Former Prime Minister John Bruton reflects on Irish history during the civil wars. Ireland will soon commemorate a conflict that took place between 1919 and 1923. It is customary to refer to the conflict between 1919 and 1921 as the War of Independence and that between 1922 and 1923 as the Civil...
Ireland is a small player, but it has much to teach its neighbors now suffering extremism, division and debt. The tiny Irish village of Ballingarry, in the heart of County Limerick, with its narrow streets and multiple churches, seems untouched by time and untroubled by the economic and...
Former Irish Prime Minister John Bruton reflects on Jean-Claude Juncker’s recent speech at the European Parliament. On September 13, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker delivered a speech to the European Parliament. He stressed what he called European values and singled out three...
To be true to Daniel O’Connell’s legacy, Irish people in the 21st century must take their share of responsibility for facing up to the international issues of our time. On a recent trip to Genoa, I came across the house on the Via Al Ponte Reale where Daniel O’Connell, the great Irish...
The convention was a last chance to resolve Anglo-Irish relations peacefully. Why was it lost? On July 25, 1917, the Irish Convention convened in Trinity College to make what would prove be the final, nonviolent attempt to establish relations between Ireland and Britain on an All-Ireland basis....
It would be naive to think that the divorce between the UK and the EU will not leave scars. If one reviews European history over the period since the Reformation 500 ago, the role that England has sought to play in Europe has been that of holding the balance between contending powers. It used...
Activists in Ireland are rallying against the US military’s use of Irish airspace for Washington’s wars. “We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible.” So declared the Irish...
