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Just a few examples showing how the Roman Catholic clergy were involved.
1918 ELECTION. The influence of the Roman Catholic clergy
As early as 24 October it was reported that the Lord Mayor of Dublin had been approached by northern bishops and asked if anything could be done ' to obviate three cornered contests in northern constituencies.
Bishop McHugh of Derry had been a prime mover in this regard, advising the Sinn Fein candidate. His suggestion was a conference, to be presided over by the Bishop of Clogher, in which each constituency would be represented by two priests chosen by their fellow priests. McHugh proposed that a candidate make: ' a written pledge of support for unrestricted self determination at the Peace Conference,' promised by Woodrow Wilson, the US President, to decide the shape of the post-war world.
In an oracular reply to Bishop McHugh on 25th November, Sinn Fein approved the plan.
Cardinal Logue dispatched an anguished telegram to Archbishop Walsh in Dublin. 'Fear no agreement likely at Mansion House. Believe if Your Grace gave advice you could effect agreement, other wise seats go, which would be a calamity already as educational scheme is being hatched at Belfast which would be ruinous to Catholic interests '.
Dillon, who admitted to Bishop O'Donnell on 9 December to having done and intending to do all in his power about the Ulster seats.
Crumley, the nationalist candidate, had announced on 7 December that he had no intention of withdrawing in accordance with the agreement. Four days later, on the urging of the Bishop of Clogher and after consulting Dillon, he announced his withdrawal.
The Irish News, 10 December, published a public appeal from Fr Nolan summoning priests from the affected constituencies to a conference in Toomebridge. This conference called on the 80,000 Catholics in the area, where no Home Ruler was running to vote for Sinn Fein.
The British could easily have won if they had threw their full resources at the republican gunmen and their supporters but world opinion would be against them, and of course Washington too. And anyway republicans and the Irish in general would go into mope mode..repressed,suppressed and oppressed which they are brilliant at.
You do know MOPE is an actual Irish acronym.
Most Oppressed People Ever.
You do know MOPE is an actual Irish acronym.
Most Oppressed People Ever.
Aye, I read that somewhere and there is a truth in it. Oppressed Repressed and Suppressed is their three main words closely followed by gerrymandering and discrimination
John Bartholomew Burns was born in 1935 He lived in Sneen, a small village, of a few hundred in the Ring of Kerry, on the western tip of Ireland. Burns went on to be schooled by religious orders and at 25 was ordained as a priest – 1960. As was the case with most Irish ordinations at the time, he was sent abroad to fulfil his ministry. His position was as a curate in St. Eunan’s, Gilmore Street in Clydebank on the outskirts of Glasgow. It was while he was there he would make contact with many who would help him arm the PIRA, with explosives stolen from coal mines in central Scotland. For four years, Burns would help set up routes of supply that would bring arms, explosives and cash to enable murder and mayhem on the streets of Northern Ireland.
On the 22nd March 1973, a special branch team had followed two men they had received a tip off about, two men with Irish accents. They had been in the company of the daughter of one of Sinn Fein’s leading members in Scotland, Caroline Renehan. The two men were followed from the Old Rutherglen Road, in the Gorbals, along a five mile trip to the parochial house next to St Teresa’s. Father Burns greeted them at the door and showed then in. When Caroline Renehan’s car was searched an Air Lingus bag was found with 150 commercial detonators inside it, this gave the contents of the cars the capability of at least 150 explosions on the streets of Northern Ireland.
As the police swooped on those outside the parochial house, Burns watched from an upstairs window, he was joined by Father Martín, who during the trial of the accused would later recount that Burns told him the boxes contained gelignite. He would say that his fellow priest was “confused, agitated and very, very annoyed”. Martin says that Burns then said he “wished to take the day off to compose himself” Martin then said:
“I took my car out of the garage and gave him a lift down the road to the Gallowgate, where he said he was going to see some friends. I did not want to know where he was going.”
Burns, after he was helped to escape by the fellow priest, was left off in Glasgow City Centre. He then made his way to the Parkhead area and was put up and looked after by a number of those who worked the IRA ratlines with him. Within a week he was smuggled on board a fishing vessel and taken across the Irish Sea to the relative safety of Donegal. The man who had helped cause the deaths of dozens had escaped justice. The British Government lodged a extradition warrant for Burns, but this was rejected by the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.
[quote]The MOPE story has largely gone the same way. It endures for a minority of zealots but the way in which the 1916 centenary was marked last year suggests that for the majority the idea of the “national struggle” has become much more complex and nuanced. It is now broadly accepted that Irish suffering was far from unique, that Irish nationalists came in many varieties (including many of those who fought and died on the Western Front and in Gallipoli). Anglophobia – the fuel that kept the MOPE vehicle on the road – has all but disappeared. And the Belfast Agreement, with its suggestion that the end of this story will be consensual, ambiguous and tolerant of difference, has replaced the simplistic claim to the “reunification of the national territory”.[/UNQUOTE]
it would be silly to think the irish were the " most oppressed people ever "
how does one earn such a title anyway ? , how is oppression perfectly measured ? , it would also be silly for the former oppressors to have ownership of what is considered oppression either , there is a desire on the part of some to try and whitewash historical policy which was unquestionably oppressive in nature , there often the same folk who view the old empire as having done nothing but good , beit in ireland , india or anywhere else
Interesting article in today's Irish Times about Irish unification.
Including the dunderhead in the comments section who reckon Brexiteers really want unification to resolve the border issue ...
You do know MOPE is an actual Irish acronym.
Most Oppressed People Ever.
However it would equally wrong to ignore that discrimination against Catholics ever existed either in the early days of northern irelands existence, we can joke about mope and all the rest of it now but it was a very significant part of ni's history back then and led to a lot of anger from the catholic population.
This is a quote from former ni prime minister Basil Brooke:
Many in this audience employ Catholics, but I have not one about my place. Catholics are out to destroy Ulster...If we in Ulster allow Roman Catholics to work on our farms we are traitors to Ulster...I would appeal to loyalists, therefore, wherever possible, to employ good Protestant lads and lassies
That man was the most powerful man in northern ireland for 20 years....
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