IN JUNE 1974, Ireland was in turmoil as the Troubles were in their fifth year. In the Six Counties, internment without trial was in force and the British Army was on the rampage throughout nationalist areas. Free article

Film review: ‘May-17-74 Anatomy of a Massacre’. Directed by Joe Lee, produced by Fergus Dowd with Justice for the Forgotten. Free article

The death of Francis Hughes at the age of 25 on hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh saw not the end of a legend but a new chapter in what was, by any measure, the story of one of the most fearless and tenacious guerrilla fighters of the 20th Century and of the Irish Republican Army. Free article

“Sands, Bobby. Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner, 30,492”. These words of election returning officer Alastair Patterson, became in 1981 the live televised public proof of the power of republican voters. Bobby Sands was elected MP for Fermanagh-South Tyrone 43 years ago on 9 April 1981. We republish two unique first-hand accounts of the events that led to Sands victory from Jim Gibney and Danny Morrison. Free article

A serious inaccuracy in the Irish Times concerning the burial of Frank Stagg has been corrected by Danny Morrison. In its obituary of Frank’s brother the late Emmet Stagg, former Labour Party TD, the newspaper omitted the hijacking and burial of Frank’s body by the Fine Gael/Labour government and gave the wrong location for that first burial. Free article

An Phoblacht would have been helpless without its drivers. They delivered the paper all over Ireland in challenging dangerous conditions. Earlier this month we were saddened to learn of the death of Thomas McGuigan, one of these valiant republican road warriors. Free article

An Phoblacht’s Peadar Whelan looks at the British Government’s agenda in passing the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, whose purpose is to conceal the role of not only Britain’s armed forces in the conflict in Ireland, but also the brutal and deadly counter-insurgency war waged against the nationalist community during those years. Free article

The recent death of former British Army officer General Frank Kitson prompted a series of obituaries, and in some cases eulogies. Two words cross these accounts of Kitson’s life – ‘controversial’ and ‘notorious’. Free article

‘Who fears to speak of ’98’ has been the mantra down the years, spoken softly with republican passion of days gone by. A distant memory lost somewhere in time, but never really forgotten. A cry of unfinished business, a desire that burns deep into the very soul of those who believe in the unity of ‘Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter’ across our island as it did in that hot summer of 1798. Free article

THE late 1980s saw an escalation in the use of death squads by the British regime in the Six Counties. Since the start of the 1970s, the British Army and the RUC had manipulated loyalist paramilitary organisations as part of their counter-insurgency strategy. The aim was to terrorise the entire nationalist population, killing Catholics solely because of their religion or perceived political allegiances and, where possible, assassinating leading nationalists and republicans. Free article

IN JANUARY 1994, the armed conflict in the Six Counties was at a critical stage. The previous year had seen the deaths of 84 people in the war and, while there was some political movement, it was by no means clear that a peace process could be put in place to end the armed conflict and to address its root causes. Free article

“The Pogues were also unashamedly abrasive and political, at a time when being political about Ireland in Britain was no easy task”. Joe Dwyer offers a tribute to Pogues lead singer Shane MacGowan whose death was announced today. Free article

We asked Jim Gibney to reflect on the 40th anniversary of Gerry Adams's election as Sinn Féin President in November 1983. He talked with two other republican veterans, Danny Morrison and Richard McAuley. Here is Jim’s personal insight, with the input of those two lifelong activists who were there for the key events over the last 40 years. Free article

As we reach the 50th anniversary of the failed Sunningdale Agreement, glib soundbites detract from the wholesale failure of Sunningdale to address any of the causes of the conflict in Ireland. Joe Dwyer explores the reality of Sunningdale Agreement. Free article

Sliocht atá san alt seo as leabhar ar stair na Gaeilge sna príosúin idir 1867 agus 1999 ‘Ní amháin Saor, ach Gaelach’ le Eoghan Mac Cormaic atá le foilsiú san earrach 2024 Free article