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Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Kerry commemoration sees Taoiseach describe Daniel O'Connell as ‘one of the greatest Irish people'
The Taoiseach spoke at the State Commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Daniel O'Connell's birth at The Liberator's Home, Derrynane House on the Ring of Kerry, on Wednesday afternoon. The ceremony was attended by Oireachtas members, descendants of The Liberator, such as his great-great-great grandson Daniel O'Connell and great-great-great granddaughter Emily Lenehan, and members of the public, including some of those from the South Kerry Friends of Palestine group. The Taoiseach delivered the keynote address at the commemoration after speeches from Kerry County Council Cathaoirleach, Michael Foley, Minister of State for the OPW, Kevin Moran, and Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O'Donovan. Mr Martin spoke as calls for solidarity with Palestine came from campaigners on the Long Beach adjacent to Derrynane House. 'O'Connell showed us his solidarity and inclusive nationalism which sees the strength, not the threat, from robust rules-based cooperation with other nations, which embraces uniqueness of both national identity and a shared European identity,' the Fianna Fail leader said. 'Which sees the need to speak up for the people of Ukraine and the people of Gaza,' he continued. 'At this this tense moment of world affairs, where the values of democracy, human rights, religious freedom and the rule of law are being challenged, the spirit of Daniel O'Connell is important as it has ever been. '250 years after his birth it is an honour and duty for us to gather here to remember the inspiring story of O'Connell's struggle for the rights of all and solidarity between people and nations.' Mr Martin began by stating that O'Connell's lasting impact on the history of Ireland and the wider world makes 'this proud son of Kerry one of the greatest Irish people to have ever lived'. 'O'Connell was born into a family which had many resources but which was also part of a wider community defined by experiencing profound discrimination and dispossession,' he said. 'Through an extraordinary life he campaigned for justice, not simply for Ireland but for all people. 'He created the first mass democratic political movement the world had ever seen. In words which resonated with growing force he called for religious freedom, human rights and democracy in countless speeches and in front of crowds of previously unimagined scale. 'And while his campaign for Repeal did not succeed, he showed the spirit and the determination of the Irish people to control their own destiny.' The Taoiseach, who spoke in Irish and English, said Daniel O'Connell, as a figure who fought to unite the Irish people behind shared values of solidarity and justice, does not represent a distant part of Ireland's history. 'We need to do more to remember and respect the role of O'Connell in the story of the Irish people,' he said. He said O'Connell was proud to be from South Kerry and Ireland, and his connection to its scenery and people provided the foundations for everything he did in his life. The Taoiseach said O'Connell became the 'greatest lawyer of his time'. 'Throughout the country he took up the cause of those facing arbitrary courts. He refused to be intimated by the power of the crown,' he stated. Mr Martin said it would be a mistake to see O'Connell as someone who had only campaigned for his own religion. 'He believed that all members of all religions and in all countries should have the right to fully participate in the professional and political life of the State,' he said. 'He was not looking for supremacy, but equality and respect.' The Taoiseach said O'Connell and his mass democratic campaign transformed the Catholic Emancipation movement in Ireland and Great Britain. 'After a steadily growing campaign it was a denial which could no longer be resisted' he said. 'The Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 was no small achievement. It resonated throughout the world and Daniel O'Connell was hailed as a hero by all who believed in liberty. 'People looked to Ireland for inspiration about how to bring together oppressed people and to achieve dramatic breakthrough. There is no comparable example in our history of an Irish leader who had such international infamy.' Mr Martin said The Liberator was also an icon for the Jewish community of Europe and those campaigning for the demolition of slavery. 'In his campaigns he refused to accept help from those who supported slavery, and he used every available platform to denounce it as a savage institution,' he stated. 'The great abolitionist Frederick Douglass was inspired by his commitment to the cause. And said of O'Connell that he stood in dramatic contrast to those who had no sympathy for the cause of liberty outside their own.' As part of the event's cultural programme, Emily Lenehan told those present that her famed anscestor and his wife Mary developed Derrynane House as a family home. 'Daniel loved being here. Even at the height of his parliamentary career he returned every September and October to enjoy, as he put it, six or seven weeks of comparative mental inexertion,' Ms Lenehan said. She said O'Connell welcomed many unexpected and unannounced visitors who came to petition him, seek his advice or avail of his influence. 'While in Derrynane, O'Connell lived, and I quote: 'everyday, all day, fulfilling to perfection the character of a hardy, hospitable mountain chief',' Ms Lenehan said. Traditional music was provided courtesy of the Binneas Quintet while folk singer Tim Dennehy sang 'Dónall O'Conaill'. Declan McCarthy performed extracts of speeches made by The Liberator at some of his mass meetings. The ceremony concluded with the Taoiseach unveiling a plaque and planting a tree with the help of young descendants of O'Connell, Charlotte and Finley Davidson, before the national anthem was sung by Dr Gavan Ring.
RTÉ News
5 days ago
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Daniel O'Connell's legacy remembered on 250th birthday
Today marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Daniel O'Connell, the man known as 'The Liberator'. Historians say his campaigns for Catholic Emancipation and Repeal in the nineteenth century laid the foundation for Ireland's independence. However, his philosophy of using non-violent protest to achieve civil rights has also had an international legacy. O'Connell is the most commemorated of all Irish historical figures with nine cities and town around the country naming their main streets in his honour, including the capital where his statue is given pride of place. "He took a people who were on its knees, and he convinced them that they were more than slaves," said Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Prof Patrick Geoghegan. O'Connell led a campaign for Catholic Emancipation to remove the Penal Laws which denied civil rights to the Catholic population. "Really, what these restrictions meant was that only a Protestant elite controlled the levers of power in Ireland. "O'Connell used to say that you could walk down any street in the country and you could recognise a Catholic because they wouldn't make eye contact with you. They would shuffle, they had bad posture, they were broken down, defeated, ashamed, demoralised," Prof Geoghegan said. He said O'Connell convinced the Catholic population that they deserved equality. "Through three decades of agitation, he raised them up, persuaded them to campaign for their own liberty and freedom, and forced the British government to concede emancipation," Prof Geoghegan said O'Connell then started a movement to repeal the Act of Union between Ireland and Great Britain with a series of so-called 'monster meetings' around the country. Prof Geoghegan said this movement "terrified" the British government and it finally acted to stop a rally in Clontarf in 1843 by sending in the army and two gunboats with orders to fire on the protesters. O'Connell cancelled the meeting, with the result that the Repeal movement lost its momentum and O'Connell lost a great deal of his stature as leader. However, Prof Geoghegan believes O'Connell made the right decision as he would otherwise be leading his people into a massacre. "It was a courageous decision. It reflected the principles that he had fought for all his life, and I think it was the right decision," he said. O'Connell's non-violent campaign for civil rights aroused interest from other countries in Europe and the rest of the world. "He was internationally renowned and internationally admired, from Australia to India to America," said Prof Christine Kinealy of Quinnipiac University in the US. Prof Kinealy said that O'Connell became a strong advocate for the abolition of slavery after he was elected to the House of Commons. This led to a visit to Dublin by escaped American slave Frederick Douglass, who addressed meetings in 1845 in City Hall and the Quaker Meeting House in Eustace Street. It was an incident between O'Connell and the US ambassador in London that captured Douglass' admiration, explained Prof Kinealy. Ambassador Andrew Stevenson was in the House of Commons and wanted to meet O'Connell and shake his hand. "And O'Connell refused and said to him publicly, 'I will not shake your hand. You are a slave breeder'. "You can imagine, the American ambassador was very angry. Challenged O'Connell to duel, which they didn't fight. "But this issue played out in the newspapers for months and months. It was debated in the American Congress, etc, and, of course, it polarised opinion. "But Frederick Douglass said, 'when I heard my master's lambast that Irishman, I knew I should love him because he defended the enslaved people'," Prof Kinealy said. US President Barack Obama referred to the meeting between O'Connell and Douglass when he addressed crowds in College Green in 2011. O'Connell also established Glasnevin Cemetery as part of his campaign for civil rights. As part of the penal laws, Catholics and dissenting Protestants had been denied the right of dignified burial, so there was a demand for a new cemetery in Dublin. Heritage Officer of the Dublin Cemeteries Trust Ultan Moran said: "O'Connell believed that fundamentally, everyone should be treated with equality in life, of course, but then, very importantly, in death as well. "He felt it was very important that we didn't limit the people buried here on their religion. He said, this is going to be a cemetery for people of all religions and none." From its establishment in 1832, the cemetery has grown from nine acres to 140 acres. A total of 1.5 million people have been laid to rest there. When O'Connell died in 1847, his followers built him a round tower and crypt "fit for a king", as Mr Moran described it. The monument was damaged in a suspected Loyalist bomb attack in 1971. Prof Patrick Geoghegan said O'Connell's reputation had suffered after the cancellation of the Clontarf meeting but was subsequently reappraised. When President Éamon de Valera opened O'Connell's home Derrynane, Co Kerry, as a museum in 1967, he admitted he had been wrong about him, said Prof Geoghegan. "He admitted that he and the revolutionary generation had hated O'Connell growing up, that they thought he was weak, that he should have gone ahead with Clontarf." "De Valera admitted that he and that generation had been wrong, because they would never have been able to achieve freedom if O'Connell hadn't achieved his great breakthroughs in the 19th century," he said. Prof Christine Kinealy, speaking of O'Connell's legacy internationally, said "I think his vision is really a north star for many people to follow that violence isn't always the answer, and equality independence, fairness can be achieved in other ways.
Irish Examiner
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Andrea Horan: Why are flags on fingernails less valid than those in windows?
The other week, one of our clients in Tropical Popical (who happens to be a TD) was assigned the moniker Nailson Mandela for daring to use their nails as a platform to protest against the genocide that Israel continues to ravage upon Gaza. Whilst the label is a genius sardonic victory for sure, the underlying snideness behind it is clearly rooted in a misogyny that dismisses any female-led form of art or protest as frivolous, inferior and even distasteful. Sinead Gibney is currently a Social Democrats TD and was previously the Chief Commissioner and the inaugural Director of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. Nobody could argue that she isn't extremely well versed and capable of utilising her channels to speak about the injustices that are taking place in the world. So why then would her statement of solidarity and support for Palestine be reduced to a cheap blow simply because one of the ways she communicates it is in the form of nail art? Repeal nails. Picture: Andrea Horan Nails are often used as a form of protest; for making political statements and as a platform to communicate social issues. We've had HIV activists sitting in our chairs getting the U=U message on their nails; Pride nails; anti-war nails; Repeal nails; trans rights nails and many supporting Palestine. Yet once again, when something is a female-led art form it is mocked and derided. Badges, flags, murals - all ok. Nails? Frivolous and distasteful. Nail art and manicures have emerged as a powerful form of silent protest and expression, particularly in times of conflict or social unrest. Individuals use nail polish and designs to convey messages, express solidarity, and uplift their spirits amidst difficult circumstances. This trend is evident in Kim Barker's recent New York Times feature story from Ukraine, where manicures have become both an act of defiance and a way for women to maintain a sense of normalcy and resilience during the war. During the Repeal campaign, the Guardian reported: "Nail bars may not be considered a hub of political activism but at Tropical Popical in Dublin, a wave of socially conscious beauty is spreading. One minute we're talking about pink glitter, the next we're discussing women's reproductive rights.' Repeal nails. Picture: Andrea Horan Like any political symbolism, nails provide a jumping off point to open conversations and build community around complex concepts that may feel too big to approach without a supportive prompt. The whole reason the Hunreal Issues - a campaign that aimed to make political issues relatable and accessible to a broader audience, particularly women, by removing elitism and snobbiness - was set up was to bring the message of Repeal to young women in spaces where they were naturally and authentically comfortable - the worlds of fashion, beauty, pop culture and music. Precisely because for so long these spaces were seen as frivolous, this cohort of women were being left out of the conversations that concerned them. You have to meet people where they are without patronising those interests. And it's rare that men's interests face the same ire. Art has always been used as protest. When you try and separate art out into its different 'credible' forms and exclude some formats like nail art, we are led back to the age old question 'what is art?' and who gets to decide that anyway. For centuries, traditionally female forms of art like weaving, embroidery, pottery, etc have been deemed simply 'craft' and not lofty enough to be included in galleries or to just be considered art. This proposition formed a lot of the work we did for an exhibition in the National Gallery of Ireland when we explored how, traditionally, female art formats were deemed less artistically valid and yes, frivolous. Andrea Horan: 'Art has always been used as protest. When you try and separate art out into its different 'credible' forms and exclude some formats like nail art, we are led back to the age old question 'what is art?' and who gets to decide that anyway.' An opinion piece in this very publication mocked the use of nail art in the gallery to explore and highlight cultural phenomena such as the rich landscape of Irish fashion designers we have like Simone Rocha, Colin Horgan and Richard Malone; Thérèse Rafter's fine art photography and Jill & Gill's screen printing and wearable art as well as a mini Caravaggio recreation on the smallest canvas - a nail! - by saying that its inclusion opened the doors to ideas like 'Love Island in the Louvre'. Groups like Guerilla Girls, an anonymous New York-based group of feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world and beyond have been protesting and using guerilla exhibiting tactics to highlight the lack of representation of female artists in museums and galleries around the world with popular works including 'Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum, 1989.' Unfortunately, until attitudes change and the snideness towards female art forms and interests is gone, they won't be quitting their endeavours anytime soon. Read More Irish designer Simone Rocha shows her rebellious side at London Fashion Week
Indian Express
24-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Punjab Cabinet decision: Now pay for properties sold by ULBs within 6 months
The buyers of properties sold by municipalities and improvement trusts will now have to clear all payments within six months after allotment as against the earlier deadline of three years in six half-yearly instalments, as per a decision in the Punjab Cabinet meeting Friday. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann chaired the meeting. Looking to streamline and expedite the payment process for properties sold by urban local bodies, approved, the Cabinet approved an amendment to the Punjab Management and Transfer of Municipal Properties Rules, 2021. 'As per the amendment, the Cabinet has decided to reduce the time period to six months for depositing the sale price by allottees for properties sold by the Urban Local Bodies. So, the allottees will now be required to deposit the full sale price within 180 days from the date of allotment, replacing the earlier provision of six half-yearly instalments. The decision aims at the faster realisation of revenue by urban local bodies, strengthening of Municipal finances and facilitation of the common man by a reduction in legal disputes related to delayed payments,' as per an official statement. The cabinet also gave the nod to allot Rs 5 crore to Punjab Innovation Mission to help meet its objectives. The decision has been taken in view of the immense contribution of the mission to unleash Punjab's growth potential and create a thriving economy by generating jobs and inviting investment. 'The mission is also important for the state as it acts as a catalyst to further give impetus to develop Punjab as an industrial hub in the country,' the official statement said. In order to streamline the promotions in the Punjab Police, especially among those promoted from the Sports quota, the Punjab Cabinet also gave a nod to frame service rules for the officers/employees serving in 207 Specially Promoted Cadre. This decision will regulate the future promotions of these Police personnel and further streamline their other service matters. Likewise, based on recommendations of the Group of Secretaries committee to review redundant laws/ regularisation and decriminalisation, the Cabinet also approved the Punjab Appropriation Acts (Repeal) bill, 2025. As per the recommendations of the committee, the Department of Finance has identified its appropriations acts for repealing, which authorised departments to incur expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of the state.
