bit as heinous and brutal as the provos…but they won the conflict so they could officially hide these things and paint a more positive, sentimental narrative for the future generations.[/quote]
These landed protestants had for generation after generation driven catholics off their land, extorted exuberant rents, denied the peasantry any justice in their corrupt assizes and so on. I’m not justifying cold blooded murder, but this lot and their big houses were a constant reminder of a displaced past to the catholics and resentment was only natural. You can be sure those murdered were no angels themselves…
Anyway, one of the worst things to happen post WOI was when they burned down some of these great houses, an amount of history was lost… A damn shame that.
Has there been a book on protestant families in the south in the immediate aftermath of independence? I’d love to know what they were thinking… I know many of them upped and left but the majority stayed on.
Chocolate Mice, I picked up a book at an auction recently called Betrayal in Ireland by a gentleman called Wilmot Irwin, who was a a Protestant Loyalist who lived through the Rising and Rebellion in Dublin. It was one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read about the period. It was mostly critical of the response of the British, particularly Birrell, but also provided a bit of perspective on events like Bloody Sunday, that it wasn’t a massacre (the author had been walking through Drumcondra when he met the crowds fleeing Croke Park)) and is very admiring of General Mulcahy. He was very taken with Dan Breens heroism in the escape from Fernside.
He made the point that the main reason for the decline of the Protestant community in Ireland was the number of young Protestant men killed in WW1. There was a disproportionate number of Protestants who signed up
Interestingly he lived in one of those lovely houses on Lindsay Road in Gllasnevin and he said it was laid out by a Protestant developer who did all in his power to secure Protestant owners for the houses.
[SIZE=6][SIZE=33px]Republican graves in Cork damaged in graffiti attack[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=5][FONT=Arial][SIZE=16px]Swastikas etched on republican monuments in ‘mindless, disgusting act’[/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px][FONT=Georgia][SIZE=12px][FONT=Arial]Mon, Apr 1, 2013, 14:10[/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px][FONT=Georgia]A Sinn Féin councillor in Cork city has expressed his disgust at the “desecration” of graves and monuments of republican leaders in the city.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px][FONT=Georgia]Graffiti including swastikas was etched on a plot at St Finbarr’s Cemetery in Glasheen Road in which former Lord Mayor of Cork Tomás Mac Curtain is buried. The graffiti included the words “F*** the IRA” and “IRA scumbags”. Gardaí in Cork are investigating the vandalism, which is understood to have taken place on Thursday evening.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px][FONT=Georgia]Sinn Féin councillor Chris O’Leary said vandalism carried out on War of Independence IRA commander Tom Barry’s headstone, located elsewhere in the graveyard, indicated the graffiti was deliberately daubed ahead of the Easter Rising commemorations[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px][FONT=Georgia]‘Mindless, disgusting act’[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px][FONT=Georgia]“We have spent all day cleaning them ahead of the commemorations. It is sad to see the desecration of the republican plot. It is such a mindless, disgusting act. Well done to those in the Phoenix Historical Society and Sinn Féin members for cleaning up the plot.”[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px][FONT=Georgia]Cork city councillor Ted Tynan, of the Workers’ Party, said the timing of the vandalism was “sickening” given its proximity to the commemorations.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px][FONT=Georgia]‘Deliberately targeted’[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px][FONT=Georgia]“To think that the men and women who sacrificed their lives for this country could be treated with such utter contempt is disgusting. The fact that only the graves in the republican plot and of prominent republicans buried nearby have been covered with graffiti suggests that they were deliberately targeted,” Mr Tynan said.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px][FONT=Georgia]The Easter Sunday commemorations at the cemetery took place yesterday afternoon in inclement conditions. Participants assembled at the National Monument on Grand Parade in Cork for the parade to St Finbarr’s. Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaighdelivered the oration at the cemetery.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px][FONT=Georgia]Cllr O’Leary addressed the Easter Rising commemoration ceremony in Astna Square in Clonakilty, Co Cork, at lunchtime yesterday. Rising commemorations have been held in the town since 1981.[/FONT][/SIZE]
I will be in Cork for a few days in a couple of weeks and i would be interested in visiting some of the historical sites around Cork from the WOI. Any recommendations?
I will be in Cork for a few days in a couple of weeks and i would be interested in visiting some of the historical sites around Cork from the WOI. Any recommendations?[/quote]
The Cork City goal had a deal up on one of those deal sites - 8 Euro for two people.
Walked down Henry Place today, a small dog leg street that joins Henry Street and Moore St opposite the GPO. The cobblestones are the same cobblestones that James Connolly was dragged over on a stretcher on the retreat from the GPO and you can still see the bullet holes from the Rising quite clearly in the brick work over No4 Henry Place, the tattoo parlour and No.5, the fortune tellers.
Chartered land are planning to encase this area in glass as a museum as part of a new giant shopping centre. Thankfully the bubble burst put an end to this madness
In the context outlined, yes. If i signed up to fight for the Country & my comrades then i would follow orders in the pursuit of an outlined goal. What the men of Cork showed more than anything throughout the WOI was a never ending bond to their comrades,leaders & Ireland.
for this thread, a super read.