St Mary's Irish Studies Historian Poses 1916 Questions in Latest Pastoral Review

Dr Ivan Gibbons, Programme Director on the MA in Irish Studies at St Mary’s University, Twickenham has recently published an article in the Pastoral Review reassessing the significance of the Dublin Easter Rising of 1916 one hundred years on. Dr Gibbons considers whether the Rising marked the foundation of the modern independent Irish state or if it undermined Irish liberal democracy by introducing a century of republican militarism. He also examines the concepts of the just war and blood sacrifice as applied to the Rising as well as asking the question why if political violence was justified a hundred years ago in order to establish Irish independence it is totally anathema today. Irish republicanism’s historical myopia in dealing with the reality that up to one fifth of the population particularly in the Protestant north-east did not then (and still do not want) to be part of an independent Irish state is also analysed. Finally, the question is posed as to whether it is realistically feasible to have both a totally independent and politically united Ireland at the same time given the trajectory of Irish politics since the Easter Rising. A link to the article can be found here Dr Gibbons is also published in British Labour Party and Twentieth Century Ireland (Manchester University Press 2016), a collection of essays exploring a largely neglected aspect of the history of Anglo-Irish relations. At the beginning of the twentieth century the Labour Party was broadly supportive of Irish self-government. However, from the end of the First World War Labour anticipated a place in government so it became more measured and circumspect regarding its attitude to Irish nationalism. Dr Gibbons’ chapter Labour and Irish Revolution traces the growing respectability of the British Labour Party in the immediate post-war years and its resultant uneasiness in its relations with Irish nationalism for fear of damaging its electoral prospects in Britain. Further details of the MA in Irish Studies programme can be found on the St Mary’s website, the Centre for Irish Studies Twitter account and on the Centre’s Facebook Page