Today In Irish History

August 30: TODAY in Irish History:

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Dana – Eurovision Song Contest winner 1970

Snippets of Irish History by Conor Cunneen IrishmanSpeaks 

Conor is a Chicago based Motivational Humorous Business Speaker, Author and History buff.

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1921: Sectarian Rioting in Belfast

Vicious sectarian rioting breaks out in Belfast resulting in the deaths of at least 9 people.  Throughout the year, Catholic and Protestant communities baited and attacked each other. July was a particularly violent month. Sectarian violence was an unfortunate part of working class Belfast culture as evidenced by the riots in 1886

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1921: De Valera Sends Stinging Rebuke to Lloyd George

De Valera sends another stinging rebuke to Lloyd George as the parties edge closer to negotiations. He was responding to a communication from Lloyd George where the wily old Welshman invoked Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address:

“I cannot better express the British standpoint in this respect than in words used of the Northern and Southern States by Abraham Lincoln in the First Inaugural Address. They were spoken by him on the brink of the American Civil War, which he was striving to avert:—

Physically speaking he said we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassible wall between them. . . . It is impossible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before. . . . Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you.

I do not think it can be reasonably contended that the relations of Great Britain and Ireland are in any different case.”

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“Dev” saw things somewhat differently:

“The people of Ireland, acknowledging no voluntary union with Great Britain and claiming as a fundamental natural right to choose freely for themselves the path they shall take to realise their national destiny, have by an overwhelming majority declared for independence, set up a Republic, and more than once confirmed their choice.

Great Britain, on the other hand, acts as though Ireland were bound to her by a contract of union that forbade separation. The circumstances of the supposed contract are notorious, yet on the theory of its validity the British Government and Parliament claim to rule and legislate for Ireland, even to the point of partitioning Irish territory against the will of the Irish people, and killing or casting into prison every Irish citizen who refuses allegiance.

Force will not solve the problem. It will never secure the ultimate victory over reason and right. If you again resort to force, and if victory be not on the side of justice, the problem that confronts us will confront our successors. The fact that for 750 years this problem has resisted a solution by force is evidence and warning sufficient. It is true wisdom, therefore, and true statesmanship, not any false idealism, that prompts me and my colleagues. Threats of force must be set aside. They must be set aside from the beginning, as well as during the actual conduct of the negotiations. The respective plenipotentiaries must meet untrammelled by any conditions save the facts themselves, and must be prepared to reconcile their subsequent differences not by appeals to force, covert or open, but by reference to some guiding principle on which there is common agreement. We have proposed the principle of government by consent of the governed, and do not mean it as a mere phrase.”

SEE Official Correspondence relating to the Peace Negotiations.

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1951: Eurovision Song Contest Winner Dana

Singer Dana is born Rosemary Scallon is born in London. Her family returned to Derry when she was five. Dana became an overnight celebrity when she won the Eurovision song contest for Ireland singing All Kinds of Everything composed Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith and the country went mad for a young lass who charmed every mother in Ireland and many a young lad with her gentle manner. Dana went on to have a relatively successful musical career.

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In 1997, Dana ran unsuccessfully in the Irish presidential election and also 2011. She was MEP for Connacht–Ulster 1999-2004.

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WATCH: A Short History of Ireland

Want to learn more about Ireland? See these images and more in the acclaimed For the Love of Being Irish

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This history is written by Irish author, business keynote speaker and award winning humorist IrishmanSpeaks – Conor Cunneen. If you spot any inaccuracies or wish to make a comment, please don’t hesitate to contact us via the comment button.

Visit Conor’s YouTube channel IrishmanSpeaks to Laugh and Learn.

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