eburke
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Was There a Fourth Bomb?
July 20, 2021
A group of loyalist paramilitaries detonated three bombs on the night of 28 December 1972 – in the towns of Belturbet, Clones and near the village of Pettigo – which resulted in the murder of two children, Geraldine O’Reilly and Paddy Stanley, and the wounding of many others. But was there a fourth bomb? The …
Who Bombed Clones?
April 11, 2021
On 11 April 2021 the Sunday Times published an article by security correspondent John Mooney on my research into the loyalist border campaign of 1972-1974. I previously wrote a piece for the Irish Times on new evidence into loyalist bombings available in archives in London. This was based on my journal article for Terrorism and …
Kafka, Cavan and the Departure of the Middlesex Regiment from Ireland in 1922
February 12, 2021
The diary entry of Franz Kafka on 2 August 1914 – “Germany has declared war on Russia, went swimming in the afternoon” – captures the tendency of the prosaic to intrude on moments of real historical significance. For the 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, headquartered at Cootehill, County Cavan, the arrival of the partition of Ireland …
A 50 Years War? Republican and Loyalist Paramilitaries Active in the 1920s and the 1970s
October 27, 2020
The Greatest Weight? My current Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project is called ‘the Greatest Weight’. The title is drawn from Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of ‘eternal recurrence’ – the ‘greatest weight’ being the realisation that we may be doomed to repeat our actions eternally. Since Ulster, unlike the rest of Ireland, experienced several periods of …
Clara Madden of Rosslea Manor, County Fermanagh
September 28, 2020
Clara Madden (1856-1917) was the daughter of John and Clara Madden of Rosslea Manor in County Fermanagh, a branch of the Madden family of Hilton Park and lessors of the Slatmulrooney estate of Trinity College Dublin. It is more difficult to come across political commentary written by women in late 19th and early 20th century …