Tim Pat Coogan, author of The IRA: A History, talks to Patricia Harty. "I really think the Irish-Americans are crucial to this. I'm historian enough to know there would be no independent Irish state without Irish-American pressure in the 1920s. The cabinet records are there and the ambassador's records are there to show how much Irish Americans were involved." However, "one … [Read more...] about The Long Shadow
1994
What Price Peace?
As British Prime Minister John Major and Taoiseach Albert Reynolds announced their historic "Joint Declaration for Peace" in Northern Ireland on December 15, the vital question was whether the new document would be sufficient to launch a real peace process or whether it would end up as just another failed initiative. An historic opportunity for peace in our time or just … [Read more...] about What Price Peace?
The First Word: Our Own Flesh and Blood
Wee Annie's uncle is dead. You might have read about him. He got a line in the New York Times. He was the 72-year old pensioner shot in the Loyalist backlash that followed the Shankill fish shop bombing. Wee Annie's uncle lived alone. They found him in the living room of his small house -- bound and gagged and shot in the head. It is thought that the UDA were trying to get him … [Read more...] about The First Word: Our Own Flesh and Blood