1
00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:12,839
Ireland's modern story
begins in an age of empire,
2
00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,429
but it will be convulsed by revolution.
3
00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:19,278
The old order is overthrown.
4
00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:27,395
The religious conflict that
has endured for 300 years
5
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:31,069
will lead to the division of Ireland
for the first time in history.
6
00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:37,797
From the beginning of
the story of Ireland,
7
00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:41,913
the island has been shaped
by events beyond its shores,
8
00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:46,397
and this is never more true
than in the modern era.
9
00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:52,151
In an age of world wars
when Europe is twice rent apart by hatred,
10
00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:56,876
when tens of millions die
in the name of ideology and nationalism,
11
00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,629
Ireland, too, will experience
dramatic upheaval.
12
00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:06,432
It is an age in which the island's
people will confront not only
13
00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:11,679
the legacy of history, but the very idea
of what it means to be Irish.
14
00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:28,000
Ripped By mstoll
15
00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:44,838
Early in the last century,
16
00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:49,908
my forebears lived here in middle-class
respectability in the city of Cork.
17
00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:55,597
It was a world dominated
by the British Empire,
18
00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:57,790
and Cork was a thriving garrison city.
19
00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,989
My great-grandfather was a sergeant
in the Royal Irish Constabulary.
20
00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:08,315
But his service records
are not kept in Cork.
21
00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:12,353
They're here
at the National Archives in Kew.
22
00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:19,790
Here he is. 40739, Hassett, Patrick.
23
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:24,197
5ft 10, same height as myself,
from County Clare.
24
00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,516
In his mind, there was nothing
unusual about him being sent,
25
00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:29,949
as we can see here, to serve in Belfast,
26
00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:31,956
because it was all one Ireland
at the time.
27
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,072
And he wouldn't have seen
any contradiction
28
00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:36,712
between supporting the monarchy,
29
00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:39,558
but also supporting
the idea of Home Rule for Ireland,
30
00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:41,591
because, remember,
if Home Rule was granted,
31
00:02:41,640 --> 00:02:44,677
the country was still going to stay
within the British Empire.
32
00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,594
And that empire really framed the world
33
00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:53,791
in which my great-grandfather
grew up and in which he lived.
34
00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,758
Yet the image of a serene Ireland
was deceptive.
35
00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:02,873
An Irish Catholic would never rise
to the top of the RIC.
36
00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:05,070
In Her Majesty's Civil Service,
37
00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:09,159
Catholics were noticeably absent
from the more senior posts.
38
00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:15,835
The Act of Union
had given Catholics economic power,
39
00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,919
but their political destiny
remained in the hands of London.
40
00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:25,711
As the century turned, a view of an Irish
future utterly separate from Britain
41
00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:29,070
was finding expression
in cultural revival.
42
00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:37,558
One of the many artists attempting
to forge a new national consciousness
43
00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,592
was the poet and playwright
William Butler Yeats.
44
00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:47,712
In 1903, with Lady Augusta Gregory,
he founded the Abbey Theatre.
45
00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,719
It would see the production
of their play Kathleen Ni Houlihan,
46
00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:54,399
which represented Ireland
as a beautiful woman
47
00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:57,477
for whom young men
would sacrifice their lives.
48
00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,069
"They shall be alive for ever,"
Yeats wrote.
49
00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:08,036
Later he would ask, "Did that play of mine
send out certain men the English shot?"
50
00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,632
The cultural revival in sports,
literature and theatre
51
00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:19,674
was profoundly influenced by the fear
that Ireland was becoming British.
52
00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:30,277
There's a fear
that Ireland is losing its identity,
53
00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:35,110
that if a new generation does not
embrace identity and national sentiment
54
00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:36,593
and the national language and so on,
55
00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:39,393
that something is going to be lost,
irretrievably lost.
56
00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:51,072
What was being written
and talked about here in Dublin
57
00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:53,918
chimed with nationalist sentiments
across the world.
58
00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:58,272
In 1911, Sun Yat-sen had
declared his revolution in China.
59
00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,630
The following year,
the African National Congress
60
00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:03,511
was founded in South Africa.
61
00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:06,028
And closer, in the Balkans,
62
00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:10,790
Serbian plotters were preparing acts
that would change the world.
63
00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:16,358
Here in Ireland, the long dominance
of those who'd advocated change
64
00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:20,393
through peaceful means
was about to be challenged.
65
00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:25,077
Across Europe, there are
premonitions of a cataclysm
66
00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:26,633
that will make a new world.
67
00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,316
In Ireland, a poet and teacher
declared bloodshed
68
00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:34,669
a cleansing and sanctifying thing.
69
00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,639
Inspired by Christ
and the warriors of Gaelic myth,
70
00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:45,468
Patrick Pearse
had come to idealise martyrdom.
71
00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,718
Pearse was the son of
an English father and an Irish mother.
72
00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:54,799
At St Enda's, his school outside Dublin,
he declared it his mission
73
00:05:54,840 --> 00:06:00,358
to counter what he called
the murder machine of British education.
74
00:06:03,280 --> 00:06:06,989
Pearse told his pupils to be ready
to work hard for the fatherland
75
00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:10,191
and, if necessary, to die for it.
76
00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,232
Pearse joined
the Irish Republican Brotherhood,
77
00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:18,999
committed to the overthrow
of imperial rule.
78
00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:24,349
His alienation from
the bourgeois world of his childhood
79
00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:27,472
would deepen when he watched
the combined forces
80
00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,671
of state power
and a Catholic-led business elite
81
00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,076
suppress the 1913 strike in Dublin.
82
00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:43,835
But the conditions in which Patrick Pearse
and other radicals would rebel
83
00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:47,350
were created by the British Government's
attempts at reform.
84
00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:54,994
In 1912, the Liberal Cabinet
moved to introduce Home Rule,
85
00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,873
but in keeping a promise
to Irish Catholics,
86
00:06:57,920 --> 00:06:59,876
it provoked the anger
of Ulster Protestants.
87
00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,272
Home Rule was seen as an attempt
to undo the Plantation of Ulster.
88
00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:07,197
It was seen as an attempt
89
00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,711
to bring the hewers of wood and
the drawers of water, to bring them top,
90
00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:16,356
to effect a social revolution that
would have seen Protestant Ulster,
91
00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,551
the Ulster that they had built, destroyed.
92
00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:25,309
Protestant opposition
was led by a man
93
00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:29,831
misrepresented as much by his allies
as his enemies.
94
00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:31,711
Edward Carson was a Dublin lawyer
95
00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,799
who to this day remains
the great icon of Ulster Loyalism.
96
00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:41,153
Carson had been a fierce cross-examiner
of his old college friend Oscar Wilde
97
00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:45,273
during a libel trial in which the writer
denied his homosexuality.
98
00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:50,235
But this man, appropriated
as an implacable Ulster Unionist,
99
00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:52,271
began with a very different agenda.
100
00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:55,710
Most Irish people would regard Carson
101
00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:59,548
as the arch partitionist,
but that's not what Carson is about.
102
00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:06,039
Carson is about sustaining the union
between Great Britain and all of Ireland,
103
00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:08,389
not just the northeastern corner.
104
00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:12,353
And he wants to make that union work
for the benefit of all Irish people.
105
00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:17,752
But Carson understood that only in Ulster
was there a Protestant population
106
00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,156
large enough
to mobilise against Home Rule.
107
00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:29,071
On September 28th 1912,
here in Belfast City Hall,
108
00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:33,557
Edward Carson signed a solemn covenant
pledging to defend Ulster from Home Rule.
109
00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,513
Almost a quarter of a million men
followed his example.
110
00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:42,755
But how were they going to back up
this declaration with deeds?
111
00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:47,669
The Ulster Unionist leadership
now made a momentous decision.
112
00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:55,875
The Ulster Volunteer Force, formed
in 1913, directly challenged the state.
113
00:08:55,920 --> 00:09:00,391
It was encouraged in its threats
of rebellion by British Conservatives,
114
00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,795
yet the Government took no action.
115
00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:08,949
Nationalists reacted by founding
the Irish Volunteers to protect Home Rule.
116
00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,118
They were joined by the Irish
Citizen Army, led by James Connolly,
117
00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:19,315
a Glasgow-born socialist who'd come to
prominence in the 1913 strike in Dublin.
118
00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:24,036
When this paramilitarisation
develops in the North, the reaction
119
00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:27,072
in nationalist Ireland is excitement.
120
00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:29,509
It's not fear.
121
00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:33,109
It's not a sense
that a civil war may happen.
122
00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:35,469
It's, this is what Irishmen should do.
123
00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:38,830
Time and again, you hear it said
famously about Patrick Pearse that,
124
00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:43,510
"to see arms in the hands of Irishmen
is an ennobling thing",
125
00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:47,553
even if they're in the hands
of Ulster Unionist Irishmen.
126
00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:52,198
It was, of course,
a grand delusion.
127
00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:55,118
Both nationalists and the British
Government seemed to have forgotten
128
00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:59,233
the bitter struggles with Loyalists
over Home Rule in the previous century.
129
00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:02,033
It was as if they believed
Ulster Protestants
130
00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:05,231
would eventually, peacefully,
come round to the idea.
131
00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:09,030
But the Loyalists
were busy arming themselves
132
00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:11,674
to fight whoever tried
to impose Home Rule.
133
00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:18,596
On 24th and 25th April 1914,
134
00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,599
25,000 rifles
and three million rounds of ammunition
135
00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:28,431
were brought in through Larne and
other ports and distributed across Ulster.
136
00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:31,517
These were German weapons being imported
137
00:10:31,560 --> 00:10:34,870
at a time of mounting
international tension.
138
00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:38,959
It would be hard to imagine a greater
challenge to the authority of the state.
139
00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:44,234
And yet the Government did nothing.
140
00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:51,471
But when nationalists imported guns
the following July, they were confronted.
141
00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:56,753
This double standard helped to radicalise
many more moderate nationalists.
142
00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:58,677
Tension steadily escalated
143
00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:02,998
until Ireland's quarrel
was suddenly interrupted.
144
00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:11,116
During the First World War,
145
00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,630
you get a sea-change
in the nature of Irish political opinion.
146
00:11:14,680 --> 00:11:16,113
People who had been thinking
147
00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:18,276
that constitutional methods would work
148
00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:20,436
changed their mind
and felt that they wouldn't.
149
00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:22,550
People who felt that a more moderate goal
was legitimate
150
00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:24,989
changed their minds
and wanted something more radical.
151
00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:34,072
The war would claim the lives
of as many as 30,000 Irishmen.
152
00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:38,190
More than 200,000 served.
153
00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:45,593
To the moderate Irish
nationalist leader John Redmond,
154
00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:49,110
the war was a chance to make the case
to Unionists for Home Rule.
155
00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:52,755
Catholics would show their loyalty
to the empire.
156
00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,758
But as the war dragged on
and casualties mounted,
157
00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:03,395
fears grew that Britain
would introduce conscription in Ireland.
158
00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:13,158
Redmond's call to arms looked increasingly
to have been a serious political mistake.
159
00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,510
There was growing disillusionment
among nationalists,
160
00:12:16,560 --> 00:12:20,394
but Ireland wasn't seething
with anti-British fervour.
161
00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:26,549
It would take the events of Easter 1916
to create the cataclysm.
162
00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:31,508
As Britain floundered
on the Western Front,
163
00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:34,120
a small group of plotters
gathered in Dublin.
164
00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:40,995
They were a minority, even within
the revolutionary Republican Brotherhood.
165
00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:45,599
They included poets and hardened rebels,
166
00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:48,757
Pearse, who dreamed of blood sacrifice,
167
00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:51,997
and the champion of
a workers'republic, James Connolly.
168
00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:55,750
They plotted the downfall of empire
in Ireland
169
00:12:55,800 --> 00:13:00,920
here above the tobacco shop
of the veteran IRB man Tom Clarke.
170
00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:06,998
The rebels decided to move
on Easter Sunday,
171
00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:08,917
date of Christ's resurrection.
172
00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:11,713
But the orders were countermanded
by moderates.
173
00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:18,117
In the chaos of order and counter-order,
174
00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:23,075
Pearse, Connolly and the other radicals
made a fateful decision.
175
00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:28,473
They would strike
with a drastically reduced force
176
00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:32,195
in Dublin on Easter Monday 1916.
177
00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:37,878
A detachment of Connolly's Citizen Army
attacked Dublin Castle,
178
00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:41,959
symbol and seat of British power,
but were repulsed.
179
00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,073
The main body of rebels
led by Pearse and Connolly
180
00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,795
rushed down Sackville Street
and took over the General Post Office.
181
00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:56,316
They raised the Irish tricolour
above the building.
182
00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:01,997
Pearse stepped outside
and read from a proclamation
183
00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:05,476
signed by himself
and the six other leaders.
184
00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:09,274
He declared an Irish republic.
185
00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:13,108
"In the name of God and the dead
generations, Ireland through us
186
00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:18,792
"summons her children to her flag
and strikes for her freedom."
187
00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:26,033
A witness watching from a balcony opposite
described how boys quickly gathered up
188
00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:30,198
any copies of the proclamation
they could find, because, as he put it,
189
00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,391
they would be worth a fiver
when the beggars were hanged.
190
00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:39,710
The British were caught unawares,
but by the end of the week,
191
00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:42,228
they outnumbered the rebels by ten to one.
192
00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:47,190
From the River Liffey, a gunboat fired.
193
00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:49,071
Irish regiments also fought the rebels.
194
00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:53,636
The Royal Dublin Fusiliers,
who were drawn principally
195
00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:55,671
from the working-class districts
of the city,
196
00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:59,633
were being rushed up along the quays here
to join the battle near the GPO,
197
00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:02,990
when a shot rang out
from a sniper across the river.
198
00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:07,636
Lieutenant Gerald Neilan,
an Irish Catholic, fell dead.
199
00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,074
Elsewhere in the city,
his younger brother Anthony
200
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,554
was fighting on the rebel side.
201
00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:21,512
The majority of the dead of Easter week
were civilians
202
00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:23,630
killed in the rain of shells and bullets
203
00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:27,070
that devastated the city centre
in the British counterattack.
204
00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:35,319
Pearse and Connolly finally
abandoned their headquarters at the GPO,
205
00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:37,920
surrendering on April 29th.
206
00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:48,032
As the rebels were led into captivity,
they were jeered and jostled by the crowd.
207
00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:51,436
Many of the most vociferous
were women whose husbands
208
00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:54,278
were away fighting on the Western Front.
209
00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:56,311
The rising had been crushed,
210
00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:00,148
and public opinion now seemed
set against the rebels.
211
00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:07,713
Until the British
made a grave miscalculation.
212
00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:14,232
The leaders were brought here
to Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin
213
00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:17,556
and hastily court-martialled
and sentenced to death.
214
00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:30,997
Over a period of two weeks,
14 men were executed here,
215
00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,794
13 at this end, including Patrick Pearse,
216
00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:36,319
and up here, James Connolly,
217
00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:39,238
who had to be carried to his execution
on a stretcher.
218
00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:44,551
The manner of their deaths
and the number of executions
219
00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:48,115
would turn these men from being
the leaders of a militant minority
220
00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:52,756
into martyrs who could be acclaimed
by all of nationalist Ireland.
221
00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:01,797
The poet William Butler Yeats
sensed the impact of the executions.
222
00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:04,274
"I write it out in a verse
223
00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:07,278
"MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
224
00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:09,914
"Now and in time to be
225
00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,919
"Wherever green is worn
Are changed, changed utterly.
226
00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:17,077
"A terrible beauty is born."
227
00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:24,355
Public anger deepened
following mass arrests
228
00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:26,356
and the imposition of martial law.
229
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:33,911
Here in the military archives in Dublin
is a trove of witness accounts
230
00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,669
from young men who were radicalised
by the events of Easter 1916
231
00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:40,109
and who joined the Volunteers in its wake.
232
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:48,630
Matthew Davies from Roscommon - "In 1916,"
he says, "I was unattached to any group.
233
00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:51,877
"After the rebellion there was an outcry
to execute the fanatics.
234
00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:54,514
"I felt we would have to do
something about it."
235
00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:56,994
And of course, he formed
a Volunteer unit in his area.
236
00:17:57,040 --> 00:18:01,352
The Volunteers evolved into
the Irish Republican Army,
237
00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:05,234
and among the young men who flocked
to join them was my grandfather,
238
00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:08,397
Paddy Hassett,
the imperial policeman's son.
239
00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,000
Why would Paddy Hassett
240
00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:15,955
turn his back on that family tradition
of service to the empire?
241
00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:20,472
The biggest factor
was what had happened in Ireland.
242
00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:25,594
The impact of the 1916 rising
and the executions
243
00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:28,712
and the round-ups
that took place after it.
244
00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:31,194
I sense that that was what
turned my grandfather
245
00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:34,994
and many, many other young men like him,
against the British.
246
00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:39,752
But if the great cause
of the Irish revolution
247
00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:44,476
had been a united republic,
the consequence was very different.
248
00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:48,718
I think after 1916,
with the dead dedicated to a republic,
249
00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,196
the fires of Easter week
have forged a new national identity,
250
00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:53,832
which is to be Republican.
251
00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:56,519
Ulster Unionists
find nothing in that whatsoever.
252
00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:58,915
They found little, if anything,
in Home Rule -
253
00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:01,997
there's absolutely nothing for them
in an Irish republic.
254
00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:05,237
It makes partition inevitable.
255
00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:11,715
In the 1918 general election, Sinn Féin,
led by veterans of the rising,
256
00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:13,478
won a sweeping majority.
257
00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:18,116
But instead of going to Westminster,
the party set up an Irish republic.
258
00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:23,594
The Sinn Féin leader was Eamon de Valera,
259
00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:26,313
and his finance minister, Michael Collins.
260
00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:31,992
In an atmosphere made worse by
renewed British threats of conscription,
261
00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:34,918
Collins would find himself
directing a guerrilla war.
262
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,710
The IRA campaign which began in 1919
263
00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:43,672
was met with fierce reprisals
against civilians
264
00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:46,314
by security forces
like the Black and Tans.
265
00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:52,670
A state-sanctioned policy of reprisal
increased public support for the IRA.
266
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,559
And Irishmen killed fellow Irishmen.
267
00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,797
Police shot IRA men and vice versa.
268
00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:06,835
This is my father's hometown
of Listowel in County Kerry.
269
00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:13,593
On 20th January 1921, an IRA squad
was lying in wait at Church Street.
270
00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:15,232
The man they were going to attack,
271
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:19,353
District Inspector Tobias O'Sullivan
of the Royal Irish Constabulary,
272
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,358
was coming up the street
with his five-year-old son.
273
00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:27,520
The IRA squad ran up to him
and shot him dead in front of the child.
274
00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,632
Now, the version of the story
that I was given growing up
275
00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:34,195
was that a British soldier,
not an Irish policeman, had been killed.
276
00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,118
Nor was there any mention
that he'd been holding his child's hand
277
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:38,559
when he was murdered.
278
00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:43,355
It was as if some parts of the story
were simply too painful to tell.
279
00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,436
O'Sullivan had taken part in a raid
on a nearby village.
280
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:58,356
After two years of violence, both sides
declared themselves ready to talk.
281
00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:07,629
In October 1921, a Sinn Féin delegation
led by Michael Collins
282
00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,513
arrived in London
to discuss a political settlement.
283
00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:17,473
Michael Collins arrived as
the 20th century's first celebrity rebel.
284
00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,479
In terms of his public image,
a kind of Che Guevara for his age.
285
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:25,832
But here, Collins would encounter
a British negotiating team
286
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:30,396
led by Lloyd George
that was both experienced and tough.
287
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:34,877
Whatever else might be conceded,
an Irish republic was not on offer.
288
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:42,237
26 counties of Southern Ireland
would become the Irish Free State,
289
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:46,910
with its own army but swearing an
Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown.
290
00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:51,476
The Government had already allowed the six
Protestant-dominated counties of Ulster
291
00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:54,751
to form a new state
within the United Kingdom.
292
00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,835
But it wasn't Ulster
that caused crisis for the Irish side.
293
00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:02,269
In Dublin, de Valera accused Collins
294
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:05,790
of having agreed to the
Oath of Allegiance without his consent.
295
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:12,036
When the Dáil convened
in Dublin in December 1921,
296
00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:16,551
de Valera denounced the Oath of Allegiance
as an abandonment of the republic.
297
00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:25,197
Collins argued that the treaty gave
Ireland the freedom to achieve freedom.
298
00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:28,915
The one-time comrades
became bitter enemies.
299
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:34,798
When the vote on the treaty came,
it was perilously close -
300
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:37,195
64 votes for, 57 against.
301
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,754
De Valera led his supporters
out of the Dáil.
302
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,997
As they went,
Michael Collins shouted, "Deserters, all!"
303
00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:46,032
The slide to civil war had begun.
304
00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:53,229
A majority of the people supported
the treaty, but couldn't stop a war
305
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,238
characterised by extreme ruthlessness.
306
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:02,717
Both sides committed atrocities.
307
00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,909
At Ballyseedy Cross in County Kerry,
nine Republican prisoners
308
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:11,111
were tied to a log
and blown to pieces by a land mine,
309
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,391
retaliation for the killing
of Free State soldiers.
310
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:26,032
The government army gradually
captured the Republican strongholds.
311
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:32,758
But on 22nd August 1922, Michael Collins
was assassinated in County Cork.
312
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:40,229
The Free State would triumph,
but his loss was devastating.
313
00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:46,198
In death, Collins would become
a romantic icon, the great lost leader.
314
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:50,711
Yet in some of his last writings,
he espoused a patriotic pragmatism.
315
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:57,478
"True devotion,"Collins wrote,
"lay not in melodramatic defiance
316
00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:02,230
"or self-sacrifice,
but in steady, earnest effort."
317
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,030
By the time the civil war ended in 1923,
318
00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:13,958
Ireland was a very different country
to the united
319
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:18,835
and equal nation imagined
by the revolutionaries of 1916.
320
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,758
The revolution had driven the British out.
321
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:26,510
But it had also consolidated
the prevailing social reality.
322
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:32,476
This was a Catholic, largely rural
and, above all, conservative society.
323
00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:40,714
It was a society not dissimilar
to that imagined
324
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,911
by Ireland's first political titans.
325
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,350
The settled country
imagined by Daniel O'Connell,
326
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,597
hero of Catholic emancipation
in the 19th century.
327
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:55,316
An Ireland of landowners, such as
Charles Stewart Parnell envisioned,
328
00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:58,272
and which his Land League
had done so much to create.
329
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:02,677
A society whose fundamental desire now
was for stability.
330
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:07,874
In the Protestant-ruled
331
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,195
six counties of Ulster,
electoral boundaries
332
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:15,314
had been drawn to ensure majorities
for Unionists in most areas.
333
00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:19,751
There had been fierce retribution
against Catholics following IRA violence.
334
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:24,749
More than 8,000 were driven
from their jobs, hundreds were killed.
335
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,150
The Prime Minister James Craig
336
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,317
was a patrician landowner
and proud Orangeman.
337
00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:36,272
Catholic Northern Ireland,
Catholic Ulster,
338
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:38,993
does not really feature
in his political agenda.
339
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:44,672
Craig, I think, associates
Catholicism with a challenge
340
00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:46,950
to the state that he finds himself
ruler of.
341
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:51,630
He associates Catholicism with subversion.
342
00:25:55,560 --> 00:26:02,591
But Unionism comes together from a variety
of very different institutions and forces.
343
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,234
It's absolutely not a monolithic group,
344
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:11,037
and it contains a spectrum of those who
are ferocious in their anti-Catholicism,
345
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:15,710
across towards a more liberal take
on the Union and Unionism.
346
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,232
Across the river is Donegal in the South.
347
00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:27,475
This is Clady in County Tyrone,
348
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:31,718
one of the six counties
of the new Northern Ireland state.
349
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,035
The Prime Minister James Craig
350
00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:38,153
had built here a Protestant state
for a Protestant people.
351
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:42,352
Many years later, a Unionist leader
trying to forge peace with nationalists
352
00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:47,918
would ruefully acknowledge that this
had been a cold house for Catholics,
353
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,635
a place of discrimination and exclusion.
354
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,714
Catholics materially
were better off in Northern Ireland
355
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,228
than they were in the Irish Free State.
356
00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,511
But politics matters more than economics.
357
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,836
Catholics were not welcome,
and that was clear.
358
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:16,591
They had to listen to a tirade of abuse
coming up to 12th July every year.
359
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:19,438
They had to listen to
Unionist politicians boasting
360
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:22,790
that they'd never employed a Catholic,
never would employ a Catholic,
361
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:24,637
wouldn't have one around the place.
362
00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:31,995
That sort of chilly feeling of not being
wanted produces serious disaffection.
363
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,719
But in the South, the new government
of Cumann na nGaedheal,
364
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:44,389
led by Michael Collins' heirs,
had neither the military means,
365
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:49,150
economic power or desire
to wage a war of territorial redemption.
366
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:53,510
The South opted for stability.
367
00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:01,115
Even with the arrival in power in 1932
of Eamon de Valera,
368
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,594
now leading the Fianna Fáil party,
369
00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:07,599
rhetoric would be
a comforting substitute for action.
370
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:14,034
Ireland united, Ireland free,
these are the ideals
371
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:20,155
to which enthusiastic young Ireland
is now devoting its energy.
372
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:24,273
Whatever the rhetoric,
whatever the propaganda campaigns,
373
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:28,632
de Valera realised that unification
was not going to happen,
374
00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:31,831
and he may even have seen
advantages in that.
375
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,509
I think the majority of Southerners
were quite happy
376
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:37,755
that Northern Ireland was gone,
377
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:41,713
that the wretched Unionists
were corralled in their area,
378
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:46,880
and were not coming down and not
interfering with their setup in the South.
379
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:57,273
The founding father of Irish nationalism,
Wolfe Tone,
380
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:01,598
imagined a nation that united
Catholic, Protestant and dissenter.
381
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:04,950
But Ireland was now
an island of two states
382
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,357
in which religion
would be a primary badge of identity.
383
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:13,552
Here at the Phoenix Park in 1932,
vast crowds gathered
384
00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:17,070
for a religious festival
that would symbolise
385
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:19,873
the character of the new Irish state.
386
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:24,550
Whatever rhetorical gestures might
be made to the Protestants of Ulster,
387
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:26,750
this was a Catholic nation.
388
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:41,159
The clergy, for somebody like
de Valera, were very important.
389
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,589
They were his advisors.
390
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,350
The leaders also had brothers
who were priests or nuns.
391
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:52,552
That clerical establishment
was very much integrated in a way
392
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,239
that, if you were a political leader,
393
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:59,990
the likelihood is that, if you were
a Catholic, you would not be very distant
394
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:04,352
from some relative or brother
who was in orders or a nun.
395
00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:08,359
De Valera's landmark constitution
of 1937
396
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,517
avoided making Catholicism
the state religion,
397
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:15,075
offering instead
a vaguer special position.
398
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:25,956
Since the 19th century, Church power
had been deeply embedded.
399
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:30,392
Ireland was a nation of mass devotion,
400
00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:35,639
and the overwhelming majority of children
were educated in Church-run schools.
401
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,956
But this central role came at a price.
402
00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,836
Church control of education
was close to absolute,
403
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,839
but its power also extended deep
into the criminal justice system.
404
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:53,237
This is the old Letterfrack
Industrial School in County Galway.
405
00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:55,999
It was one of a network
of such institutions
406
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,430
up and down the country
where the state consigned children.
407
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,795
Many of these institutions
were set up under British rule.
408
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:08,469
The new rulers of Ireland
would prove as inadequate as the old
409
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:10,511
in protecting the young.
410
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,598
Physical and sexual abuse on a large scale
411
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,200
was part of the secret history
of the new state.
412
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:32,437
You were constantly
waiting to be set upon.
413
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:35,358
St Joseph's Industrial School,
Letterfrack,
414
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:41,191
was an extremely violent place
in an extremely violent Irish society.
415
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,079
Mannix Flynn, who came from
a poor Dublin background,
416
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:47,111
was sent to Letterfrack
in the early 1960s.
417
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:57,275
An individual I saw one night being
dragged out of the bed, his head beaten
418
00:31:57,320 --> 00:31:59,834
against a wall.
419
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:02,633
What blood came out of the person,
the brother then
420
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,990
dragged this young boy
up and down the dormitory,
421
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:09,510
wiping him in his own blood
to clean it off the floor.
422
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:11,915
Depending on what kind of venom
423
00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:14,793
the individual who was perpetrating
the violence on you,
424
00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:17,035
whatever brother
or whatever civilian it was
425
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:19,753
that was attached to the school,
it could last for weeks.
426
00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:24,751
They were children from working-class
backgrounds, from mixed families.
427
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:29,635
Some of them were the children of mothers
who had children out of wedlock.
428
00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:31,796
Some of them
were from other institutions,
429
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:33,671
having been in orphanages and orphaned.
430
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:35,438
They were the dirty poor
431
00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:40,270
that didn't fit into the emerging
Irish Catholic middle classes.
432
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:46,029
This society, since the foundation
of the state, has continued
433
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:48,230
the containment of a class of people,
434
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,955
a segregation of a class of people
that it sees as God's mistake.
435
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:57,795
Church influence spread far beyond
the care of the young.
436
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:04,869
From the bishops' palaces
came regular diktats on cultural morality.
437
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:08,276
Eamon de Valera's friend,
the Archbishop of Dublin,
438
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:13,189
John Charles McQuaid, kept a close eye
on the republic's creative spirits.
439
00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:22,554
His files are a trove of insight
into the thinking of the archbishop
440
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:24,875
on a whole range of issues.
441
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,354
This is the box relating to censorship.
442
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,710
And in it, there's a letter from
a parish priest who wants to put on
443
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:34,548
a showing for his parishioners
of the Oscar-winning movie Gigi.
444
00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:36,795
But the plan has to be abandoned. Why?
445
00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:41,197
Well, according to this file, the film
contains a reference to a prostitute.
446
00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:45,870
Banned were some of the greatest names
in the Irish literary canon.
447
00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:51,153
James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw,
Frank O'Connor and scores of others.
448
00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:58,591
And yet in this atmosphere of constraint,
Irish literature flourished.
449
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:10,158
Literature acquired a kind of weird
glamour by virtue of being persecuted,
450
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,794
probably in the way it did
in Soviet Russia.
451
00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:16,389
If you say these people
are important enough to suppress,
452
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:19,352
you are saying
they are very damned important.
453
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:22,392
Remarkable talents like Flann O'Brien
454
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:26,672
produced defiantly Irish masterpieces
in a European surrealist tradition.
455
00:34:26,720 --> 00:34:32,078
It's as if the radicalism
got annulled in political politics
456
00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:34,475
and rerouted almost entirely
into literature.
457
00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:39,640
The more repression there was
at an official daylight level,
458
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:42,831
the more creatively deranged
the texts produced.
459
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:47,237
It's as if the Irish were straights by day
and swingers by night.
460
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:56,912
De Valera followed Church advice
on morality, but it was not his obsession.
461
00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,474
From the time he came to power in 1932,
462
00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:01,351
through his 16 years in office,
463
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:04,551
his central preoccupation
was Irish sovereignty.
464
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:06,511
When World War II broke out,
465
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:10,792
de Valera resisted Churchill's urgings
to join the fight.
466
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,718
Ireland remained neutral.
467
00:35:19,240 --> 00:35:22,152
There was
a considerable degree of public support
468
00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:23,918
for that stance, and there was
a considerable degree of pride
469
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:26,679
in the idea
that we could go our own way.
470
00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:28,278
Partly because this is a country
471
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:30,709
that is still relatively raw
from the civil war.
472
00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:35,356
And if de Valera
had decided to go in and fight
473
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,676
on the part of the Allies, it could well
have divided the body politic.
474
00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:42,678
But it was an ambiguous neutrality.
475
00:35:42,720 --> 00:35:45,314
When the German air force
attacked Belfast,
476
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:49,751
de Valera sent firemen
to help fight the blaze.
477
00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:52,678
Germans bailing out over the South
were interned,
478
00:35:52,720 --> 00:35:56,349
while their Allied counterparts
were allowed to return to Ulster.
479
00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,960
When the IRA declared war
against Britain,
480
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:01,719
de Valera imprisoned
and even executed its members.
481
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:08,313
Yet, on Hitler's death, de Valera
offered his condolences to Germany.
482
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:16,239
While Europe burned, de Valera
set out his vision for an Ireland
483
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:19,829
that would be distinctive
in its culture and values.
484
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:24,430
The Ireland that we dreamed of
485
00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:26,357
would be the home of a people
486
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:30,518
who valued material wealth
only as a basis for right living.
487
00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:35,156
Of a people who,
satisfied with frugal comfort,
488
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:38,795
devoted their leisure
to the things of the spirit.
489
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:43,391
A land whose countryside
would be bright with cosy homesteads,
490
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:47,558
with the romping of sturdy children,
and the laughter of happy maidens.
491
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:52,792
Yet to cast this giant
of the Irish 20th century
492
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:55,912
as an inward-looking nationalist
would be wrong.
493
00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:58,235
He had chaired the League of Nations.
494
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:02,956
The avoidance of wars and of
the burden of preparatory armament
495
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,594
is of such concern to humanity
496
00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:09,315
that no state should be permitted
to jeopardise the common interest
497
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:13,035
by selfish action
contrary to the covenant.
498
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:16,152
When the League was succeeded
by the United Nations,
499
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:19,192
de Valera made striking gestures
of independence.
500
00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:21,800
From Dublin came his instructions
501
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:24,559
to support Red China's
application to join the UN,
502
00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:27,433
to the horror of America.
503
00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:31,028
He established the commitment
which saw Irish troops
504
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,117
serve in their thousands
on peacekeeping missions.
505
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:40,477
There is a real paradox here.
De Valera was well aware
506
00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:44,559
of Ireland's international role,
yet his vision for the Irish
507
00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:49,071
demanded that they remain
uncontaminated by foreign ideas.
508
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:52,590
It was a vision at odds with modernity.
509
00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:57,195
Economic conflict with Britain had
damaged Ireland at the outset of his rule.
510
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:01,314
Stagnation deepened with the years.
511
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:04,989
Around half a million people
would leave Ireland,
512
00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:07,838
most seeking a better life in Britain,
513
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:12,158
the country de Valera had spent his life
fighting against for Irish sovereignty.
514
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:21,317
If you had to characterise
the Ireland of de Valera,
515
00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:22,679
how would you describe it?
516
00:38:22,720 --> 00:38:25,996
Very inward-looking. Very complacent.
517
00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:29,316
And most of all, very poor.
518
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:32,238
The last week in secondary school,
519
00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:33,872
the headmaster came in and asked us,
520
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:37,549
those of us who were in the class -
there were about 30 of us in the class -
521
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:39,750
how many of us saw our future in Ireland,
522
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:42,189
and the answer was two out of the 30.
523
00:38:42,240 --> 00:38:44,390
I was one of those two, by the way.
524
00:38:46,720 --> 00:38:51,669
By the time de Valera retired at
the age of 77, Ireland wanted change.
525
00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:58,480
The leader who took over in 1959
was another veteran of revolution,
526
00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:00,795
but he displayed a steely pragmatism
527
00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:04,879
utterly different from de Valera's
mystical vision of Irishness.
528
00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:12,150
Sean Lemass encouraged foreign
investment, removed trade barriers,
529
00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:17,035
urged efficiency
and modernisation in industry.
530
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,799
We started off like all the other
newly free countries,
531
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:22,400
with the assumption that
freedom alone was enough
532
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:26,228
and that in freedom, economic difficulties
would right themselves.
533
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:28,396
We found out the hard way
that this wasn't so.
534
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:34,356
Ireland had begun to catch up
with the great post-war modernisation.
535
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:39,556
The young were beneficiaries
of free secondary education
536
00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:43,832
and a society again open
to outside cultural influence.
537
00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:49,756
Television challenged the voice
of both priest and politician.
538
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:55,519
Women joined the workforce
in growing numbers
539
00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:57,755
and challenged discriminatory laws.
540
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:03,518
And across the border,
the changing world of the '60s
541
00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:06,791
seemed to inspire
a new kind of Unionism.
542
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:12,635
A leader emerged
who offered a friendlier face
543
00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:15,831
to the Catholic minority
and to the South.
544
00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:28,997
In January 1965,
O'Neill and Lemass made history
545
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,554
by meeting together at Stormont -
546
00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:34,398
the beginnings of North-South détente.
547
00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:36,510
How important is that moment?
548
00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:41,634
I think it's symbolically
of huge significance. This is the first
549
00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:47,152
official meeting of the two
heads of state since the 1920s.
550
00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:49,714
We discussed this
during our meeting,
551
00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:51,432
which of us would get into
the most trouble.
552
00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:53,675
I said I would, and he said he would.
553
00:40:53,720 --> 00:40:57,156
He did get into a certain amount
of trouble during the first six weeks,
554
00:40:57,200 --> 00:40:58,997
but nothing to the trouble
that I got into.
555
00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:03,830
Captain O'Neill
recently said that the South of Ireland
556
00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:07,668
was a very beautiful young lady
557
00:41:07,720 --> 00:41:12,794
and that he was very glad
to talk to her over the hedge.
558
00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:16,310
We don't look upon
the South of Ireland
559
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:19,477
as a beautiful young lady...
560
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:23,752
The liberal aspirations
are very much overdue,
561
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:29,830
but part of the difficulty with
the O'Neill project is O'Neill himself.
562
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:37,553
But O'Neill is an extraordinarily
patrician figure
563
00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:41,559
who does not connect
with nationalism or Unionism
564
00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:44,717
and, in the end, is simply
not able to deliver the votes.
565
00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:52,158
By 1968, O'Neill had been outflanked
by the older forces of fear.
566
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:55,589
Détente with the South was over.
567
00:41:58,240 --> 00:42:01,915
But in this year of rebellion,
a movement rises in Northern Ireland
568
00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:04,235
to demand equal rights for Catholics.
569
00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:09,471
For the Ulster Protestants,
the civil rights movement
570
00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:11,636
was the old Catholic conspiracy,
571
00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:16,470
not a movement for change inspired
by the unrest of that momentous year.
572
00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:28,993
The following year,
sectarian rioting erupted.
573
00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:31,315
The IRA, long in decline, re-emerged
574
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:35,672
to present itself as the people's
protector against a hostile state.
575
00:42:42,600 --> 00:42:45,558
Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries,
576
00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:48,990
policemen and soldiers,
fought over the old ground.
577
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:53,794
Nothing fired at them whatsoever.
578
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:56,354
There weren't even stones thrown
at them, and they opened fire.
579
00:42:56,400 --> 00:42:58,755
People ran in all directions.
They call themselves an army.
580
00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:00,279
It was completely outrageous.
581
00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:06,792
The bus station was crowded
when a bomb went off without warning.
582
00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:10,355
Within the space of
16 minutes alone, 13 blasts sent people
583
00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:12,834
screaming from one place of safety
to another...
584
00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:18,356
An army helicopter
was flown in to remove the casualties,
585
00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:20,960
and this was then caught
in a separate explosion.
586
00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:31,475
There can be
no question of political status.
587
00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:33,988
Crime is crime is crime.
588
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:40,910
The Provisional IRA
have said they planted the bomb
589
00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:44,236
at the Brighton hotel where Mrs Thatcher
and her ministers are staying.
590
00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:46,475
Politics is the alternative to war.
591
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:48,988
Politics is about dialogue.
I'll talk to anyone.
592
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:52,077
That doesn't mean that I approve
of what they stand for.
593
00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:58,359
The war occasionally
spilled over into the South.
594
00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:02,837
But partition had entrenched
a separation of the mind.
595
00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:06,759
The six counties of Ulster
truly seemed a world away.
596
00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:11,396
In the republic, a younger generation
pursued its own narrative of change,
597
00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:14,989
pushing at the boundaries
of Church and of State.
598
00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:23,950
This changing sense of Irishness was
the beginning of an extraordinary journey.
599
00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:31,791
The Republic of Ireland now looked
increasingly beyond its shores,
600
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:36,072
as part of a European community.
601
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:42,429
Through the decades of change
from the '60s to the '90s,
602
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:46,234
Ireland moved
from stagnation to growth.
603
00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:51,115
By the late '90s, it was among
the richest countries in Europe.
604
00:44:56,200 --> 00:45:01,115
The country I'd left in the recession of
the 1980s was now the Celtic Tiger.
605
00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:05,711
Low corporate tax
and a highly educated workforce
606
00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:07,557
helped to produce record growth.
607
00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:13,112
Coming back on holidays
during the years of boom,
608
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:17,199
it was hard to suppress a sense of shock
at the sheer scale of the development.
609
00:45:17,240 --> 00:45:20,789
Pride, too, in a country
that seemed to have shaken off
610
00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:24,310
the more inward-looking elements
of its historic legacy.
611
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:30,117
But - and I claim no great prescience
here - I also had a lingering unease.
612
00:45:30,160 --> 00:45:32,435
Where was the money coming from?
613
00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:34,994
And who exactly was it benefiting?
614
00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:40,917
Inequality between rich and poor was
still among the worst in Western Europe.
615
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:49,837
And the idea of a new republic was
undermined by the old deference to power.
616
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:55,709
Whatever else might be said about
the founding fathers of this state,
617
00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:57,716
the revolutionary generation,
618
00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:01,878
they were austere men,
devoted to public service.
619
00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:05,356
But there emerged in this building
a new kind of politician,
620
00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:07,868
one who understood that political power
621
00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:11,549
could be the pathway
to great personal wealth.
622
00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:15,718
The man who came to symbolise
the Irish politics of cronyism
623
00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:19,753
was Charles Haughey, leader
of the party de Valera had founded.
624
00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:24,430
Talented and modernising,
yet he lived like an Ascendancy lord,
625
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,074
bankrolled by businessmen.
626
00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:29,873
Haughey entered
a very different Ireland in the 1960s,
627
00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:32,480
demographically and economically.
628
00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:34,670
There were more urban people
living in Ireland
629
00:46:34,720 --> 00:46:37,109
for the first time,
than rural people, in its history.
630
00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:38,991
That brought on all sorts of pressures.
631
00:46:39,040 --> 00:46:40,917
More people wanted access to services,
632
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:42,951
more people were looking for
planning permission,
633
00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:44,558
where a lot of the corruption
in Ireland was.
634
00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:49,879
New politicians stepped in.
They were self-made men.
635
00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:53,595
While Ireland embraced Europe
and the technology of modernity,
636
00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:58,589
the political system was rooted
in 19th-century localism.
637
00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:02,838
Ireland's new political titan
sailed his own yacht
638
00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:05,440
to the small island he owned.
639
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:08,438
In Ireland, the parish
and not the nation
640
00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:11,995
remained the centre
of the democratic universe.
641
00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:16,511
Land, such a fundamental obsession
of the Irish psyche for centuries,
642
00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:18,994
was at the centre
of the new clamber for wealth.
643
00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:23,713
Beginning in the 1960s,
bribes had been paid
644
00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:26,911
to rezone green fields
for building development.
645
00:47:26,960 --> 00:47:29,679
The lost fields of
de Valera's Gaelic idyll
646
00:47:29,720 --> 00:47:32,598
were the new currency
of wealth and power.
647
00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:36,473
Even as the country boomed,
648
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:41,594
judicial tribunals revealed the scale
of corruption in Irish public life.
649
00:47:42,680 --> 00:47:45,672
The Moriarty Tribunal,
which sat in this very yard,
650
00:47:45,720 --> 00:47:50,669
estimated that between 1979 and 1996,
for a substantive phase
651
00:47:50,720 --> 00:47:53,314
when Charles Haughey
was Taoiseach during that time,
652
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:55,555
he received over nine million
in donations.
653
00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:59,798
There seems to be a very clear
relationship between Haughey receiving
654
00:47:59,840 --> 00:48:02,718
substantive amounts of donations
when he was in power,
655
00:48:02,760 --> 00:48:04,193
and when he wasn't in power,
656
00:48:04,240 --> 00:48:06,390
he didn't seem to receive
that much money at all.
657
00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:13,515
As Ireland turned towards a new
millennium, the gleaming buildings rose.
658
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:15,755
But old certainties unravelled.
659
00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:20,473
Scandals rocked the authority
of the Church as the full scale
660
00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:23,159
of clerical child abuse was revealed.
661
00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:27,990
The tribunals continued to hear
allegations of corruption in public life.
662
00:48:29,560 --> 00:48:34,588
Yet prosperity and the old habits of
deference insured public quiescence.
663
00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:38,876
It's often been remarked
664
00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:42,435
that the Irish people
are very sophisticated politically,
665
00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:44,232
that the Irish are very defiant,
666
00:48:44,280 --> 00:48:46,316
that the Irish are rebels.
667
00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:49,477
Now, when you contrast that
with the lack of protest,
668
00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:53,798
with the lack of civic engagement, with
the lack of a demand for accountability,
669
00:48:53,840 --> 00:48:56,149
for the abuse of power,
you have to ask yourself,
670
00:48:56,200 --> 00:48:59,078
are a lot of those assertions
about the Irish character
671
00:48:59,120 --> 00:49:02,396
and Irish rebelliousness
actually mythical?
672
00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:08,599
But in 2008, a financial catastrophe
unleashed public anger.
673
00:49:10,160 --> 00:49:12,628
Ireland's economy was already in decline
674
00:49:12,680 --> 00:49:15,148
when America's property bubble exploded.
675
00:49:16,800 --> 00:49:19,758
In Ireland, prices collapsed.
676
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:21,631
Thousands were forced to emigrate.
677
00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:26,629
The ghost estates became the symbol
of a nation in decline.
678
00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:34,715
Here, opposite Kilmainham Gaol,
where the leaders of 1916 were executed,
679
00:49:34,760 --> 00:49:37,957
there's a monument which stands
next to the empty office buildings
680
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:40,594
of the Celtic Tiger.
681
00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:46,912
It reminds the Irish people
of the proclamation of a nation
682
00:49:46,960 --> 00:49:49,076
that would cherish all its children.
683
00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:53,398
As Ireland enters the second decade
of the 21 st century,
684
00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:58,309
there seemed the possibility that the old
way of doing things might be overthrown.
685
00:49:58,360 --> 00:50:01,796
This wasn't a transformation
that could happen overnight
686
00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:03,637
or in the space of one election.
687
00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:06,353
But there were deeper stirrings of dissent
688
00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:10,678
that suggested that an entire
political culture could be changed.
689
00:50:10,720 --> 00:50:14,076
And there was already
a recent powerful example of that
690
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:18,830
here on the island, in a place
we might least have expected.
691
00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:23,757
If what has been agreed
is implemented in full good faith,
692
00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:26,394
all of the people of Northern Ireland
will gain.
693
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:28,954
There are no victors, nor any losers.
694
00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:34,158
The agreement proposes changes
695
00:50:34,200 --> 00:50:38,751
in the Irish constitution
and in British constitutional law
696
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:43,794
to enshrine the principle
that it is the people of Northern Ireland
697
00:50:43,840 --> 00:50:48,277
who will decide, democratically,
their own future.
698
00:50:51,040 --> 00:50:54,237
I think the change came when war-weariness
overtook war-readiness,
699
00:50:54,280 --> 00:50:57,716
and I think that happens
sometime in the 1980s,
700
00:50:57,760 --> 00:51:00,194
and certainly by the early 1990s
701
00:51:00,240 --> 00:51:02,959
there was the feeling
that this cannot go on.
702
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:04,991
We're into the second generation now.
703
00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:07,315
People were committing atrocities
704
00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:10,352
who had not been born
when the Troubles began.
705
00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:25,398
The peace has so far endured
706
00:51:25,440 --> 00:51:29,149
the challenge of unreconciled
Republican dissidents.
707
00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:36,957
But the pain of 30 years of killing
haunts quiet living rooms across Ulster.
708
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:49,632
We want better lives
for our children and our grandchildren
709
00:51:49,680 --> 00:51:51,432
and their children too.
710
00:51:53,040 --> 00:51:56,510
That's a lovely photograph of
the two of you, in a harbour somewhere.
711
00:51:56,560 --> 00:51:58,516
- In Ardglass.
- Right.
712
00:51:58,560 --> 00:52:00,278
- Down at the coast.
- Yeah.
713
00:52:04,520 --> 00:52:06,476
Bridget Mooney's husband, Raymond,
714
00:52:06,520 --> 00:52:09,592
was murdered in the grounds
of a church in September 1986
715
00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:13,189
in retaliation for the IRA murder
of a leading Loyalist.
716
00:52:14,760 --> 00:52:17,399
That's where we had
our wedding reception.
717
00:52:17,440 --> 00:52:19,829
So, this is the two of you
on the day of your wedding?
718
00:52:19,880 --> 00:52:22,474
- It is indeed.
- Where were you married?
719
00:52:22,520 --> 00:52:23,873
In Ardoyne.
720
00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:25,751
So were you married in the same church
721
00:52:25,800 --> 00:52:28,075
- Raymond would later be murdered in?
- Yeah.
722
00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:31,430
And all of my grandchildren
who have been born so far,
723
00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:33,630
all of them christened in Ardoyne.
724
00:52:36,640 --> 00:52:39,200
So much of this conflict -
and I'm not just talking about
725
00:52:39,240 --> 00:52:42,038
what's happened in the last 30 years,
but for hundreds of years -
726
00:52:42,080 --> 00:52:46,039
has been driven by fear and by hatred.
727
00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:48,594
I just wonder, do you feel hatred,
728
00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:50,949
now, towards the people
who killed your husband?
729
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:51,989
No.
730
00:52:52,040 --> 00:52:54,235
For the simple reason, if...
731
00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:59,115
Hatred and bitterness are feelings
732
00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:04,518
and I refuse to let people
who took my husband's life
733
00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:08,599
have any place in my body,
734
00:53:08,640 --> 00:53:10,631
in my heart, in my head.
735
00:53:10,680 --> 00:53:13,035
And no, I hate nobody.
736
00:53:13,080 --> 00:53:16,550
Have you ever wanted to,
and have you ever thought about,
737
00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:18,272
leaving Northern Ireland?
738
00:53:18,320 --> 00:53:23,792
Never. Not while my husband's body's
in the city cemetery. Never.
739
00:53:23,840 --> 00:53:27,230
And I've never even
thought about it, no. No.
740
00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:29,510
And I'll never leave
Northern Ireland now.
741
00:53:39,640 --> 00:53:42,473
The poet John Hewitt,
writing at the height of the Troubles,
742
00:53:42,520 --> 00:53:48,959
urged that we should, "Bear in mind
I can find no plainer words."
743
00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:53,551
He was reflecting on a conflict
in which men killed and died
744
00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:56,797
for the sake of contested identities.
745
00:53:56,840 --> 00:54:00,355
This was not, Hewitt implied, patriotism.
746
00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:04,757
"Patriotism has to do with
keeping the country in good heart,
747
00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:08,679
"the community ordered
with justice and mercy."
748
00:54:08,720 --> 00:54:15,637
Hewitt's lines might stand as one of
the enduring lessons of the Irish story.
749
00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:21,519
The decommissioning
of the arms of the IRA
750
00:54:21,560 --> 00:54:24,120
is now an accomplished fact.
751
00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:30,998
The IRA abandoned war, and Unionists
agreed to share power with Catholics.
752
00:54:32,320 --> 00:54:36,950
After 30 years of war,
in which more than 3,500 people died,
753
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:41,994
the IRA accepted the partitioned Ireland
agreed by Michael Collins and the British.
754
00:54:42,040 --> 00:54:46,431
Unity was an aspiration
to be achieved by peaceful means.
755
00:54:54,440 --> 00:54:59,389
In the South, the romantic nationalism of
earlier generations had largely vanished.
756
00:55:03,120 --> 00:55:07,159
When the republic voted to abandon
its territorial claim on the six counties,
757
00:55:07,200 --> 00:55:10,988
it seemed an act of practical patriotism.
758
00:55:12,920 --> 00:55:14,751
It's an acceptance
759
00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:18,156
of political reality and an acceptance
of engagement with the outside world,
760
00:55:18,200 --> 00:55:19,599
including Northern Ireland.
761
00:55:19,640 --> 00:55:22,632
We no longer have to,
as it were, wave the flag.
762
00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:26,912
There's a feeling of Irishness
that is real, and much deeper,
763
00:55:26,960 --> 00:55:29,713
in my view, than what existed
in the '30s and '40s.
764
00:55:32,720 --> 00:55:37,475
The republic is now having to accommodate
a broader sense of Irishness.
765
00:55:39,520 --> 00:55:42,956
There is racism, but far-right politics
have not taken root here.
766
00:55:46,200 --> 00:55:49,033
How many children have parents
who are from outside of Ireland?
767
00:55:49,080 --> 00:55:51,150
How about yourself?
Where are your parents from?
768
00:55:51,200 --> 00:55:53,236
- Russian.
- And you over here?
769
00:55:53,280 --> 00:55:54,269
- Poland.
- Lithuania.
770
00:55:54,320 --> 00:55:55,469
Lithuania, and Poland as well.
771
00:55:57,280 --> 00:56:01,034
10% of the population of the South
is now foreign-born.
772
00:56:03,520 --> 00:56:06,592
These are the children of those who
came here in the boom to find work.
773
00:56:24,840 --> 00:56:29,436
Economic globalisation
changed the idea of Irish identity.
774
00:56:32,440 --> 00:56:36,399
The old concept of an Irish identity,
the one that I grew up with,
775
00:56:36,440 --> 00:56:40,274
which was that being Irish
was Gaelic and Catholic,
776
00:56:40,320 --> 00:56:42,231
that's gone, really, hasn't it?
777
00:56:42,280 --> 00:56:45,636
There are still plenty of Gaels around,
plenty of Catholics around,
778
00:56:45,680 --> 00:56:48,831
but what's nice about the time
we're entering now is the sense that
779
00:56:48,880 --> 00:56:54,193
you don't have to be
both of those things to be Irish
780
00:56:54,240 --> 00:56:59,758
and that Irish identity now can draw
from many, many, many wells,
781
00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:03,395
and we're going to build, between us,
the Ireland of tomorrow.
782
00:57:03,440 --> 00:57:07,911
And who can say what
Irish identity will morph into?
783
00:57:17,080 --> 00:57:21,153
The first inhabitants of this island
came from Europe.
784
00:57:23,720 --> 00:57:27,599
They were open to change
and absorbed waves of invasion.
785
00:57:27,640 --> 00:57:32,919
They embraced a spiritual revolution
and carried it to distant lands.
786
00:57:35,440 --> 00:57:38,830
The old hatreds have not vanished,
787
00:57:38,880 --> 00:57:41,952
but the Irish have moved
to peaceful co-existence.
788
00:57:44,520 --> 00:57:48,274
There has been famine,
revolution and civil war.
789
00:57:53,600 --> 00:57:55,556
But in an age of uncertainty,
790
00:57:55,600 --> 00:58:00,276
we can surely draw strength from
the memory of what has been overcome.
791
00:58:02,720 --> 00:58:06,474
The story of Ireland
has always been a narrative of change,
792
00:58:06,520 --> 00:58:09,080
unpredictable and dynamic.
793
00:58:09,120 --> 00:58:14,911
The past is no longer
a melancholy burden or a reason to hate.
794
00:58:14,960 --> 00:58:17,713
We're never entirely free
of the claims of history,
795
00:58:17,760 --> 00:58:20,320
but neither are we its prisoners.
796
00:58:20,360 --> 00:58:25,434
Ireland today is an island
of possibility, an open island.
797
00:58:28,500 --> 00:58:36,500
Ripped By mstoll