The Irish Story
theirishstory.bsky.social
The Irish Story
@theirishstory.bsky.social
Irish History Website, maintained and edited by John Dorney.
Reposted by The Irish Story
Latest review of our NORAID documentary by @brian-hanley.bsky.social on @theirishstory.bsky.social
New documentary review on the site by @brian-hanley.bsky.social on the RTE Documentary NORAID, Irish America and the Troubles. www.theirishstory.com/2025/11/10/d...
November 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by The Irish Story
This Underwood typewriter, likely the first with Irish characters, was used by the Gaelic League around 1905.
Now on display in the newly opened Changing Ireland Galleries in Collins Barracks, it’s a powerful symbol of everyday tools shaping Irish identity.
www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museum...
I kept finding cló gaelach everywhere this weekend - a typewriter @nmireland.bsky.social , font on school signage, and blocks of type at the National Print Museum #gaeilge #clógaelach
November 10, 2025 at 2:45 PM
New documentary review on the site by @brian-hanley.bsky.social on the RTE Documentary NORAID, Irish America and the Troubles. www.theirishstory.com/2025/11/10/d...
November 10, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Over 200,000 Irishmen served in WWI and somewhere between 30 and 50,000 died in it. The was also helped to end British rule in most of Ireland though, as a result of the conscription crisis of 1918. An overview of Ireland's experience of war here www.theirishstory.com/2018/11/09/i...
November 10, 2025 at 9:40 AM
The Siege of Tralee, November 1 – 9, 1920. The RIC and ‘Black and Tans’ brought Tralee close to starvation in an effort to force the IRA to release two missing policemen – they were in fact already dead www.theirishstory.com/2012/11/06/t...
November 6, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Today in 1641, a plan by Ulster Catholic gentry to seize Dublin Castle and various other strongpoints around the country misfires. Attacks on Protestant settlers break out, leading to large scale kilings. It is the begining of a fateful decade in Irish history. www.theirishstory.com/2010/10/23/t...
October 23, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Article here, written, for the centenary of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 2021, about a litany of broken treaties in Irish history, from Windsor to Melifont, to Limerick to Kilmainham. www.theirishstory.com/2021/12/06/t...
October 7, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by The Irish Story
Listen in to a discussion about Ireland and the American Revolution on @newstalkfm.bsky.social featuring Patrick Geoghegan, Finola O’Kane, Eliga Gould, and Patrick Griffin. The episode airs this Sunday at 7PM, ahead of our conference next week. It was a privilege to take part in the conversation.
Excited to release the conference programme for 'Ireland and the American Revolution: 250th Anniversary Perspectives'. There are only a few tickets left, so if you would like to attend I would suggest getting one as soon as possible. Attendance is free but booking is essential.
October 3, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Discussion here of the Desmond Rebellions in 1570s and 80 in Munster, that destroyed the Geraldine dynasty and paved way for the subsquent Munster plantation.
theirishstory.com/2023/12/04/p...
October 3, 2025 at 11:48 AM
#OTD in 1922 dark days in the Irish Civil War. The Dail passed a resolution giving the Army powers to execute prisoners after a summary miltiary trial. (Pic is of cabinet members at M.Collins funeral) www.theirishstory.com/2013/09/27/t...
September 27, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Reposted by The Irish Story
Vikings !
At the @nmireland.bsky.social !
Discover what life was like in Viking Dublin, and see the wider impact of the Vikings.

Join a guided tour of the National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street Viking Ireland exhibition.
🗓️ Saturday 27th September
🕛 12pm & 2pm
📍 Kildare Street, Dublin
🚫 No booking required
www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museum...
September 26, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Brian Hanley tells the story of a man with a most unusual career: David Tormey: IRA Volunteer, Garda, Nazi. Irish rebel, policman, possible informer, pro Franco soldier in Spain and finally Nazi sympthiser @brian-hanley.bsky.social
www.theirishstory.com/2024/11/16/d...
September 26, 2025 at 1:36 PM
#OTD in 1920 the Black and Tans infamously burned the north Co Dublin town of Balbriggan. It was retaliation for the shooting of two RIC officers there by the IRA but became emblematic of the British policies of reprisals in Ireland www.theirishstory.com/2020/10/14/t...
September 20, 2025 at 4:09 PM
The Civil War of 1922-23 played little part in the legend of IRA guerrilla leader Tom Barry. Partly because his role in it was fairly tortuous. As described in the artlce below. ‘A bad fight, a disgraceful fight’, Tom Barry in the Civil War
www.theirishstory.com/2025/01/15/a...
September 15, 2025 at 12:58 PM
The Fianna Fail govt of 1932 refused to pay the Land Annuities owed to Britain under the Anglo Irish Treaty. The British hoped to oust the de Valera government by economic pressure whichs sparked off a trade war only settled in 1938. Podcast here www.theirishstory.com/2025/05/21/p...
September 13, 2025 at 8:06 AM
The siege of Drogheda was perhaps the most ferocious sacking of a town in Irish history. Up to 3000 Royalist and Catholic soldiers were killed by Cromwell's New Model Army and up to 700 civilians #OTD 1649 www.theirishstory.com/2011/09/11/t...
September 11, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Podcast: The Desmond rebellions: The rebellions were the conflict of the House of Desmond, the Fitzgerald dynasty with the Elizabethan English state they ended with the destruction of the Earl of Desmond and the plantation of Munster. www.theirishstory.com/2023/12/04/p...
September 10, 2025 at 9:13 PM
'It was in the northern province of Ulster that the final, most destructive and most decisive war between the Gaelic lords and the encroaching English state would be fought; the Nine Years War 1594-1603'
www.theirishstory.com/2019/01/10/h...
September 9, 2025 at 7:10 AM
‘An indelible imprint’ – Irish Penal Transportation to Australia
www.theirishstory.com/2025/02/03/a...
September 8, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Today in Irish History – August 31, 1913 – Labour’s Bloody Sunday Police baton charged a crowd on Dublin’s O’Connell Street after arresting union leader James Larkin www.theirishstory.com/2013/08/31/t...
August 31, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Today in Irish History – August 22, 1922 – Béal na Bláth, The Shooting Of Michael Collins www.theirishstory.com/2018/08/22/t...
August 21, 2025 at 7:38 AM
#OTD in 1922 The anti-Treaty IRA under Frank Aiken stormed Dundalk barracks, freeing 300 prisoners, capturing 200 pro-Treaty troops and large quantity of weapons. But Aiken was a reluctant participant in the Civil War and man who eventually ended it in 1923. www.theirishstory.com/2013/08/14/t...
August 14, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Reposted by The Irish Story
On learning of his death sentence, Casement wrote to his barrister, George Gavan Duffy (30 June 1916):
"...I shall bear your friendship with me as one of the precious gifts of God, given by Him to those whose hearts are faint and broken—
cont'd below
1/2
August 12, 2025 at 10:59 AM
The Hunger strike & General strike of 1920. Irish Republicans copied tactic of hunger strike from women’s suffragists. In April 1920 they used it to demand status of political prisoners. A general strike was called by labour demanding release of all prisoners
www.theirishstory.com/2020/04/13/t...
August 11, 2025 at 10:09 AM