FOLLOWING the Declaration of Independence of the Irish Republic and the establishment of Dáil Éireann in January 1919, the Irish people had a functioning government but one which was increasingly subject to British repression. Many TDs were in jail or on the run yet the Dáil set up a number of departments, sent diplomatic missions abroad and began replacing the British legal system with Republican Courts. Free article

Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald has said any hardening of the border, or custom checks on the island of Ireland are completely unacceptable, and Taoiseach Varadkar must ensure that all options, including support for the Good Friday Agreement provision for a referendum on Irish reunification are on the table.

Taoiseach Varadkar addressed the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce last... Free article

BY the autumn of 1919, the Irish people and British forces in Ireland were set on a path of armed conflict that was about to escalate significantly. Free article

First published on Independent.ie on 31 August 2019. Free article

As time passes historical perspectives lengthen and the broad political landscape we have traversed comes into view. In 2019 we have perspectives of twenty-five years since the first IRA cessation and the start of the Peace Process, fifty years since the armed conflict began in 1969 and one hundred years since the establishment of the First Dáil Éireann and its suppression by the British government. We can see more clearly now than ever that all three events are inextricably linked. Free article

This month marks the 110th anniversary of the founding of Na Fianna Éireann; a significant moment in the development of the Republican Movement and the struggle for Irish freedom.

On 16th August 1909, around one hundred boys attended a meeting at 34 Lower Camden Street in Dublin, organised by a Committee including Constance Markievicz and Bulmer Hobson, to establish an Irish... Free article

After decades of neglect the Summer cottage of Countess Markievicz in the Dublin Mountains, which was used as a base to train Na Fianna Éireann, has been allowed to fail into ruin.

Markievicz was a 1916 leader, the first woman elected to Westminster and the Dáil, and our first Minister for Labour.

Many of those who took part or died in the 1916 Rising in Dublin, including some of... Free article

The IRA cessation is 25 years old this week. August 1994 was an intense month. I was involved, along with Martin McGuinness, and others in the Sinn Féin leadership, in intense, mostly private, efforts to persuade the SDLP Leader John Hume, the Irish Government and allies in Irish America to establish an alternative unarmed strategy to pursue republican and democratic objectives.... Free article

The RTÉ two-part documentary on Daniel O’Connell presented by Olivia O’Leary has renewed debate on the legacy of this towering political figure who dominated the first half of the 19th century in Ireland. O’Leary’s presented the still prevailing establishment view of O’Connell as the great ‘constitutional nationalist’ promoting peace, in contrast to the ‘violent’ Republicans. And again alternative more informed views of O’Connell were ignored. Free article

Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty writes about the need for workers across Ireland to get the pay rise they deserve. Free article