Sir—In your last issue Brian Hanley refers to a ‘Donie O’Neill’ as oneof the defenders of Connolly House during a violent anti-Communistattack in March 1933. The name mentioned is obviously a misprint forDonie O’Reilly. Not alone was he a founder member of the CommunistParty of Ireland in June 1933, he was one of the first … Read more
The Catholic priesthood can be seen as exemplifying ‘traditional’ leadership where authority derives from a social role irrespective of the individual involved; but there have always been priests who developed a more individualistic approach, even if this precipitated conflict with church or state authorities. These essays describe nine Irish Catholic priests, each marked out by … Read more
Apart from the postscript, which in my view is the weakest section of the book owing to its pious, unctuous and preaching tone, Anti-Catholicism in Northern Ireland, was written by Brewer who generously acknowledges Higgins’s collaboration as research assistance by declaring co-authorship of the work. Brewer and Higgins maintain that anti-Catholicism in the North of … Read more
Sir Roger Casement was one of a number of patriots, who came from a different tradition. He was of Antrim Presbyterian stock, and gave exemplary service not just to the British Colonial Office but to mankind, in exposing the slavery and inhumanity suffered at the hands of imperialism by native peoples of the Belgium Congo … Read more
Sir,—I agree with Brian Hanley (HI Spring 1999) that ‘the conflictssurrounding Poppy Day in the ‘20s and ‘30s were more complexthan present-day commentators have allowed’.One-hundred-and-seventy-thousand out of 180,000 Volunteers had remainedloyal to their elected political leader in his constitutional approach.A significant number had put their lives on the line on the Somme andother battlefields. Afterwards … Read more