January 31: TODAY in Irish History:
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Bernadette Devlin, an MP at 21
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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1920: Tomás Mac Curtain is elected Sinn Fein Mayor of Cork City.
MacCurtain was an active Republican who had participated in the 1916 rising. Just two months after his election, he would be shot dead two month later in front of his wife and children by a party of men who were later identified as RIC personnel.
Tomás MacCurtain and family
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Just two months after his election, he would be shot dead two month later in front of his wife and children by a party of men who were later identified as RIC personnel.
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READ: Witness describes Slaying of Late Cork Lord Mayor
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1921: Black and Tan Killlings
The Black and Tans kill three rail workers in the Mallow area in retaliation for a botched IRA attack on a British officer which resulted in the death of the officer’s wife.
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1972: Bloody Sunday Aftermath
Bernadette Devlin, an MP at 21, who gave Home Secretary Maudling a piece of her mind
The day after Bloody Sunday, British Home Secretary, Reginald Maudling announces a tribunal of inquiry “into the circumstances of the march and the incidents leading up to the casualties which resulted”. After being denied the right to provide an eye-witness account of what happened, an emotional Bernadette Devlin, the 24 year old MP for Mid-Ulster who had been on the speakers platform in Derry the previous day, calls Maudling a “murdering hypocrite.”
“On a point of order. I am the only person in this House who was present yesterday when, whatever the facts of the situation might be said —[Interruption.] Shut up! I have a right, as the only representative in this House who was an eye witness, to ask a question of that murdering hypocrite—
walks across the floor of the House of Commons and strikes him across the face. Devlin later says “”I’m just sorry I didn’t get him by the throat”.
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READ: House of Commons Debate on Bloody Sunday
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SEE: Interview with Bernadette Devlin following her attack on Home Secretary Reginald Maudling
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The tribunal of inquiry was to be headed by Lord Chief Justice Widgery. The dreadful events of January 30 would be compounded just a few months later when in what can only be called a fabrication of the true events of the day, Widgery ( a former army brigadier) added fuel to an already extremely emotional period by claiming the actions of the British troops were justified. blaming the organizers of the march for the deaths.The publication of the Widgery Report provided another recruiting boost to the IRA. Widgery’s irresponsible whitewash of the actions of British paratroopers were totally repudiated by the later Saville Inquiry, the results of which saw Prime Minister David Cameron issue an unequivocal apology to the families of those killed on Bloody Sunday.
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READ: Article on Bernadette Devlin
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1984: Death of fifteen year old Ann Lovett in Childbirth.
Fifteen year old school girl, Annie Lovett dies beside a grotto in Granard, County Longford giving birth to a still born child. The stigma of birth out of wedlock in Catholic Ireland, forced the young girl to keep her pregnancy a secret. Her death generated a national debate about Irish attitudes to sex, contraception and sex education.
Poignant Documentary on Ann Lovett (Irish Language with sub-titles)
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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.
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