It’s May 2011 and the Queen is about to set foot in the Irish Republic. Andrew Marr, Diamond Queen II, BBC 2012
In 1920 during the Irish War of Independence thirteen spectators and a player were killed here as forces under British control opened fire at a match. ibid.
Irish Republic: To the People Of Ireland: Irishmen and Irishwomen: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for freedom ... We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. Proclamation of the Irish Republic
After the spiritual powers, there is no thing in the world more unconquerable than the spirit of nationality. The spirit of nationality in Ireland will persist even though the mightiest of material powers be its neighbour. (Ireland & Northern Ireland) George William Russell
The reality of human existence in Ireland over the last few centuries has been dominated by the British Empire. Ireland is the oldest colony in that empire. Marx summed up the nature of that long imperial rule in a single sentence:
‘England has never ruled Ireland in any other way, and cannot rule it in any other way, except by the most hideous reign of terror and the most revolting corruption’. Four hundred years ago Ireland was ‘planted’ with colonists loyal to the British crown. Under the cover of the Protestant religion, armed and equipped by the most powerful force on earth, these colonists made Ireland safe for British landlords. The Irish population was kept in order by consistent and ruthless violence. Paul Foot, article July 1988, ‘Dividing Ireland’
The most savage terrorism of all, that of the British army, is on the loose in Belfast. All pretence that Northern Ireland is a democracy has been cast aside.
Men have been imprisoned without charge or trial. Many will be held there for years. The few who have been released tell of torture practised by the British army and the Northern Ireland police.
In the streets a score or more of people have been killed, most of them from the nationalist section of the population. Already, thousands of people are streaming in terror out of Belfast into primitive refugee camps in Southern Ireland.
The British government claims that it has had to introduce internment – imprisonment without trial – in order to ‘clear out the murderers’. The British press has backed up Heath and [Reginald] Maudling by continual talk of ‘terrorists’.
Most of the killing, however, has been carried out not by the IRA but by the British army and the bigoted thugs in the Orange Order. Paul Foot & Brian Trench & Jimmy Grealy & Chris Harman, article August 1971, ‘Army Reign of Terror’
For over thirty years the IRA showed that the British government could not rule Ireland on its own terms. Gerry Adams
I have never and never will accept the right of a minority who happen to be a majority in a small part of the country to opt out of a nation. Jack Lynch, cited Irish Times 14th November 1970
For five years the British government has had its forces waging a campaign of terror not just on the IRA but on the people of Ireland. David O’Connell, televised interview 17th November 1974
The Anglo-Irish might consider themselves Irish ... but of course they were nothing of the sort. They were as English as the people who lived across the sea. Their only problem was that they didn’t realise it. Maeve Binchy, Circle of Friends, 1990
They won’t break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the Irish people, is in my heart. The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show. It is then that we will see the rising of the moon. Bobby Sands
From now on they would do what seemed reasonable to themselves in the interests of the actual people inhabiting the island of Ireland and not of a personified abstraction, or of a disembodied voice, or of a ghost. Conor Cruise O’Brien, re Sean Lemass & other 1960s politicians
If I saw Mr [Charles] Haughey buried at midnight at a crossroads, with a stake driven through his heart – politically speaking – I should continue to wear a clove of garlic round my neck, just in case. Conor Cruise O’Brien, Observer 10th October 1982
We could have celebrity gladiators. We could have the RUC fighting the IRA in spangly suits and cotton buds. Patrick Kielty, comedian
Since the present Irish war begin in 1968 several hundred major programmes on Ireland have been banned, censored, doctored and delayed ... Even during the recent ceasefire, the British government’s propaganda model was strictly adhered to. The underlying issues such as poverty and the RUC’s policing methods were ignored. John Pilger, lecture The Hidden Power of the Media
Give Ireland Back to the Irish. Wings with Paul McCartney
Pat: He was an Anglo-Irishman.
Meg: In the blessed name of God what’s that?
Pat: A protestant with a horse. Brendan Behan, The Hostage, 1958
Other people have a nationality. The Irish and the Jews have a psychosis. Brendan Behan, Richard’s Cork Leg, 1961
Yes, my Party got it wrong. I accept that. I have always accepted that as a member of this government ... There was a failure of government. Brian Lenihan TD, former Irish finance minister
Ireland is a small country. Everybody knows everybody. Brian Lenihan
Dublin university contains the cream of Ireland: Rich and Thick. Samuel Beckett
The government was addicted like a street crack cocaine addict from all the revenue that came from the property bubble. Colm MacEochaidh, barrister & political commentator
Cribbing and moaning is a lost opportunity. In fact I don’t know how people who engage in that don’t commit suicide. Bertie Ahern, 4th July 2007
Before the pyramids the Irish built perhaps the most remarkable ancient buildings on the surface of our planet. In eastern Ireland a cluster of burial mounds were designed to mark the shortest day of the year – the Winter Solstice ... The greatest among them is the prehistoric site at Newgrange – a huge circular grave some two hundred and fifty feet across. Solar Empire: Heaven’s Above, Discovery 1997
Another portal to the Underworld – in Ireland, on a tranquil lake called Lough Derg is an small island known as St Patrick’s Purgatory ... A gateway to Hell. Here every summer thousands of Catholics visit the site ... The faithful souls chant, pray and denounce the devil ... It was believed St Patrick suffered visions of the Underworld ... Legend suggests he found a pit into Purgatory. Gates of Hell, 2010
It turns out that belief in the leprechaun dates back thousands of years to Celtic settlers and Viking invaders. Destination Truth s3e10, Skyfy 2010
The European Commission has recently dedicated an area in western Ireland as ‘a protected area for the little people’. ibid.
The most recent reports are concentrated in the enchanted hills of County Clare along the western coast. ibid.
In Ireland there is a nearly national belief in a spirit known as the Banshee. Destination Truth s4e9
The Banshee is said to haunt forests ... She is in short the Irish Angel of Death. ibid.
The Banshee’s cry is an omen of imminent demise. ibid.
Earthly Origins Of The Leprechauns: Untangling Ireland’s Ancient Folklore. Dr Cindy Brown essay
Ancient peat bogs and lying in shallow graves dead bodies, victims it appears of bizarre and violent deaths, deaths which took place over two thousand years ago. The bodies amazingly well preserved. New Ancient X Files: Death Cult Temple & Bog Bodies of Ireland, National Geographic 2012
A bog body – the corpse of an ancient iron-age man. But this is just the latest in a series of such bodies, all of them iron age, all of them mangled, all of them buried in peat bogs. ibid.
The alcohol consumption rate is highest in Ireland where 12.3 litres (21.6 pints) of pure alcohol per person is consumed according to surveys done in 2000. Guinness World Records 2005 (50th edition)
I am still an Irish rebel to the backbone and the spinal marrow, a rebel for the same reason that John Hampden and Algernon Sidney, George Washington and Charles Carrol of Carroltown, were rebels – because tyranny had supplanted the law. Charles Gavan Duffy, 1816-1903, on arriving at Australia
Ireland is also quite nice. So is Amsterdam. Diane von Furstenberg