Arts

Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh – Listen to 10 Minutes of Spoken Irish (with English Sub-titles)

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Irish (Gaeilge) originated in Ireland and was historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language only by a small minority of the Irish population, and as a second language by a larger minority. However, it is widely considered to be an important part of the island’s culture and heritage. It enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland. It is also an official language of the European Union and an officially recognized minority language in Northern Ireland. Irish was the predominant language of the Irish people for most of their recorded history, and they brought their Gaelic speech with them to other countries, notably Scotland and the Isle of Man where it gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx. It has the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe. ...read more

History

No Go: Free Derry

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Free Derry (Irish: SaorDhoire) was a self-declared autonomous nationalist area of Derry, Northern Ireland, between 1969 and 1972. Its name was taken from a sign painted on a gable wall in the Bogside in January 1969 which read, “You are now entering Free Derry”. The area, which included the Bogside and Creggan  neighborhoods, was secured by community activists for the first time on 5 January 1969 following an incursion into the Bogside by members of the police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Residents built barricades and carried clubs and similar arms to prevent the RUC from entering. ...read more

History

DeValera – Churchill (6 videos)

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In June 1940, during and after the Battle of France, Britain offered to end the Partition of Ireland  quickly if Ireland would abandon its neutrality and join the war against Germany and Italy. De Valera had campaigned against partition and the 1937 Constitution drafted by him had an irredentist  clause describing the State as the “whole island of Ireland”, but he declined the offer. After the war he again called repeatedly for the ending of partition. The offer and his rejection remained secret until a biography was published in 1970. ...read more

History

The Catalpa Rescue (6 Videos)

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This documentary film tells the story of one of the greatest prison escapes in history. A celebrated story in its day, this 150-year-old story has long since been forgotten. Set amid the background of a period of great change in world history – the last days of Colonial Britain – the remnants of their time resonate today in the British policy towards Northern Ireland. ...read more

History

Catalpa (The Rescue)

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A BRIEF COMPILATION OF THE MAJOR POINTS OF THE CATALPA RESCUE STORY by Paul T. Meagher

The bare bones of the story of the Catalpa Rescue is familiar to most members of the Friendly Sons. It tells of the escape, on 18 April, 1876, of six Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) prisoners from the Convict Establishment (now Fremantle Prison) in the British Penal Colony of Western Australia. It describes their successful evasion of recapture aboard a New Bedford whaling bark, Catalpa, and their triumphant reception in the USA and subsequent freedom. ...read more