Blair tells Sinn Féin he needs assurance that its members are committed to “exclusively peaceful means” for the peace process to succeed, and stresses that all parties must recognise their obligations under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Durkan warns that while the power sharing government might be suspended, the agreement itself should not be “crippled” but only “injured.” He says the SDLP will not support a motion to exclude Sinn Féin from the Executive, but acknowledges that the Ulster Unionists cannot be expected to continue sitting alongside Sinn Féin under the current circumstances.
Durkan also stresses that the best way to reassure communities is to end IRA-related concerns, calling for an end to IRA activity. He urges both governments to avoid an “orgy of mutual recrimination” and to keep the political agenda focused on protecting the peace process.
This moment is a critical test for the Good Friday Agreement, as the suspension of the Executive risks undermining the democratic path it has established, but Durkan’s stance reflects the SDLP’s commitment to preserving the framework of the peace deal even amid political turmoil.
Progressing the Peace Process – the parties are consolidating steps needed to establish Northern Ireland’s new devolved Assembly, following the Good Friday Agreement signed in April 1998.
Confirming Executive Arrangements and Cross-Community Cooperation – discussion focuses on how the new Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive can function on a cross-community basis, ensuring Unionist and Nationalist representation in governance and decision-making.
Addressing the Controversial Role of the Queen – newly declassified documents show that Tony Blair and Secretary of State for Northern IrelandMo Mowlam explored whether Queen Elizabeth II should officially open the new Assembly, a sensitive question due to nationalist perception. They propose consulting privately with Seamus Mallon before final decisions are made with David Trimble.
Ensuring the Implementation of Key Good Friday Agreement Provisions – including Irish Republican Army (IRA) decommissioning of weapons, parity in representation for Unionists and Nationalists in the Assembly, and planning for the full transfer of powers from the UK Government to the Assembly, which is scheduled for December 1999.
Key outcomes and discussions coming out of the meeting include:
Commitment to Institutions: Blair, Trimble, and Mallon agree on the importance of setting up a shadow Assembly that can transition to full devolved powers once cross-party agreements are stable.
Cross-Community Provisions: Blair emphasizes that sensitive issues require cross-community approval in the Assembly, warning that majority-rule-only systems could lead to collapse if abused.
International Support: George Mitchell, as U.S. envoy, reaffirms American support for the peace process and encourages local leaders to uphold commitments.
Political Sensitivities of the Queen’s Role: Blair and Mowlam note the potential nationalist backlash if the Queen’s presence is prominent, suggesting alternative ceremonial openings.
Security and Prisoner Issues: Discussions also cover paramilitary decommissioning, with particular concern over Sinn Féin and IRA compliance to allow the formation of the shadow Executive safely.
The meeting is part of a broader diplomatic effort. It occurs after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement (April 10, 1998) but before formal referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland approving the Agreement (May 22 and 23, 1998). It highlights the delicate balancing act between Unionists and Nationalists, the role of the UK and Irish governments, and international mediation, notably from the U.S. via George Mitchell.
Declassified documents at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) in Belfast detail concerns over cross-community decision-making and the Queen’s status in ceremonial openings. The CAIN: Irish Peace Process Chronology confirms Blair, Trimble, and Mallon are engaging in preparatory discussions to implement the Agreement’s provisions and ensure the Assembly’s initial functionality. U.S. involvement through George Mitchell underscores the international commitment to maintaining peace and political stability during the transitional period.
In summary, the September 27, 1998 meeting is a crucial step in operationalizing the Good Friday Agreement, demonstrating cooperative leadership among British, Unionist, and Nationalist figures, with strategic oversight from the United States. It sets the stage for the new Northern Ireland Assembly, addressing ceremonial, legislative, and security challenges central to the successful devolution of powers.
Key participants demonstrate cautious diplomacy, foresight in cross-community governance, and recognition of the international dimension crucial to Northern Ireland’s peace process.
(Pictured: (L to R) David Trimble, George Mitchell and Seamus Mallon)
On August 30, 1921, Éamon de Valera sends a sharp reply to British Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George as the two sides move closer to formal peace negotiations. The letter comes during a tense period when the British have presented their “Proposals of the British Government for the Irish Settlement” — offering Ireland “within the Empire…in allegiance to His Majesty’s throne” with Northern Ireland’s Unionist government remaining in place, full British naval access, and other imperial arrangements.
De Valera’s response is a stinging rebuke to Lloyd George’s approach. He reiterates Ireland’s determination to be “free from Imperialistic entanglements,” while still offering “reasonable guarantees not inconsistent with Irish sovereignty.” He makes clear that Ireland could enter a treaty of free association with the British Commonwealth but could not accept the British government’s right to “mutilate our country.” This is a direct challenge to the British insistence on loyalty to the Crown and continued imperial ties.
The exchange reflects the core conflict in the talks. The British position requires that Ireland must remain part of the Empire, with some form of association and recognition of the King’s sovereignty. The Irish position maintains that Ireland must be fully independent, with no coercion of Northern Ireland, and with sovereignty intact.
By August 30, both sides have softened their initial positions enough for Lloyd George to send a revised invitation to negotiate in person. De Valera’s letter is part of the diplomatic back-and-forth that culminates in his acceptance of the conference on September 30, 1921, marking the start of the most consequential peace talks in Irish history.
In essence, the August 30 letter is both a political statement and a diplomatic signal — asserting Irish sovereignty while leaving room for a negotiated settlement, and setting the tone for the negotiations that would soon begin.
Prime Minister of the United KingdomArthur Wellesley and Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, who had previously opposed Catholic participation in Parliament, fear that denying O’Connell his seat will provoke outrage and potentially another rebellion in Ireland — a country then about 85% Catholic. This political pressure directly leads to the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, which allows Catholics to become MPs, and the Parliamentary Elections (Ireland) Act 1829, which raises the property qualification for voting from £2 to £10.
With the new law in place, O’Connell stands again. The by‑election is unopposed, meaning he is returned without contest. This is significant because the higher property qualification could have disenfranchised many tenant farmers, but in Clare, O’Connell is the only candidate.
In summary, the July 30, 1829, Clare by‑election is a symbolic victory for Catholic emancipation, marking the first time a Catholic MP is elected under the new laws, and cementing O’Connell’s role as “The Liberator” of Irish political rights.
The Coalition Government, led by Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George, is in power from 1918 to 1922 following the end of World War I, continuing the wartime alliance that has included Liberals and Conservatives. By 1920, the Cabinet is navigating Spain’s post-war reconstruction, the political unrest in Ireland, social welfare issues, and economic stabilization following wartime disruption. This period also sees preparation for negotiations over Germany’s reparations and engagement with international diplomacy after the Treaty of Versailles.
The Coalition Cabinet keeps detailed minutes and memoranda, which are recorded in the CAB 23 series as “Cabinet Conclusions,” starting from November 1919 into the interwar years. These records summarize discussions and decisions but are not verbatim transcriptions.
While the specific agenda for July 23 is not directly cited in the sources, relevant Cabinet business during July 1920 includes:
Reconstruction and Post-War Economy: Addressing unemployment, social welfare of returning servicemen, and government budgetary priorities.
International Diplomacy and Reparations: Review of ongoing negotiations concerning German reparations after World War I, potentially preparing for discussions later in London and Paris.
Regarding Ireland, the Cabinet is divided on how to proceed. Some Liberal ministers and Dublin Castle officials are in favour of offering dominion status to Ireland. Conservative ministers argue that the Government must crush the insurgency and proceed with the Government of Ireland Bill. Debate continues after the meeting, with Walter Long warning of “the gravest consequences in Ulster” if the Government changes course.
In summary, the Coalition Cabinet convenes on July 23, 1920, in the context of post-war governance, with ministers like Lloyd George, Bonar Law, Curzon, Balfour, and Churchill participating. While exact meeting details require consulting official CAB series records, the issues at hand involve post-World War I economic recovery, Irish affairs, and international obligations stemming from the Treaty of Versailles.
(Pictured: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Lloyd George)
On June 15, 1988, an unmarked military van carrying six British Army soldiers is blown up by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) at Market Place in Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The explosion takes place at the end of a charity marathon run in which the soldiers had participated. All six soldiers are killed in the attack – four outright, one on his way to hospital and another later on in hospital.
Lisburn is the headquarters of the British Army in Northern Ireland. Four of the dead are from the Royal Corps of Signals while the other two are from the Green Howards and the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. A booby trap bomb is hidden under the Ford Transit van in which the soldiers are traveling, and is designed in such a way that the blast goes upward to cause maximum damage to the vehicle. Eleven civilian bystanders are injured, including a two-year-old child and 80-year-old man. The bombing is sometimes referred to as the Lisburn “Fun Run” bombing.
On Wednesday, June 15, 1988, at 8:50 p.m., an unmarked blue Ford Transit van carrying six off-duty British soldiers in civilian clothes drives off from a leisure centre carpark in Lisburn. The soldiers have just taken part in the “Lisburn Fun Run”, a 13-mile (21 km) charity half marathon held in the town. They leave the van unattended in the car park, which is the start and finish point for the run. It is there that an IRA active service unit (ASU), who has been following the van, hides a bomb underneath the vehicle. The half marathon and shorter “fun runs” are organised by Lisburn Borough Council, together with the YMCA, to raise funds for the disabled. There are 4,500 participants that day and at least 200 British Army personnel have been given leave to participate in the event.
Nine minutes later, the van stops at traffic lights at Market Place, in Lisburn’s town centre. As the van moves on, the seven-pound (3.2 kg) bomb detonates, turning the van into a massive fireball and instantly killing four of the soldiers as the vehicle disintegrates with the force of the blast. The Semtex device has been designed in a cone shape to channel the blast upward, thereby causing maximum damage to the vehicle and the soldiers inside. The area around Market Place is crowded with onlookers, including many teenagers and families with young children, although the biggest crowd is at the carpark. In all, about 10,000 onlookers have attended the charity run. There is pandemonium as frightened parents search for their children, while others rush to give aid to the dead and dying soldiers before fire engines and ambulances arrive.
Eleven civilian bystanders are injured in the attack, including a two-year-old child and an 80-year-old man. Another soldier dies on the way to hospital while a sixth soldier dies later that night after undergoing surgery for severe head injuries. The dead soldiers are stationed at Ebrington Barracks in Derry and are returning to base when the bomb goes off. Four of the men – Sergeant Michael Winkler (31), Signalman Mark Clavey (24), Lance Corporal Graham Lambie (22), and Corporal William Patterson (22) – are from the Royal Corps of Signals, while the other two – Corporal Ian Metcalf (36) and Lance Corporal Derek Green (20) – are from the Green Howards and Royal Army Ordnance Corps respectively.
Lisburn is a mainly Ulster Protestant town, 14 miles (23 km) southwest of Belfast. It serves as the garrison headquarters of the British Army in Northern Ireland. Six months before the van bombing, a booby trap bomb planted by the IRA kills Ulster Defence Association (UDA) leader John McMichael in the town.
The van bombing results in the greatest loss of life suffered by the British Army since eleven soldiers were killed in the Droppin Well Disco bombing on December 6, 1982.
On June 16, the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade claims responsibility for the bombing, promising to wage “unceasing war” against the British security forces in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams allegedly says that the IRA’s killing of the six soldiers is “vastly preferable” to killing members of the (locally recruited) Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) or Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). The leisure centre is forced to remain shut for a time after the loyalistProtestant Action Force (a cover-name of the UVF) issues a warning that they regard Catholic staff working there as “legitimate targets,” inferring that they may have had a hand in the bombing. Lisburn mayor Councillor William Bleakes condemns the threats by the PAF.
That same day, Tom King, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, travels to Lisburn where he holds a meeting with Lieutenant General Sir John Waters, the British Army Commander in Northern Ireland, and senior RUC officers. They discuss the attack and proposals for heightened security. The soldiers had failed to follow proper security procedures, as they had left their vehicle unguarded for over two hours and had then driven off without having checked under it beforehand. After the Lisburn meeting, King flies to London where he reports directly to British Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher, who describes the attack as a “terrible atrocity.” However, she rejects demands from Conservative members of Parliament to bring back internment, regarding the proposal as “a very serious step.”
In his statement to the House of Commons, Tom King suggests that there would have been a much higher death toll had the bomb exploded in the carpark, where thousands of people had gathered after the run.
The Republic of Ireland‘s government also strongly condemns the killings and extends its sympathy to the families of the dead soldiers. The bombing is a topic of debate in the Seanad Éireann on June 16, 1988. Bishop Cahal Daly of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor denounces the bombers and the killings in the “strongest possible terms.”
Questions are raised as to how the IRA knew the soldiers were attending the charity run in Lisburn, how they recognised their unmarked van, and how the unit was able to plant a bomb in the predominantly loyalist town without being spotted, despite the number of people in the carpark. The RUC believes that the bombers may have been wearing sports gear as they mingled with the crowd that evening. They appeal to onlookers who had attended the event to hand over any film they may have taken of the “fun run” in an attempt to identify the IRA bombers.
The following Saturday, between 1,000 and 2,000 people gather in Lisburn town centre to attend a remembrance service for the six soldiers. A book of condolences is also opened.
FitzGerald joins Fine Gael, attaching himself to the liberal wing of the party. and in 1969 is elected to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament. He later gives up his university lectureship to become Minister for Foreign Affairs in the coalition government of Liam Cosgrave (1973–77). When the coalition government is resoundingly defeated in the 1977 Irish general election, Cosgrave yields leadership of Fine Gael to FitzGerald. In his new role as Leader of the Opposition and party leader, he proceeds to modernize and strengthen the party at the grass roots. He briefly loses power in 1982 when political instability triggers two snap elections.
By the time of the 1981 Irish general election, Fine Gael has a party machine that can easily match Fianna Fáil. The party wins 65 seats and forms a minority coalition government with the Labour Party and the support of a number of Independent TDs. FitzGerald is elected Taoiseach on June 30, 1981. To the surprise of many, FitzGerald excludes Richie Ryan, Richard Burke and Tom O’Donnell, former Fine Gael stalwarts, from the cabinet.
On May 5, 2011, it is reported that FitzGerald is seriously ill in a Dublin hospital. Newly elected Fine Gael Taoiseach Enda Kenny sends his regards and calls him an “institution.” On May 6 he is put on a ventilator. On May 19, after suffering from pneumonia, he dies at the Mater Private Hospital in Dublin at the age of 85.
In a statement, Irish PresidentMary McAleese hails FitzGerald as “a man steeped in the history of the State who constantly strove to make Ireland a better place for all its people.” Taoiseach Enda Kenny pays homage to “a truly remarkable man who made a truly remarkable contribution to Ireland.” Henry Kissinger, the former United States Secretary of State, who serves as an opposite number to FitzGerald in the 1970s, recalls “an intelligent and amusing man who was dedicated to his country.”
FitzGerald’s death occurs on the third day of Queen Elizabeth II‘s state visit to the Republic of Ireland, an event designed to mark the completion of the Northern Ireland peace process that had been “built on the foundations” of FitzGerald’s Anglo-Irish Agreement with Margaret Thatcher in 1985. In a personal message, the Queen offers her sympathies and says she is “saddened” to learn of FitzGerald’s death.
On his visit to Dublin, United States PresidentBarack Obama offers condolences on FitzGerald’s death. He speaks of him as “someone who believed in the power of education; someone who believed in the potential of youth; most of all, someone who believed in the potential of peace and who lived to see that peace realised.”
FitzGerald is the author of a number of books, including Planning in Ireland (1968), Towards a New Ireland (1972), Unequal Partners (1979), All in a Life: An Autobiography (1991), and Reflections on the Irish State (2003).
The Catholic Association is the latest in a series of similar associations formed over the previous ten years or so, none of which had prospered. Like the other associations, this new association is composed mainly of the middle class elite: an annual subscription amounting to a guinea, an amount equivalent to what an average farmer would pay for six months’ rent. In 1824, the Catholic Association begins to use the money that it has raised to campaign for Catholic emancipation.
In 1824, the association creates a new category of associate members at the cost of a penny per month, the so-called Catholic Rent. The reasoning behind the creation of this new membership category is to stimulate a swelling in association numbers. This new, cheaper category ensures Catholics from a poorer background can join, and thus the association’s initial class-based entry barriers are removed. The Catholic rent transforms the association and Catholic political advocacy more broadly. In terms of the association, the rent catalyzes a transformation in a number of ways. Firstly, as previously mentioned, it gives the Catholic Association a constant source of money, which enables O’Connell to run a consistent campaign. Secondly, it facilitates easy calculation of total association membership numbers so that O’Connell can say with confidence that he has the support of so many people. This is important as it can be used to apply pressure against the British government. Third, and perhaps most importantly, however, it announces the arrival of mass mobilization politics, being the first such populist movement in Europe. O’Connell decides to add this additional membership level, at a reduced price of a penny a month, deliberately. The benefits are clear. With the membership subscription set at a relatively cheap price, a large number of the peasant and working classes can join. Affordability ensures large numbers. In effect, it becomes a universal Catholic organization that is transparent and populist. The fact that each member contributes financially to the association also ensures that they are more deeply involved in pushing the cause of Catholic emancipation. People want value for their money. Thus, this ensures a cheap method for O’Connell to get the message of Catholic emancipation spread throughout Ireland.
The Catholic Association’s funds are diffused widely in a variety of areas. Some is spent campaigning for Catholic emancipation, defraying the costs of sending petitions to Westminster, and training of priests. Following the 1826 election campaign, funds are used to support the members of the organization who had voted against their landlords. The money is used for those who have been evicted from land by the landlords because of their connection to the Catholic organization or for those who were boycottingabsentee landlord. For the Catholic peasants that are in this situation, the future would be grim as they would be unable to continue the boycott without food and money, and they would be unable to lease land from any landlord as the peasants would be boycotted against in return. The Catholic Association’s funds are used to support these boycotts so that they can continue and live well enough to have enough food to survive.
The Catholic Association is originally aristocratic in its composition, and some of the gentry (such as Richard Lalor Sheil) hold relatively conservative views. However, O’Connell holds an enormous influence over society and largely dictates the policies it pursues. It is radical in nature but also extremely loyal to the Crown in appearance. This had been the strategy of the previous major Catholic group, the Catholic Committee of the 1790s, which achieved major Catholic Relief in 1793.
Since the aims of the Catholic Association are fairly moderate and the organization remains loyal to the monarch, British MPs are conceptually more willing to pass Catholic emancipation. The matter had been discussed in London since the Acts of Union 1800, when Prime MinisterWilliam Pitt and most of his colleagues resign from the cabinet when emancipation is denied by the king. Henry Grattan continues to support the cause, and Catholic emancipation had been passed by the House of Commons previously by a majority of six, but it is rejected in the House of Lords and generally by King George III, who reigns until 1820.
The biggest strength of the Catholic Association is that the Catholic Church helps in the collection of the Catholic rent. Catholic priests also hold sermons in favor of Catholic emancipation. This means that it is easy for the members to pay the Catholic rent, and it will attract more members as the message of Catholic emancipation is being spread throughout Ireland. Sir Robert Peel believes the alliance of the Catholic Association and the Catholic Church is a “powerful combination.”
In 1826, the Catholic Association begins to use its funds to support pro-emancipation MPs in elections. They use their money and manpower to campaign for the candidate to be elected into parliament to pressure the government from within to pass Catholic emancipation.
The turning point comes in 1828, when two factors come into play. The first is that the Catholic Church takes over the collection of the Catholic Rent and effectively the Catholic Association itself. The other is that by 1828, O’Connell’s reputation has increased dramatically. He is an internationally recognized figure and is seen as one of the leading figures in liberal thinking. This successful campaign leads on to, but is distinguished from, his later efforts to end the union with Britain, to increase the franchise, and to end the payment of tithes. His particular talent is to push the emancipation process along in an organized way.
In May 1828, the Sacramental Test Act 1828 repeals the Test Acts 1673 & 1678 against non-AnglicanProtestants. This gives non-Catholic non-conformists greater political freedom and equality in Britain. The repeal has two effects: it gives Catholics hope that a similar act will be passed that will include Catholics; it also alienates Catholics, as they have become the only Christians not to have political freedom and equality.
In May 1828, William Huskisson resigns from the cabinet, and William Vesey-Fitzgerald is chosen as the President of the Board of Trade. According to the law, there is to be a by-election in his constituency of Clare. O’Connell decides to exploit a loophole in the Acts of Union 1800. It requires MPs to take the Oath of Allegiance, but the oath is not required of candidates for election. He stands in the by-election and wins. Since he is a Catholic, he cannot take his seat in parliament. Demand rises to allow him to become an MP for Clare, as it does not have representation.
Sir Robert Peel and Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, see that if O’Connell is not allowed to take his seat, then there could be a revolution in Ireland. While using non-violent methods, O’Connell hints that he will get more Catholics elected to force the situation. In an emotive speech, he says, “They must crush us or conciliate us.”
Peel decides to change the government’s approach and submits the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 in February 1829. The bill is passed. It is a momentous victory for O’Connell and the Catholic middle class, and he becomes known as “the liberator” and the “uncrowned king of Ireland.” However, the simultaneous enactment of the Parliamentary Elections (Ireland) Act 1829 restricts the franchise in the county constituencies in Ireland. The archive of the Catholic Association is housed with the archives of Dublin Diocese in Holy Cross College, Dublin.
(Pictured: “Daniel O’Connell: The Champion of Liberty” poster published in Pennsylvania, 1847)
Ginnell is born in Delvin, County Westmeath, in 1852, (baptised April 9, 1852) the son of Laurence Ginnell and Mary Monaghan and twin to Michael Ginnell. He is self-educated and is called to the Irish bar as well as the Bar of England and Wales. In his youth, he is involved with the Land War and acts as private secretary to John Dillon.
The last great social and agrarian campaign of the Irish home rule movement, the Ranch War (1906 and 1909), is largely led and organised by Ginnell from the central office of the United Irish League. He is elected an MP in 1906, takes his seat at Westminster and swears allegiance to Edward VII. On October 14, 1906, he launches the “war” at Downs, County Westmeath.
The purpose of the war is to bring relief to the large numbers of landless and smallholders, particularly in the West, who are relatively untouched by the Wyndham Land Act (1903) and by the larger policy of purchase. The strategy that Ginnell pursues is the Down’s Policy, or cattle driving, a proceeding designed to harass the prosperous grazier interests, whose “ranches” occupy large, under populated and under worked tracts. The Down’s Policy is also meant to draw public attention to the scandalous inequalities that survive in the Irish countryside. The conservatives within the home rule leadership are understandably suspicious about the revival of agrarian disturbances, but the mood of the party organisation is hardening in the aftermath of a disappointing devolution bill in May 1907, from the new Liberal government, so that it seems logical to turn to the traditional mechanism for reactivating the national question: agrarian agitation.
Ginnell’s cattle drives begin to tail off after the summer of 1908, and the agitation is finally dissolved with the passage of a 1909 Act by the Liberal Chief Secretary Augustine Birrell that allows the transfer to the Irish Land Commission of farmland by compulsory purchase, which is hailed by the national movement as an historic victory. In reality, the Ranch War involves an implosion within sectors of the Irish Parliamentary Party, as its leadership has not facilitated the working of the Wyndham Land Act in the first place because John Dillon and his like want conflict above victory.
In 1909, Ginnell is expelled from the Irish Parliamentary Party for the offence of asking to see the party accounts after which he sits as an Independent Nationalist. During this time, he is addressed frequently as “The MP for Ireland.” At Westminster, he is highly critical of the British government‘s war policy and its holding of executions of certain participants in the Easter Rising of 1916. On May 9, he accuses British Prime MinisterH. H. Asquith, of “Murder” and is forcibly ejected from the Chamber. He visits many of the prisoners who are interned in various prisons in Wales and England.
At the Sinn Féin ardfheis in 1917, at which the party is reconstituted as a republican party with de Valera as president, Ginnell and W. T. Cosgrave are elected Honorary Treasurers. He is imprisoned in March 1918 for encouraging land agitation and later deported to Reading Gaol. In the 1918 United Kingdom general election, he is elected as a Sinn Féin MP for the Westmeath constituency by comfortably defeating his IPP challenger. After his release from prison, he attends the proceedings of the First Dáil. Along with fellow TDJames O’Mara, he is one of the only TDs to serve as a member in both the House of Commons and Dáil Éireann.
He is one of the few people to have served in the House of Commons and in the Oireachtas. He is appointed Director of Propaganda in the Second Ministry of the Irish Republic. After spending a year as a republican campaigner in Chicago, he is appointed the Representative of the Irish Republic in Argentina and South America by de Valera. He carries out his propaganda work here to distribute copies of the Irish Bulletin and to provide the Sinn Féin version of the conflict during the Irish War of Independence. On August 16, 1921, he returns home to attend the first meeting of the Second Dáil. He travels back to Argentina some months later to serve as the Representative of the Republic there.
On September 9, 1922, Ginnell is the only anti-Treaty TD to attend the inaugural meeting of the Provisional Parliament or Third Dáil. Before signing the roll, he says, “I want some explanation before I sign. I have been elected in pursuance of a decree by Dáil Éireann, which decree embodies the decree of May 20, 1922. I have heard nothing read in reference to that decree, nothing but an Act of a foreign Parliament. I have been elected as a member of Dáil Éireann. I have not been elected to attend any such Parliament. Will anyone tell me with authority whether it is…”.
Ginnell is at this point interrupted but resumes by saying that he will sign the roll and take his seat in the Assembly if the Assembly is Dáil Éireann. He is informed he is not allowed raise any such question until a Ceann Comhairle has been elected. He continues to ask questions regardless to which he gets no answer including his question: “Will any member of the Six Counties be allowed to sit in this Dáil?” W. T. Cosgrave moves at this point that he be excluded from the House. Ginnell protests, and he is dragged out by force.
De Valera later appoints Ginnell a member of his “Council of State,” a twelve-member body set up to advise him on the deteriorating situation in the civil war. He returns to the United States soon afterward to serve as the Republic‘s envoy in the country. He orders Robert Briscoe and some of his friends to take possession of the Consular Offices in Nassau Street, New York City, then in the hands of the Irish Free State Government, to obtain the list of the subscribers to the bond drive organized to aid the struggle in the War of Independence. At the time, a court case is ongoing to decide on who has the right to the funds: the newly installed Provisional Government or de Valera, as one of the three trustees among the anti-Treatyites.
Ginnell dies in Washington, D.C. on April 17, 1923, at the age of 71, still campaigning against the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
On March 21, 1881, the Peace Preservation (Ireland) Act of 1881, a significant piece of legislation, is enacted by the British Parliament, led by Prime MinisterWilliam Ewart Gladstone, during a period of political turbulence in Ireland.
This act is part of a series of legislative measures introduced by the British government to address the rise of agrarian agitation and unrest in Ireland, particularly in response to the activities of the Irish National Land League. The Act grants extensive powers to the authorities to combat perceived threats to public order and security. It allows for the arrest and detention of individuals suspected of being involved in agrarian crimes, as well as the suppression of public meetings and the imposition of curfews in troubled areas. It is part of the broader response by the British government to the Land War, a period of agrarian agitation and tenant-landlord conflicts in Ireland during the late 19th century. The legislative measures during this time are controversial and lead to increased tensions between the Irish population and the British authorities.
William Ewart Gladstone, a member of the Liberal Party, is the prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on four separate occasions between 1868 and 1894. He is noted for his moralistic leadership and his emphasis on world peace, economical budgets, political reform and efforts to resolve the Irish question.
Gladstone sees himself as a national leader driven by a political and almost religious mission, which he tries to validate through elections and dramatic appeals to the public conscience. His approach sometimes divides the Liberal Party, which he dominates for three decades. Finally, he splits his party on the issue of Irish Home Rule, which he sees as mandated by the true public interest regardless of the political cost.
In 1881, Gladstone is convinced that to pass a Land Bill for Ireland, law and order should be restored. In February 1881, the government therefore passes the Peace Preservation (Ireland) Act 1881 which gives the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland powers to suspend habeas corpus, and gives him in effect the power to lock up anyone he likes for as long as he likes. This is the Act used to arrest Irish Nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell.
On August 22, 1881, Parliament passes the Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 which gives Irish tenants “the three Fs”: fair rent, fixity (security) of tenure, and the right to freely sell their holdings.
Gladstone’s government also passes the Arrears of Rent (Ireland) Act 1882, which cancels rent arrears for Irish tenants occupying land worth less than £30 per annum who were unable to pay.
(From: “The Peace Preservation Act, Controlling Possession and Importation of Arms, Is Enacted,” Today In Celtic History, http://www.todayinceltichistory.com | Pictured: William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)
