Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann! Sean Healy, 15 years old, was a member of the Fianna Eireann North Frederick Street Sluagh. He joined in 1913. When the Fianna was restructured in 1915, his branch became No. 6 Company in the Fianna Battalion. Sean Heuston, who was also vice-Commandant of the whole Dublin Battalion, was also his Company commander. He was involved in the transportation of arms across Dublin on Easter Saturday and when the Rising began on Easter Monday he had not yet received mobilisation orders. By the Tuesday he made his way towards Jacobs. Commandant MacDonagh gave h ..read more

Thomas Traynor was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) hanged in Mountjoy Gaol during the Irish War of Independence. Traynor was born on 27 May 1882 in Tullow, Co Carlow, and was 38 at the time of his death. He was an experienced soldier having been a member of the Boland’s Mill garrison during the Easter Rising. After the Rising he was interned in Frongoch, Wakefield Jail and Mountjoy Gaol where he shared a cell with Seán Mac Eoin. He worked as a boot maker and was married with ten children. At the time of his death the eldest was 18 years and the youngest 5 months. The eldest son, Fr ..read more

In 1976, the 60th anniversary of the Rising, the southern state and the republican paramilitaries – particularly the Provisional IRA were in frank confrontation. The Irish government banned that year’s proposed Easter parade by republicans under the Offences Against the State Act – its anti-terrorist legislation. Just ten years after the state’s own bombastic commemoration of the Rising in 1966, it was an offence to even attend an Easter parade on O’Connell Street. There was nevertheless a rally by Provisional IRA supporters, resulting in some disturbances. The Irish Times reported that some 1 ..read more

The UVF gun-running of April 1914, known as Operation Lion, was an effective military operation; though many of the 100,000-strong UVF remained unarmed after it. The Ulster Volunteer Force had been formed in January 1913 and from that date, small-scale gun-running had been carried out. In fact, up until December 1913, when royal proclamations made it illegal to import military firearms into Ireland, many rifles were brought into Ulster quite openly. Sir Edward Carson, the unionist leader, saw the UVF principally as a propaganda tool, rather than a military force, which would provide large, dis ..read more

Among the first victims of the Easter Rising was a nurse rushing to attend to patients and the wounded. Margaret Keogh (Kehoe), from Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow. Margaret was working as a nurse in the South Dublin Union (now the site of St James’s Hospital). Six republican riflemen, who had been firing from a top floor on the British soldiers, vacated their position and there was a lull in the firing. Nurse Keogh decided to look into the safety of any patients or wounded on the lower floor. At the foot of the stairs, the corridor was occupied by two British soldiers kneeling out of sight, coveri ..read more

John Francis Foster was born in Dublin, and lived with his parents at 18 Manor Place, Stoneybatter. On the 24th April John Francis Foster was caught in the crossfire whilst his mother Catherine pushed his pram towards the city centre from their home. A gun battle broke out and John was shot outside the Father Matthew Hall on Church Street. He later died in Richmond Hospital, he was aged 2 years and 10 months. He was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery. Image credit | Glasnevin Cemetery Museum SaveSave ..read more

1718 – Birth of portrait painter, Nathaniel Hone, in Dublin. 1764 – Birth of Thomas Emmet, nationalist and brother of Robert Emmet, in Dublin. 1857 – William Thompson, journalist, is born in Derry. 1885 – Birth of athlete, Con Walsh, in Carriganimma, He represented Canada at the 1908 Summer Olympics. He won a bronze medal in the hammer throw, finishing third behind fellow Irishmen John Flanagan and Matt McGrath, both of whom represented the United States. 1903 – Death of impressionist landscape and portrait painter, Walter Frederick Osborne. Born in Rathmines, Dublin, most of his paintings fea ..read more

Jayne Mansfield landed in Ireland after her screen career had been on the slide for some time when she signed up for a one-night stand in the Mount Brandon Hotel. She was to be paid the princely sum of £1,000 for 35 minutes of cabaret. The booking immediately divided the council, with Councillor Michael O’Regan thundering: ‘This is not a proper person we should have entertaining here. The lady says she cannot sing or dance, but is a sex symbol.’ The promoters were banking that 3,000 punters would settle the matter in their favour, before a twin-pronged jab of divine intervention punctured thei ..read more

At four minutes past noon on Easter Monday, Pearse, read the Proclamation. It signified the start of the Easter Rising. POBLACHT NA h-EIREANN THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE IRISH REPUBLIC TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND Irishmen and Irishwomen: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom. Having organized and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organization, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organizations, the I ..read more

The bounds between Irish Legend and Irish Myth has often been blurred, especially as the retelling of heroic deeds has been passed on through generations. Brian Boru was no legend although his life deeds were legendary. He was very much a real man and was in fact the last great High King of Ireland and perhaps the greatest military leader the country has ever known. Brian Boru was born Brian Mac Cennétig at Kincora, Killaloe, a town in the region of Tuadmumu (Thomond), the son of Cennetig (Cennedi) and Babhion or Bebinn. Members of the Dál gCais (or Dalcassians) tribe, the family had an ancien ..read more