Browse content similar to Eoin Mac Néill - Fear Dearmadta 1916. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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TYPEWRITER KEYS CLICK | 0:00:30 | 0:00:31 | |
MACHINEGUN FIRE | 0:00:52 | 0:00:54 | |
We cannot reduce the options of the choices that were facing | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
people like MacNeill in such crude terms, | 0:00:59 | 0:01:02 | |
that they had either to be on one side of a debate or another side. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:05 | |
There was a hell of a lot in between. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:07 | |
This is the letter signed by my grandfather, Eoin MacNeill, | 0:01:23 | 0:01:28 | |
calling off the 1916 Rising. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:30 | |
And this document changed his life | 0:01:32 | 0:01:35 | |
and arguably changed Irish history. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:37 | |
I'm the youngest son of the youngest daughter of Eoin MacNeill, | 0:01:56 | 0:02:00 | |
he's my grandfather. | 0:02:00 | 0:02:02 | |
Eoin MacNeill himself was a man of documents and letters and records. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:09 | |
He was a hoarder, I suppose, rather than a person who was | 0:02:09 | 0:02:12 | |
careless about documents, he knew their value. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
Well, these are three photographs of Eoin MacNeill, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:22 | |
showing him at different stages of his life. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:25 | |
This is a picture of MacNeill and his wife Taddie | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
when they were living close to Malahide in a house | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
called "Hazelbrook", and it shows him as a young man with a moustache. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:34 | |
This picture here shows MacNeill at another stage of his life, | 0:02:34 | 0:02:38 | |
clean-shaven. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:39 | |
I'd imagine it was when he was Minister for Education | 0:02:39 | 0:02:41 | |
or perhaps Minister for Finance, in the period 1919 to 1923. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:47 | |
But all three pictures show him, I think, | 0:02:47 | 0:02:51 | |
as a kind of lean, intelligent, ascetic kind of man. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:57 | |
A serious-minded... But a warm character notwithstanding. | 0:02:57 | 0:03:02 | |
He wrote a memoir detailing what had happened in relation | 0:03:10 | 0:03:14 | |
to his own early life and up to the time of his resignation. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
I think his family thought that he should take some time to go back over | 0:03:20 | 0:03:25 | |
the painful periods of his life and put on paper his own account of it. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:30 | |
CLOCK TICKS | 0:03:32 | 0:03:35 | |
I was born on May 15th 1867. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:56 | |
20 years to the day after Daniel O'Connell's death. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:01 | |
My people in Glenarm all came from the same local stock. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:10 | |
They belonged to families of hillside farmers. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:12 | |
My father had started life as an apprentice | 0:04:21 | 0:04:24 | |
to the shipbuilding trade, | 0:04:24 | 0:04:26 | |
completed his apprenticeship, | 0:04:26 | 0:04:28 | |
became a journeyman and in that capacity made a voyage | 0:04:28 | 0:04:32 | |
as ship carpenter that he used to often talk about afterwards. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:37 | |
His name was Archibald, | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
and he was known to the whole countryside as "Big Archie", | 0:04:41 | 0:04:45 | |
and when we were children, we were simply called "Archie's ones". | 0:04:45 | 0:04:49 | |
Here we are at the Four Courts, which is | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
one of the most popular stops on my 1916 Walking Tour. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
Dublin was changing at the time, there was a new upsurge | 0:06:08 | 0:06:12 | |
in interest in Irish history, and it became popular again | 0:06:12 | 0:06:15 | |
to have an interest not only in our language, | 0:06:15 | 0:06:17 | |
but in our culture, and here was Eoin MacNeill at the centre of it. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:21 | |
He has a few shillings in his pocket, | 0:06:21 | 0:06:23 | |
he spent a quarter of his salary on Irish lessons, | 0:06:23 | 0:06:26 | |
he is introduced to a new cultural aspect of Dublin. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:30 | |
The Gaelic League gave the young people of the country | 0:08:44 | 0:08:46 | |
something they could do for themselves | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
and of themselves in the work of national regeneration. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
Who can doubt that we have fallen very far from that standard? | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
When I was secretary of the League, I once received an invitation | 0:09:12 | 0:09:16 | |
to address a society of young men who met weekly in Dublin. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:19 | |
The president of the society was | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
a very young man called Patrick Pearse. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
TYPEWRITER KEYS CLICK | 0:09:27 | 0:09:29 | |
I want to ask you one question. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:31 | |
'I addressed them on the subject of the language generally, | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
'and the object of the Gaelic League, | 0:09:34 | 0:09:36 | |
'but in the end of the proceedings | 0:09:36 | 0:09:39 | |
'I made an earnest appeal to these young men to join up | 0:09:39 | 0:09:43 | |
'with the League, which needed all the workers it could enlist. | 0:09:43 | 0:09:48 | |
'A number of them, including Pearse, | 0:09:48 | 0:09:50 | |
'came into the Gaelic League some time afterwards.' | 0:09:50 | 0:09:54 | |
Thank you, Eoin. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:56 | |
"Dear Mr MacNeill, you will recollect that on Friday evening | 0:09:59 | 0:10:04 | |
"I requested on the part of the New Ireland Literary Society | 0:10:04 | 0:10:08 | |
"that you deliver a lecture before us towards the middle or end | 0:10:08 | 0:10:12 | |
"of January. I now enclose you a copy of the rules of the society." | 0:10:12 | 0:10:16 | |
In a sense, MacNeill had taken Pearse in under his wings | 0:11:05 | 0:11:09 | |
when it came to the Gaelic League movement. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
They would have been linguistic soldiers together. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:16 | |
And the Gaelic League movement brought an awful lot | 0:11:16 | 0:11:19 | |
of individuals like that very close together. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:22 | |
CLAMOUR | 0:16:21 | 0:16:23 | |
-MACNEILL: -At that time, a great change was shaping | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
in the political situation. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:27 | |
The agent in bringing about this change was Edward Carson. | 0:16:29 | 0:16:33 | |
CHEERING | 0:16:33 | 0:16:35 | |
Carson had set about organising | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
resistance in Ulster, | 0:16:38 | 0:16:39 | |
and it should be clearly understood | 0:16:39 | 0:16:42 | |
that this resistance | 0:16:42 | 0:16:44 | |
was to Irish self-government, | 0:16:44 | 0:16:46 | |
to the creation of an Irish parliament without any limitation. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:51 | |
In this time of crisis, The O'Rahilly was one of | 0:16:55 | 0:16:59 | |
the most active workers in the Gaelic League headquarters. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:03 | |
He undertook, for a time, the management of | 0:17:03 | 0:17:05 | |
An Claidheamh Soluis, and under his direction it was | 0:17:05 | 0:17:09 | |
decided that this periodical should be made in various ways | 0:17:09 | 0:17:13 | |
more attractive. It was to make a fresh start in a new form. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:18 | |
When this change was to be made, | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
I happened to be laid up with a severe cold. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:26 | |
'The O'Rahilly came to my house, told me about his plans | 0:17:27 | 0:17:31 | |
'and asked me to write a leading article in English | 0:17:31 | 0:17:34 | |
'for the first number of the new issue.' | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
I agreed, and the next issue of the paper contained an article by me - | 0:17:39 | 0:17:44 | |
advocating the formation of an Irish Volunteer Force. | 0:17:44 | 0:17:48 | |
KNOCK ON DOOR | 0:18:53 | 0:18:54 | |
'A few days after its publication, | 0:18:58 | 0:19:00 | |
'The O'Rahilly came again to my house, | 0:19:00 | 0:19:02 | |
'accompanied by Bulmer Hobson. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:04 | |
'They referred to this article of mine | 0:19:08 | 0:19:10 | |
'and asked me did I mean it in earnest? | 0:19:10 | 0:19:14 | |
'I said, "Of course I did, | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
' "I should not think of publishing it otherwise." | 0:19:16 | 0:19:19 | |
'And then, at once, we began to discuss plans | 0:19:19 | 0:19:22 | |
'for the institution of a volunteer force. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:25 | |
'I had no doubt in my mind that both these men came to me | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
'from the old physical party whose organisation was the IRB. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:38 | |
'And I also had little doubt of what part I was expected to play.' | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
Well, this is the room in the Rotunda that Bulmer Hobson | 0:20:47 | 0:20:51 | |
initially booked for the 25th of November 1913. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:57 | |
The objective of that meeting was to | 0:20:57 | 0:20:59 | |
found some sort of a volunteer force. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
When you look at the room, you see maybe 400 or 500 people | 0:21:02 | 0:21:05 | |
would be the max capacity here. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:08 | |
As it turned out on the night, so many people turned up | 0:21:08 | 0:21:11 | |
that the Rink itself, which held 4,000 people, was not big enough, | 0:21:11 | 0:21:16 | |
so an additional meeting had to be held in the gardens of the Rotunda. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:20 | |
People in Dublin probably felt that it was time for them | 0:21:20 | 0:21:23 | |
to form some sort of a defensive organisation. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:26 | |
And that's the very important thing about the initial foundation | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
of the Volunteers - they were a defensive army. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS | 0:22:37 | 0:22:39 | |
DR CONOR MULVAGH: | 0:23:18 | 0:23:20 | |
"Wherever the firing line extends in defence | 0:23:26 | 0:23:29 | |
"of right, freedom and religion in this war." | 0:23:29 | 0:23:32 | |
This is Colaiste Mhuire, which was the headquarters | 0:24:45 | 0:24:49 | |
of Conradh na Gaeilge. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
A very important gathering occurred here in September 1914, | 0:24:51 | 0:24:56 | |
when the future signatories of the Proclamation of Independence | 0:24:56 | 0:25:01 | |
and a number of other advanced nationalists gathered together | 0:25:01 | 0:25:06 | |
and discussed the potential for some form of insurrection | 0:25:06 | 0:25:10 | |
against British rule while Britain was at war. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:14 | |
It's a curious fact that right under MacNeill's nose, | 0:25:14 | 0:25:18 | |
all these advanced nationalists were gathering together and conspiring | 0:25:18 | 0:25:23 | |
in the headquarters of Conradh na Gaeilge, | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
an organisation that he had founded, | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
and yet he had no idea about what was going on right behind his back. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:33 | |
We do know that there's correspondence in 1914 where | 0:26:56 | 0:27:00 | |
Patrick Pearse is referring to MacNeill as being | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
"weak", "hopelessly weak", and there's a frustration there | 0:27:03 | 0:27:06 | |
on the part of Pearse | 0:27:06 | 0:27:08 | |
that things are not moving quickly enough. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
But again, that's because Pearse is moving off in that direction. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
MacNeill is certainly not engaging in the flights of fancy | 0:27:13 | 0:27:17 | |
that Pearse is at the time of the outbreak of the war. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
Eoin MacNeill was...not a pacifist, | 0:27:23 | 0:27:26 | |
he did believe that there were conditions | 0:27:26 | 0:27:29 | |
under which it would be legitimate to rise and use physical force. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:35 | |
The problem was, as far as MacNeill was concerned, | 0:27:35 | 0:27:38 | |
those conditions did not exist in Ireland in 1916. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:42 | |
In the weeks before the Rising, the word is beginning to get out, | 0:29:23 | 0:29:27 | |
and actually by the time you get to Easter Week itself, | 0:29:27 | 0:29:29 | |
it's becoming something of an open secret. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:31 | |
MacNeill actually learns about a rising from one | 0:29:31 | 0:29:34 | |
of his students in a tutorial, who mentions that | 0:29:34 | 0:29:36 | |
he's got instructions to go and bomb a bridge. | 0:29:36 | 0:29:38 | |
So the word is getting out at that stage, | 0:29:38 | 0:29:40 | |
but I think MacNeill had believed the assurances that he | 0:29:40 | 0:29:43 | |
was repeatedly given from the conspirators such as Pearse, | 0:29:43 | 0:29:46 | |
who had assured him that there'd be no pre-emptive action. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:49 | |
I went off, and thereupon, before going to bed, | 0:30:13 | 0:30:16 | |
made immediate arrangements with Hobson about | 0:30:16 | 0:30:18 | |
counteracting that particular line of action. | 0:30:18 | 0:30:21 | |
TYPEWRITER KEYS CLICK | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
And early the next day, Friday, | 0:30:26 | 0:30:28 | |
messengers with my instructions, both verbal and written, | 0:30:28 | 0:30:32 | |
were sent to different parts of the country. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:35 | |
And in the morning, I think about 8am, I was awakened | 0:30:42 | 0:30:47 | |
and told that Sean MacDermott was there to see me. | 0:30:47 | 0:30:50 | |
I sent word to him to come up to the bedroom. | 0:30:50 | 0:30:54 | |
'He came immediately and I sat up in bed talking to him. | 0:30:54 | 0:30:58 | |
'He then disclosed to me, for the first time, that a ship | 0:30:58 | 0:31:02 | |
'with arms from Germany was expected at that very time. | 0:31:02 | 0:31:06 | |
'It was of course evident to me' | 0:31:06 | 0:31:08 | |
that in the circumstances a landing of arms from Germany meant | 0:31:08 | 0:31:12 | |
an immediate challenge to the British government, | 0:31:12 | 0:31:16 | |
'and I said to MacDermott... | 0:31:16 | 0:31:19 | |
' "Very well, if that is the state of the case, I'm with you." | 0:31:19 | 0:31:24 | |
'Then he went downstairs and waited. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:28 | |
'When I came down, Pearse had arrived. | 0:31:34 | 0:31:38 | |
'And Pearse, MacDermott and I had breakfast together. | 0:31:38 | 0:31:41 | |
'There was not much said, the situation being that | 0:31:43 | 0:31:46 | |
'all three of us were looking forward to | 0:31:46 | 0:31:48 | |
'an immediate rising in arms.' | 0:31:48 | 0:31:50 | |
MacNeill is facing a situation where he doesn't know who to trust. | 0:31:56 | 0:32:00 | |
There are people who he considers to be good friends, | 0:32:00 | 0:32:03 | |
including Patrick Pearse, | 0:32:03 | 0:32:05 | |
and when he discovers the extent of their deception, he's hurt, | 0:32:05 | 0:32:09 | |
he's angry, but he's also then wondering | 0:32:09 | 0:32:11 | |
"Who else has been lying to me?" | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
And then he might be wondering, "Well, if they're hellbent on this, | 0:32:14 | 0:32:18 | |
"would it be an idea to go along with it? | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
"Maybe this will be the beginning of something | 0:32:21 | 0:32:24 | |
"that ultimately could lead us towards our aims." | 0:32:24 | 0:32:27 | |
On the Saturday, news from the country began to reach me | 0:33:15 | 0:33:18 | |
from various channels. | 0:33:18 | 0:33:20 | |
I had now come to the conclusion that an armed rising | 0:33:21 | 0:33:25 | |
would not be forced upon us, that there would be time | 0:33:25 | 0:33:30 | |
to at least consider fully what was to be done. | 0:33:30 | 0:33:34 | |
People's lives are at stake, there's far too many people... | 0:33:34 | 0:33:37 | |
people will die | 0:33:37 | 0:33:39 | |
'On Saturday, I met Thomas MacDonagh, who seems to | 0:33:39 | 0:33:42 | |
'have been chosen as a sort of intermediary between those | 0:33:42 | 0:33:45 | |
'who had assumed direction and myself, | 0:33:45 | 0:33:48 | |
'representing the Volunteer Council. | 0:33:48 | 0:33:51 | |
'Several messages passed back and forth between me | 0:33:51 | 0:33:54 | |
'and those with whom MacDonagh was acting.' | 0:33:54 | 0:33:56 | |
Tomas, you know that. Tomas... | 0:33:56 | 0:34:01 | |
Tomas! | 0:34:02 | 0:34:04 | |
At last, about midnight, I came to the conclusion that these persons | 0:34:15 | 0:34:19 | |
intended to have their own way and only wished to draw me into it. | 0:34:19 | 0:34:25 | |
"April 22nd, 1916. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:29 | |
"Owing to the very critical position, | 0:34:31 | 0:34:34 | |
"all orders given to Irish Volunteers | 0:34:34 | 0:34:36 | |
"for tomorrow, Easter Sunday, are hereby rescinded." | 0:34:36 | 0:34:40 | |
'I went to the office of the Independent newspaper, | 0:34:42 | 0:34:46 | |
'and there dictated the order which appeared in that paper | 0:34:46 | 0:34:49 | |
'on the following morning, countermanding orders | 0:34:49 | 0:34:53 | |
'for the assembling and parading of the Volunteers.' | 0:34:53 | 0:34:57 | |
"Eoin MacNeill, Chief of Staff, Irish Volunteers. | 0:34:57 | 0:35:02 | |
The countermand was hugely detrimental. | 0:36:21 | 0:36:23 | |
You've got to remember, this was a rising that was supposed to | 0:36:23 | 0:36:28 | |
be nationwide. What the countermand order ensured was that | 0:36:28 | 0:36:32 | |
most of the action would be in Dublin. | 0:36:32 | 0:36:35 | |
It also ensures that there is a lot of confusion around | 0:36:35 | 0:36:40 | |
in relation to who said what | 0:36:40 | 0:36:43 | |
or who wrote what, and why, and "Whose orders are we following?" | 0:36:43 | 0:36:47 | |
I rode out to the house of the Augustinians at Orlagh, | 0:37:25 | 0:37:31 | |
beneath Killakee Mountain, and told the Superior, Father Hughes, | 0:37:31 | 0:37:35 | |
how the matter stood. | 0:37:35 | 0:37:37 | |
And he invited me to become their guest for an indefinite time. | 0:37:38 | 0:37:42 | |
I accepted the hospitality. | 0:37:45 | 0:37:47 | |
I stayed that night at Orlagh. | 0:37:56 | 0:37:57 | |
MACHINEGUN FIRE AND EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE | 0:37:57 | 0:37:59 | |
I spent most of the time watching from the height, | 0:37:59 | 0:38:03 | |
and as I watched alone I suppose I found the strain unbearable. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:09 | |
From the roof, a large part of the city was visible, | 0:38:12 | 0:38:16 | |
and almost every sound - rifle fire as well as artillery - | 0:38:16 | 0:38:21 | |
could be plainly heard. | 0:38:21 | 0:38:23 | |
I told myself, "I cannot live as a refugee". | 0:38:29 | 0:38:34 | |
So I took my leave of Father Hughes. | 0:38:35 | 0:38:39 | |
I thanked him for his unbounded kindness | 0:38:39 | 0:38:44 | |
and I went back to my brother's house. | 0:38:44 | 0:38:47 | |
Well, during Easter Week, as the week went on, | 0:38:57 | 0:39:00 | |
MacNeill was in Rathfarnham on the outskirts of Dublin, | 0:39:00 | 0:39:03 | |
and the Rising was going on, and Dublin was a battlefield. | 0:39:03 | 0:39:06 | |
He increasingly felt that he had to intervene, | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
and he hoped that by going down to the city centre | 0:39:11 | 0:39:14 | |
and presenting himself there to the British authorities, | 0:39:14 | 0:39:17 | |
who'd put a cordon round the city, that he'd be able to act as | 0:39:17 | 0:39:21 | |
some kind of intermediary between the Crown forces and the rebels. | 0:39:21 | 0:39:26 | |
"Unless we get ourselves arrested, | 0:40:02 | 0:40:05 | |
"we have no political future in Ireland'. | 0:40:05 | 0:40:08 | |
Thank you. | 0:40:45 | 0:40:46 | |
CLAMOUR | 0:42:07 | 0:42:09 | |
The release of 1916 prisoners created an opportunity | 0:42:16 | 0:42:20 | |
for Sinn Fein to begin to look at how they would | 0:42:20 | 0:42:27 | |
mobilise and manage this change of opinion. And what you have | 0:42:27 | 0:42:31 | |
to do with the release of the prisoners | 0:42:31 | 0:42:33 | |
is ensure that there are very public | 0:42:33 | 0:42:36 | |
and very wild celebrations, that these individuals | 0:42:36 | 0:42:38 | |
are seen as heroes to underline the extent | 0:42:38 | 0:42:41 | |
of the transformation in public opinion. | 0:42:41 | 0:42:43 | |
The parliamentary representatives of Sinn Fein agreed unanimously | 0:43:47 | 0:43:52 | |
not to attend the British Parliament, and further decided to | 0:43:52 | 0:43:57 | |
establish here in Ireland the government of an Irish Republic, | 0:43:57 | 0:44:02 | |
and to make that government function in every possible way. | 0:44:02 | 0:44:06 | |
This work, from a standpoint of English law, | 0:44:06 | 0:44:10 | |
was treason...rebellion... | 0:44:10 | 0:44:14 | |
and all the rest. | 0:44:14 | 0:44:16 | |
SHE STOPS TYPING | 0:44:20 | 0:44:22 | |
WIRELESS HUMS | 0:44:22 | 0:44:24 | |
-NEWSREADER: -'Riots have broken out in the city of Londonderry... | 0:44:26 | 0:44:29 | |
'..lasted into the early hours of this morning. | 0:44:31 | 0:44:33 | |
'It's been reported that...' | 0:44:33 | 0:44:35 | |
There were two sides to the Castle war policy. | 0:44:35 | 0:44:38 | |
One was to bring about a pogrom situated in Ulster. | 0:44:38 | 0:44:42 | |
The other was to use all the forces available to crush Sinn Fein | 0:44:42 | 0:44:47 | |
throughout the rest of Ireland. | 0:44:47 | 0:44:49 | |
'..more on this story in our later bulletin at 6pm.' | 0:44:49 | 0:44:52 | |
HE CHANGES STATION | 0:44:52 | 0:44:55 | |
'I was one of the ministers of the new Republican government. | 0:44:55 | 0:44:59 | |
'Since we were in a position of open revolutionary revolt, | 0:44:59 | 0:45:03 | |
'if we met publicly, all might be paralysed by a swoop | 0:45:03 | 0:45:07 | |
'from Dublin Castle putting us under arrest. | 0:45:07 | 0:45:11 | |
'It was evident that sooner or later the British government | 0:45:14 | 0:45:19 | |
'must face one of the two alternatives. | 0:45:19 | 0:45:22 | |
'Give up the pretence of governing Ireland, | 0:45:22 | 0:45:25 | |
'or suppress the Republican government. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:28 | |
'The fight began in the form of arrests and shootings,' | 0:45:32 | 0:45:36 | |
and as things developed... | 0:45:36 | 0:45:39 | |
guerrilla warfare. | 0:45:39 | 0:45:40 | |
NEWSREADER, IN IRISH: | 0:46:16 | 0:46:18 | |
GUNSHOTS AND PANICKED CRIES | 0:46:55 | 0:46:57 | |
People like MacNeill were called "the Green Black and Tans". | 0:47:18 | 0:47:21 | |
They were said to be doing the same things that the British | 0:47:21 | 0:47:24 | |
had done, so it makes them quite assertive in terms of pushing | 0:47:24 | 0:47:29 | |
for hardline policies, particularly the policy of executions, | 0:47:29 | 0:47:33 | |
for which people like Blythe and MacNeill were never forgiven for. | 0:47:33 | 0:47:37 | |
Eoin MacNeill's own family were divided by the Civil War. | 0:47:46 | 0:47:48 | |
Two of his sons fought with the pro-treaty National Army, | 0:47:48 | 0:47:52 | |
and one of his sons, Brian, fought with the anti-treaty IRA. | 0:47:52 | 0:47:55 | |
Here's a letter which Brian MacNeill wrote | 0:48:03 | 0:48:07 | |
to my grandmother on the 10th of August 1922. | 0:48:07 | 0:48:13 | |
He says, "I'm glad to say that I'm well and in good spirits, | 0:48:13 | 0:48:17 | |
"I hope that you are all the same. | 0:48:17 | 0:48:18 | |
"Tell Niall and Turlough..." | 0:48:18 | 0:48:20 | |
And they were two of my uncles who were his brothers. | 0:48:20 | 0:48:23 | |
"..that I send my best wishes to them. | 0:48:23 | 0:48:27 | |
"I would take a spin up to see you, | 0:48:27 | 0:48:29 | |
"but I've no wish to spend such lovely weather in a convict's cell." | 0:48:29 | 0:48:33 | |
He finishes the letter by saying, | 0:48:35 | 0:48:37 | |
"If Athair..." | 0:48:37 | 0:48:38 | |
And that's his father, Eoin MacNeill. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:40 | |
"..had time, I'd very much like him to drop me | 0:48:40 | 0:48:45 | |
"a line telling me how he sees things." | 0:48:45 | 0:48:48 | |
And within 30 days of writing that letter, Brian had been | 0:48:50 | 0:48:55 | |
shot down on the top of Benbulben by Free State forces | 0:48:55 | 0:48:59 | |
under the command of his father's government - | 0:48:59 | 0:49:01 | |
in very controversial circumstances. | 0:49:01 | 0:49:03 | |
There has been a great deal of misunderstanding | 0:51:09 | 0:51:12 | |
about the partition clause, Article 12 of the treaty. | 0:51:12 | 0:51:16 | |
I consented to act on the commission for two reasons - | 0:51:16 | 0:51:19 | |
because I was asked by the Provisional government to act | 0:51:19 | 0:51:22 | |
and because no-one else could be found to act instead of me. | 0:51:22 | 0:51:26 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:51:28 | 0:51:30 | |
Hello? | 0:51:35 | 0:51:36 | |
It was the most disagreeable duty I had ever undertaken, | 0:51:52 | 0:51:57 | |
for to my mind, it was nothing short of an outrage on Ireland - | 0:51:57 | 0:52:03 | |
and, I may say, on civilisation - to be asked to draw a line | 0:52:03 | 0:52:09 | |
across this country, dividing it on the basis of religious differences. | 0:52:09 | 0:52:14 | |
I was going to Mass at Booterstown one bright Sunday morning, | 0:53:47 | 0:53:51 | |
to the 12 o'clock Mass. | 0:53:51 | 0:53:53 | |
As I came down the road leading to the church, at a bend in the road, | 0:53:54 | 0:53:58 | |
I saw a motor car drawn up on the roadside with no occupant. | 0:53:58 | 0:54:02 | |
Just when I had passed it I heard the sound of shots | 0:54:04 | 0:54:08 | |
coming from round the corner in Cross Avenue. | 0:54:08 | 0:54:11 | |
Knowing that Kevin O'Higgins was staying in Cross Avenue, | 0:54:14 | 0:54:18 | |
I had little doubt that he was the victim. | 0:54:18 | 0:54:21 | |
I knelt down beside him. | 0:54:24 | 0:54:26 | |
He was still quite alive, but blind. | 0:54:28 | 0:54:31 | |
He recognised my voice and said, "Is that you, John?" | 0:54:33 | 0:54:38 | |
I says yes. | 0:54:39 | 0:54:41 | |
And he then began to give me instructions about his last wishes. | 0:54:43 | 0:54:46 | |
He first said... | 0:54:48 | 0:54:49 | |
.."I want you to say that I forgive my murderers." | 0:54:52 | 0:54:55 | |
Then he said, "Tell my wife I give her my eternal love". | 0:54:57 | 0:55:04 | |
I had always been on the best of terms with O'Higgins, | 0:55:08 | 0:55:12 | |
but in many ways there was not much sympathy between us. | 0:55:12 | 0:55:15 | |
I knew that long before this he had been saying to people | 0:55:17 | 0:55:22 | |
that it was time the old man got off the tram tracks. | 0:55:22 | 0:55:25 | |
And it was at his insistence and upon his motion | 0:55:27 | 0:55:31 | |
that my resignation from the government had been given in. | 0:55:31 | 0:55:35 | |
Personally, I was glad to escape from politics | 0:55:40 | 0:55:44 | |
and get back to my own congenial work. | 0:55:44 | 0:55:46 | |
I had never pushed myself into politics and never taken | 0:55:47 | 0:55:52 | |
any prominent part in them except at the request of others. | 0:55:52 | 0:55:55 | |
In fact, under urgent pressure from them. | 0:55:57 | 0:56:00 | |
I think we need to reassess Eoin MacNeill. There's a tendency | 0:56:06 | 0:56:09 | |
to think about him in very negative terms. | 0:56:09 | 0:56:10 | |
It's almost like his reputation is locked up in a double negative. | 0:56:10 | 0:56:14 | |
We associate him with attempting to prevent the Rising, | 0:56:14 | 0:56:17 | |
which became such an iconic moment in Irish Republican history, | 0:56:17 | 0:56:21 | |
and then we associate him with the Boundary Commission debacle | 0:56:21 | 0:56:25 | |
in the mid-1920s. | 0:56:25 | 0:56:27 | |
There was much more to Eoin MacNeill, though. | 0:56:27 | 0:56:29 |