Eoin Mac Néill - Fear Dearmadta 1916


Eoin Mac Néill - Fear Dearmadta 1916

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TYPEWRITER KEYS CLICK

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MACHINEGUN FIRE

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We cannot reduce the options of the choices that were facing

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people like MacNeill in such crude terms,

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that they had either to be on one side of a debate or another side.

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There was a hell of a lot in between.

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This is the letter signed by my grandfather, Eoin MacNeill,

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calling off the 1916 Rising.

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And this document changed his life

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and arguably changed Irish history.

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I'm the youngest son of the youngest daughter of Eoin MacNeill,

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he's my grandfather.

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Eoin MacNeill himself was a man of documents and letters and records.

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He was a hoarder, I suppose, rather than a person who was

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careless about documents, he knew their value.

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Well, these are three photographs of Eoin MacNeill,

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showing him at different stages of his life.

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This is a picture of MacNeill and his wife Taddie

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when they were living close to Malahide in a house

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called "Hazelbrook", and it shows him as a young man with a moustache.

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This picture here shows MacNeill at another stage of his life,

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clean-shaven.

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I'd imagine it was when he was Minister for Education

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or perhaps Minister for Finance, in the period 1919 to 1923.

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But all three pictures show him, I think,

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as a kind of lean, intelligent, ascetic kind of man.

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A serious-minded... But a warm character notwithstanding.

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He wrote a memoir detailing what had happened in relation

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to his own early life and up to the time of his resignation.

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I think his family thought that he should take some time to go back over

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the painful periods of his life and put on paper his own account of it.

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CLOCK TICKS

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I was born on May 15th 1867.

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20 years to the day after Daniel O'Connell's death.

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My people in Glenarm all came from the same local stock.

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They belonged to families of hillside farmers.

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My father had started life as an apprentice

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to the shipbuilding trade,

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completed his apprenticeship,

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became a journeyman and in that capacity made a voyage

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as ship carpenter that he used to often talk about afterwards.

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His name was Archibald,

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and he was known to the whole countryside as "Big Archie",

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and when we were children, we were simply called "Archie's ones".

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Here we are at the Four Courts, which is

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one of the most popular stops on my 1916 Walking Tour.

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Dublin was changing at the time, there was a new upsurge

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in interest in Irish history, and it became popular again

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to have an interest not only in our language,

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but in our culture, and here was Eoin MacNeill at the centre of it.

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He has a few shillings in his pocket,

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he spent a quarter of his salary on Irish lessons,

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he is introduced to a new cultural aspect of Dublin.

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The Gaelic League gave the young people of the country

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something they could do for themselves

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and of themselves in the work of national regeneration.

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Who can doubt that we have fallen very far from that standard?

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When I was secretary of the League, I once received an invitation

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to address a society of young men who met weekly in Dublin.

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The president of the society was

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a very young man called Patrick Pearse.

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TYPEWRITER KEYS CLICK

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I want to ask you one question.

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'I addressed them on the subject of the language generally,

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'and the object of the Gaelic League,

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'but in the end of the proceedings

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'I made an earnest appeal to these young men to join up

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'with the League, which needed all the workers it could enlist.

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'A number of them, including Pearse,

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'came into the Gaelic League some time afterwards.'

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Thank you, Eoin.

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"Dear Mr MacNeill, you will recollect that on Friday evening

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"I requested on the part of the New Ireland Literary Society

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"that you deliver a lecture before us towards the middle or end

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"of January. I now enclose you a copy of the rules of the society."

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In a sense, MacNeill had taken Pearse in under his wings

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when it came to the Gaelic League movement.

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They would have been linguistic soldiers together.

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And the Gaelic League movement brought an awful lot

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of individuals like that very close together.

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CLAMOUR

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-MACNEILL:

-At that time, a great change was shaping

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in the political situation.

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The agent in bringing about this change was Edward Carson.

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CHEERING

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Carson had set about organising

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resistance in Ulster,

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and it should be clearly understood

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that this resistance

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was to Irish self-government,

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to the creation of an Irish parliament without any limitation.

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In this time of crisis, The O'Rahilly was one of

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the most active workers in the Gaelic League headquarters.

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He undertook, for a time, the management of

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An Claidheamh Soluis, and under his direction it was

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decided that this periodical should be made in various ways

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more attractive. It was to make a fresh start in a new form.

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When this change was to be made,

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I happened to be laid up with a severe cold.

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'The O'Rahilly came to my house, told me about his plans

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'and asked me to write a leading article in English

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'for the first number of the new issue.'

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I agreed, and the next issue of the paper contained an article by me -

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advocating the formation of an Irish Volunteer Force.

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KNOCK ON DOOR

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'A few days after its publication,

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'The O'Rahilly came again to my house,

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'accompanied by Bulmer Hobson.

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'They referred to this article of mine

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'and asked me did I mean it in earnest?

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'I said, "Of course I did,

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' "I should not think of publishing it otherwise."

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'And then, at once, we began to discuss plans

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'for the institution of a volunteer force.

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'I had no doubt in my mind that both these men came to me

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'from the old physical party whose organisation was the IRB.

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'And I also had little doubt of what part I was expected to play.'

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Well, this is the room in the Rotunda that Bulmer Hobson

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initially booked for the 25th of November 1913.

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The objective of that meeting was to

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found some sort of a volunteer force.

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When you look at the room, you see maybe 400 or 500 people

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would be the max capacity here.

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As it turned out on the night, so many people turned up

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that the Rink itself, which held 4,000 people, was not big enough,

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so an additional meeting had to be held in the gardens of the Rotunda.

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People in Dublin probably felt that it was time for them

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to form some sort of a defensive organisation.

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And that's the very important thing about the initial foundation

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of the Volunteers - they were a defensive army.

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GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS

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DR CONOR MULVAGH:

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"Wherever the firing line extends in defence

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"of right, freedom and religion in this war."

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This is Colaiste Mhuire, which was the headquarters

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of Conradh na Gaeilge.

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A very important gathering occurred here in September 1914,

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when the future signatories of the Proclamation of Independence

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and a number of other advanced nationalists gathered together

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and discussed the potential for some form of insurrection

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against British rule while Britain was at war.

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It's a curious fact that right under MacNeill's nose,

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all these advanced nationalists were gathering together and conspiring

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in the headquarters of Conradh na Gaeilge,

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an organisation that he had founded,

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and yet he had no idea about what was going on right behind his back.

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We do know that there's correspondence in 1914 where

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Patrick Pearse is referring to MacNeill as being

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"weak", "hopelessly weak", and there's a frustration there

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on the part of Pearse

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that things are not moving quickly enough.

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But again, that's because Pearse is moving off in that direction.

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MacNeill is certainly not engaging in the flights of fancy

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that Pearse is at the time of the outbreak of the war.

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Eoin MacNeill was...not a pacifist,

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he did believe that there were conditions

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under which it would be legitimate to rise and use physical force.

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The problem was, as far as MacNeill was concerned,

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those conditions did not exist in Ireland in 1916.

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In the weeks before the Rising, the word is beginning to get out,

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and actually by the time you get to Easter Week itself,

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it's becoming something of an open secret.

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MacNeill actually learns about a rising from one

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of his students in a tutorial, who mentions that

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he's got instructions to go and bomb a bridge.

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So the word is getting out at that stage,

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but I think MacNeill had believed the assurances that he

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was repeatedly given from the conspirators such as Pearse,

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who had assured him that there'd be no pre-emptive action.

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I went off, and thereupon, before going to bed,

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made immediate arrangements with Hobson about

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counteracting that particular line of action.

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TYPEWRITER KEYS CLICK

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And early the next day, Friday,

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messengers with my instructions, both verbal and written,

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were sent to different parts of the country.

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And in the morning, I think about 8am, I was awakened

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and told that Sean MacDermott was there to see me.

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I sent word to him to come up to the bedroom.

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'He came immediately and I sat up in bed talking to him.

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'He then disclosed to me, for the first time, that a ship

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'with arms from Germany was expected at that very time.

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'It was of course evident to me'

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that in the circumstances a landing of arms from Germany meant

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an immediate challenge to the British government,

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'and I said to MacDermott...

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' "Very well, if that is the state of the case, I'm with you."

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'Then he went downstairs and waited.

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'When I came down, Pearse had arrived.

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'And Pearse, MacDermott and I had breakfast together.

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'There was not much said, the situation being that

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'all three of us were looking forward to

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'an immediate rising in arms.'

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MacNeill is facing a situation where he doesn't know who to trust.

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There are people who he considers to be good friends,

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including Patrick Pearse,

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and when he discovers the extent of their deception, he's hurt,

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he's angry, but he's also then wondering

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"Who else has been lying to me?"

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And then he might be wondering, "Well, if they're hellbent on this,

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"would it be an idea to go along with it?

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"Maybe this will be the beginning of something

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"that ultimately could lead us towards our aims."

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On the Saturday, news from the country began to reach me

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from various channels.

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I had now come to the conclusion that an armed rising

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would not be forced upon us, that there would be time

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to at least consider fully what was to be done.

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People's lives are at stake, there's far too many people...

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people will die

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'On Saturday, I met Thomas MacDonagh, who seems to

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'have been chosen as a sort of intermediary between those

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'who had assumed direction and myself,

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'representing the Volunteer Council.

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'Several messages passed back and forth between me

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'and those with whom MacDonagh was acting.'

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Tomas, you know that. Tomas...

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Tomas!

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At last, about midnight, I came to the conclusion that these persons

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intended to have their own way and only wished to draw me into it.

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"April 22nd, 1916.

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"Owing to the very critical position,

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"all orders given to Irish Volunteers

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"for tomorrow, Easter Sunday, are hereby rescinded."

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'I went to the office of the Independent newspaper,

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'and there dictated the order which appeared in that paper

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'on the following morning, countermanding orders

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'for the assembling and parading of the Volunteers.'

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"Eoin MacNeill, Chief of Staff, Irish Volunteers.

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The countermand was hugely detrimental.

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You've got to remember, this was a rising that was supposed to

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be nationwide. What the countermand order ensured was that

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most of the action would be in Dublin.

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It also ensures that there is a lot of confusion around

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in relation to who said what

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or who wrote what, and why, and "Whose orders are we following?"

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I rode out to the house of the Augustinians at Orlagh,

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beneath Killakee Mountain, and told the Superior, Father Hughes,

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how the matter stood.

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And he invited me to become their guest for an indefinite time.

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I accepted the hospitality.

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I stayed that night at Orlagh.

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MACHINEGUN FIRE AND EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE

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I spent most of the time watching from the height,

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and as I watched alone I suppose I found the strain unbearable.

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From the roof, a large part of the city was visible,

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and almost every sound - rifle fire as well as artillery -

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could be plainly heard.

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I told myself, "I cannot live as a refugee".

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So I took my leave of Father Hughes.

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I thanked him for his unbounded kindness

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and I went back to my brother's house.

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Well, during Easter Week, as the week went on,

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MacNeill was in Rathfarnham on the outskirts of Dublin,

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and the Rising was going on, and Dublin was a battlefield.

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He increasingly felt that he had to intervene,

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and he hoped that by going down to the city centre

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and presenting himself there to the British authorities,

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who'd put a cordon round the city, that he'd be able to act as

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some kind of intermediary between the Crown forces and the rebels.

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"Unless we get ourselves arrested,

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"we have no political future in Ireland'.

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Thank you.

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CLAMOUR

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The release of 1916 prisoners created an opportunity

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for Sinn Fein to begin to look at how they would

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mobilise and manage this change of opinion. And what you have

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to do with the release of the prisoners

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is ensure that there are very public

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and very wild celebrations, that these individuals

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are seen as heroes to underline the extent

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of the transformation in public opinion.

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The parliamentary representatives of Sinn Fein agreed unanimously

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not to attend the British Parliament, and further decided to

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establish here in Ireland the government of an Irish Republic,

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and to make that government function in every possible way.

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This work, from a standpoint of English law,

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was treason...rebellion...

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and all the rest.

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SHE STOPS TYPING

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WIRELESS HUMS

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-NEWSREADER:

-'Riots have broken out in the city of Londonderry...

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'..lasted into the early hours of this morning.

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'It's been reported that...'

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There were two sides to the Castle war policy.

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One was to bring about a pogrom situated in Ulster.

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The other was to use all the forces available to crush Sinn Fein

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throughout the rest of Ireland.

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'..more on this story in our later bulletin at 6pm.'

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HE CHANGES STATION

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'I was one of the ministers of the new Republican government.

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'Since we were in a position of open revolutionary revolt,

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'if we met publicly, all might be paralysed by a swoop

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'from Dublin Castle putting us under arrest.

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'It was evident that sooner or later the British government

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'must face one of the two alternatives.

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'Give up the pretence of governing Ireland,

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'or suppress the Republican government.

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'The fight began in the form of arrests and shootings,'

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and as things developed...

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guerrilla warfare.

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NEWSREADER, IN IRISH:

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GUNSHOTS AND PANICKED CRIES

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People like MacNeill were called "the Green Black and Tans".

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They were said to be doing the same things that the British

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had done, so it makes them quite assertive in terms of pushing

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for hardline policies, particularly the policy of executions,

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for which people like Blythe and MacNeill were never forgiven for.

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Eoin MacNeill's own family were divided by the Civil War.

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Two of his sons fought with the pro-treaty National Army,

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and one of his sons, Brian, fought with the anti-treaty IRA.

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Here's a letter which Brian MacNeill wrote

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to my grandmother on the 10th of August 1922.

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He says, "I'm glad to say that I'm well and in good spirits,

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"I hope that you are all the same.

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"Tell Niall and Turlough..."

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And they were two of my uncles who were his brothers.

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"..that I send my best wishes to them.

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"I would take a spin up to see you,

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"but I've no wish to spend such lovely weather in a convict's cell."

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He finishes the letter by saying,

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"If Athair..."

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And that's his father, Eoin MacNeill.

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"..had time, I'd very much like him to drop me

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"a line telling me how he sees things."

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And within 30 days of writing that letter, Brian had been

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shot down on the top of Benbulben by Free State forces

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under the command of his father's government -

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in very controversial circumstances.

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There has been a great deal of misunderstanding

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about the partition clause, Article 12 of the treaty.

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I consented to act on the commission for two reasons -

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because I was asked by the Provisional government to act

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and because no-one else could be found to act instead of me.

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PHONE RINGS

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Hello?

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It was the most disagreeable duty I had ever undertaken,

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for to my mind, it was nothing short of an outrage on Ireland -

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and, I may say, on civilisation - to be asked to draw a line

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across this country, dividing it on the basis of religious differences.

0:52:090:52:14

I was going to Mass at Booterstown one bright Sunday morning,

0:53:470:53:51

to the 12 o'clock Mass.

0:53:510:53:53

As I came down the road leading to the church, at a bend in the road,

0:53:540:53:58

I saw a motor car drawn up on the roadside with no occupant.

0:53:580:54:02

Just when I had passed it I heard the sound of shots

0:54:040:54:08

coming from round the corner in Cross Avenue.

0:54:080:54:11

Knowing that Kevin O'Higgins was staying in Cross Avenue,

0:54:140:54:18

I had little doubt that he was the victim.

0:54:180:54:21

I knelt down beside him.

0:54:240:54:26

He was still quite alive, but blind.

0:54:280:54:31

He recognised my voice and said, "Is that you, John?"

0:54:330:54:38

I says yes.

0:54:390:54:41

And he then began to give me instructions about his last wishes.

0:54:430:54:46

He first said...

0:54:480:54:49

.."I want you to say that I forgive my murderers."

0:54:520:54:55

Then he said, "Tell my wife I give her my eternal love".

0:54:570:55:04

I had always been on the best of terms with O'Higgins,

0:55:080:55:12

but in many ways there was not much sympathy between us.

0:55:120:55:15

I knew that long before this he had been saying to people

0:55:170:55:22

that it was time the old man got off the tram tracks.

0:55:220:55:25

And it was at his insistence and upon his motion

0:55:270:55:31

that my resignation from the government had been given in.

0:55:310:55:35

Personally, I was glad to escape from politics

0:55:400:55:44

and get back to my own congenial work.

0:55:440:55:46

I had never pushed myself into politics and never taken

0:55:470:55:52

any prominent part in them except at the request of others.

0:55:520:55:55

In fact, under urgent pressure from them.

0:55:570:56:00

I think we need to reassess Eoin MacNeill. There's a tendency

0:56:060:56:09

to think about him in very negative terms.

0:56:090:56:10

It's almost like his reputation is locked up in a double negative.

0:56:100:56:14

We associate him with attempting to prevent the Rising,

0:56:140:56:17

which became such an iconic moment in Irish Republican history,

0:56:170:56:21

and then we associate him with the Boundary Commission debacle

0:56:210:56:25

in the mid-1920s.

0:56:250:56:27

There was much more to Eoin MacNeill, though.

0:56:270:56:29

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