BBC's: The Story of Ireland 5of5 Age of Nations

[Music] ireland's modern story begins in an age of empire but it will be convulsed by revolution the old order is overthrown the religious conflict that has endured for 300 years will lead to the division of ireland for the first time in history from the beginning of the story of ireland the island has been shaped by events beyond its shores and this is never more true than in the modern era in an age of world wars when europe is twice rent apart by hatred when tens of millions die in the name of ideology and nationalism ireland too will experience dramatic upheaval it is an age in which the island's people will confront not only the legacy of history but the very idea of what it means to be irish [Music] ah early in the last century my forebears lived here in middle class respectability in the city of cork it was a world dominated by the british empire and cork was a thriving garrison city my great grandfather was a sergeant in the royal irish constabulary [Music] but his service records are not kept in cork they're here at the national archives in queue [Music] here he is 407 39 hasset patrick 5'10 same height as myself from county clare in his mind there was nothing unusual about him being sent as we can see here to serve in belfast because it was all one ireland at the time and he wouldn't have seen any contradiction between supporting the monarchy but also supporting the idea of home rule for ireland because remember if home rule was granted the country was still going to stay within the british empire [Music] and that empire really framed the world in which my great-grandfather grew up and in which he lived yet the image of a serene ireland was deceptive an irish catholic would never rise to the top of the ric in her majesty civil service catholics were noticeably absent from the more senior posts [Music] the active union had given catholics economic power but their political destiny remained in the hands of london as the century turned a view of an irish future utterly separate from britain was finding expression in cultural revival one of the many artists attempting to forge a new national consciousness was the poet and playwright william butler yates in 1903 with lady augusta gregory he founded the abbey theatre it would see the production of their play kathleen nehulohon which represented ireland as a beautiful woman for whom young men would sacrifice their lives they shall be alive forever yates wrote later he would ask did that play of mine send out certain men the english shot the cultural revival in sports literature theater was profoundly influenced by the fear that ireland was becoming british there's a fear that ireland is losing its identity that if a new generation does not embrace identity and national sentiment and the national language and so on that something is going to be lost irretrievably lost what was being written and talked about here in dublin chimed with nationalist sentiments across the world in 1911 sunyat sen had declared his revolution in china the following year the african national congress was founded in south africa and closer in the balkans serbian plotters were preparing acts that would change the world here in ireland the long dominance of those who'd advocated changed through peaceful means was about to be challenged [Music] across europe there are premonitions of a cataclysm that will make a new world in ireland a poet and teacher declared bloodshed a cleansing and sanctifying thing inspired by christ and the warriors of gaelic myth patrick pierce had come to idealize martyrdom pierce was the son of an english father and an irish mother at saint enders his school outside dublin he declared it his mission to counter what he called the murder machine of british education pierce told his pupils to be ready to work hard for the fatherland and if necessary to die for it [Music] pierce joined the irish republican brotherhood committed to the overthrow of imperial rule his alienation from the bourgeois world of his childhood would deepen when he watched the combined forces of state power and a catholic-led business elite suppress the 1913 strike in dublin but the conditions in which patrick pierce and other radicals would rebel were created by the british government's attempts at reform in 1912 the liberal cabinet moved to introduce home rule but in keeping a promise to irish catholics it provoked the anger of ulster protestants home rule was seen as an attempt to undo the plantation of ulster it was seen as an attempt to to bring the humors of wood in the drawers of water to bring them top to effect a social revolution that would have seen protestant ulster the ulster that they had built destroyed protestant opposition was led by a man misrepresented as much by his allies as his enemies edward carson was a dublin lawyer who to this day remains the great icon of ulster loyalism carson had been a fierce cross-examiner of his old college friend oscar wilde during a libel trial in which the writer denied his homosexuality but this man appropriated as an implacable ulster unionist began with a very different agenda most irish people would regard carson as the arch partitionist but that's not what carson is about carson is about sustaining the union between great britain and all of ireland not just the northeastern corner and he wants to make that union work for the benefit of all irish people but carson understood that only an ulster was there a protestant population large enough to mobilize against home rule on september 28 1912 here in belfast city hall edward carson signed a solemn covenant pledging to defend ulster from home rule almost a quarter of a million men followed his example but how are they going to back up this declaration with deeds the ulster unionist leadership now made a momentous decision the ulster volunteer force formed in 1913 directly challenged the state it was encouraged in its threats of rebellion by british conservatives yet the government took no action nationalists reacted by founding the irish volunteers to protect home rule they were joined by the irish citizen army led by james connolly a glasgow born socialist who'd come to prominence in the 1913 strike in dublin when this develops in the north the reaction in nationalist ireland is excitement it's not fear it's not a sense that a civil war may happen it's this is what irishmen should do time and again you hear it said famously by patrick pierce that to see arms in the hands of irishmen is an ennobling thing even if they're in the hands of ulster union establishment [Music] it was of course a grand delusion both nationalists and the british government seem to have forgotten the bitter struggles with loyalists over home rule in the previous century it was as if they believed ulster protestants would eventually peacefully come round to the idea but the loyalists were busy arming themselves to fight whoever tried to impose home rule on the 24th and 25th of april 1914 25 000 rifles and 3 million rounds of ammunition were brought in through larn and other ports and distributed across ulster these were german weapons being imported at a time of mounting international tension it would be hard to imagine a greater challenge to the authority of the state [Music] and yet the government did nothing but when nationalists imported guns the following july they were confronted this double standard helped to radicalize many more moderate nationalists tension steadily escalated until ireland's quarrel was suddenly interrupted during the first world war you get a sea change in the nature of irish political opinion people who had been thinking that constitutional methods would work changed their mind and felt that they wouldn't people who felt that a more moderate goal was legitimate changed their minds and wanted something more radical the war would claim the lives of as many as 30 000 irishmen more than 200 000 served to the moderate irish nationalist leader john redmond the war was a chance to make the case to unionists for home rule catholics would show their loyalty to the empire but as the war dragged on and casualties mounted fears grew that britain would introduce conscription in ireland [Music] redmond's call to arms looked increasingly to have been a serious political mistake there was growing disillusionment among nationalists but ireland wasn't seething with anti-british fervor it would take the events of eastern 1916 to create the cataclysm as britain floundered on the western front a small group of plotters gathered in dublin they were a minority even within the revolutionary republican brotherhood they included poets and hardened rebels pierce who dreamed of blood sacrifice and the champion of a worker's republic james connolly they plotted the downfall of empire in ireland here above the tobacco shop of the veteran irb man tom clark the rebels decided to move on easter sunday date of christ's resurrection but the orders were countermanded by moderates in the chaos of order and counter-order pierce connolly and the other radicals made a fateful decision [Music] they would strike with a drastically reduced force in dublin on easter monday 1916. a detachment of connolly citizen army attacked dublin castle symbol and seat of british power but were repulsed the main body of rebels led by pierce and connolly rushed down sackville street and took over the general post office [Music] they raised the irish tri-color above the building pier stepped outside and read from a proclamation signed by himself and the six other leaders he declared an irish republic [Music] in the name of god and the dead generations ireland through us summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom [Music] a witness watching from a balcony opposite described how boys quickly gathered up any copies of the proclamation they could find because as he put it they would be worth a fiver when the beggars were hanged the british were caught unawares but by the end of the week they outnumber the rebels by ten to one from the river liffey a gunboat fired irish regiments also fought the rebels the royal dublin fusiliers who were drawn principally from the working-class districts of the city were being rushed up along the keys here to join the battle near the gpo when a shot rang out from a sniper across the river lieutenant gerald nieland an irish catholic fell dead elsewhere in the city his younger brother anthony was fighting on the rebel side the majority of the dead of easter week were civilians killed in the reign of shells and bullets that devastated the city centre in the british counter-attack [Music] pierce and connolly finally abandoned their headquarters at the gpo surrendering on april 29th as the rebels were led into captivity they were jeered and jostled by the crowd many of the most vociferous were women whose husbands were away fighting on the western front the rising had been crushed and public opinion now seemed set against the rebels until the british made a grave miscalculation [Music] the leaders were brought here to kilmainham jail in dublin and hastily court-martialed and sentenced to death [Music] over a period of two weeks fourteen men were executed here thirteen at this end including patrick pierce and up here james connolly who had to be carried to his execution on a stretcher the manner of their deaths and the number of executions would turn these men from being the leaders of a militant minority into martyrs who could be acclaimed by all of nationalist ireland [Music] the poet william butler yates sensed the impact of the executions i write it out in a verse mcdonough and macbride and connolly and pierce now and in time to be wherever green is worn are changed changed utterly a terrible beauty is born public anger deepened following mass arrests and the imposition of martial law here in the military archives in dublin is a trove of witness accounts from young men who were radicalized by the events of easter 1916 and to join the volunteers in its wake matthew davis from roscommon in 1916 he says i was unattached to any group after the rebellion there was an outcry to execute the fanatics i felt we would have to do something about it and of course he formed a volunteer unit in his area the volunteers evolved into the irish republican army and among the young men who flocked to join them was my grandfather paddy hasset the imperial policeman's son why would paddy hasset turn his back on that family tradition of service to the empire the biggest factor was what had happened in ireland the impact of the 1916 rising and the executions and the roundups that took place after it i sensed that that was what turned my grandfather and many many other young men like him against the british but if the great cause of the irish revolution had been a united republic the consequence was very different i think after 1916 with the dead dedicated to a republic the fires of easter week have forged a new national identity which is to be republican all students find nothing in that whatsoever they find little if anything in home rule there's absolutely nothing for them in an irish republic it makes partition inevitable in the 1918 general election sinn fein led by veterans of the rising won a sweeping majority but instead of going to westminster the party set up an irish republic [Music] the chine leader was ayman devalera and his finance minister michael collins in an atmosphere made worse by renewed british threats of conscription collins would find himself directing a guerrilla war the ira campaign which began in 1919 was met with fierce reprisals against civilians by security forces like the black and tans the state-sanctioned policy of reprisal increased public support for the ira and irishmen killed fellow irishmen police shot ira men and vice versa this is my father's hometown of lestol in county kerry on the 20th of january 1921 an ira squad was lying in weight at church street the man they were going to attack district inspector tobias o'sullivan of the royal irish constabulary was coming up the street with his five-year-old son the ira squad ran up to him and shot him dead in front of the child now the version of the story that i was given growing up was that a british soldier not an irish policeman had been killed nor was there any mention that he'd been holding his child's hand when he was murdered it was as if some parts of the story were simply too painful to tell [Music] o'sullivan had taken part in a raid on a nearby village after two years of violence both sides declared themselves ready to talk in october 1921 a sinn fein delegation led by michael collins arrived in london to discuss a political settlement michael collins arrived as the 20th century's first celebrity rebel in terms of his public image a kind of che guevara for his age but here collins would encounter a british negotiating team led by lloyd george that was both experienced and tough whatever else might be conceded an irish republic was not on offer [Music] 26 counties of southern ireland would become the irish free state with its own army but swearing an oath of allegiance to the british crown the government had already allowed the six protestant dominated counties of ulster to form a new state within the united kingdom but it wasn't ulster that caused crisis for the irish side in dublin de valera accused collins of having agreed to the oath of allegiance without his consent when the doyle convened in dublin in december 1921 devalera denounced the oath of allegiance as an abandonment of the republic collins argued that the treaty gave ireland the freedom to achieve freedom the one-time comrades became bitter enemies when the vote on the treaty came it was perilously close 64 votes 4 57 against de valera led his supporters out of the door and as they went michael collins shouted deserters all the slide to civil war had begun a majority of the people supported the treaty but couldn't stop a war characterized by extreme ruthlessness both sides committed atrocities at bally cd cross in county kerry nine republican prisoners were tied to a log and blown to pieces by a landmine retaliation for the killing of free state soldiers the government army gradually captured the republican strongholds but on the 22nd of august 1922 michael collins was assassinated in county cork the free state would triumph but his loss was devastating in death collins would become a romantic icon the great lost leader yet in some of his last writings he espoused a patriotic pragmatism [Music] true devotion collins wrote lay not in melodramatic defiance or self-sacrifice but in steady earnest effort [Music] by the time the civil war ended in 1923 ireland was a very different country to the united and equal nation imagined by the revolutionaries of 1916 the revolution had driven the british out but it had also consolidated the prevailing social reality this was a catholic largely rural and above all conservative society [Music] it was a society not dissimilar to that imagined by ireland's first political titans the settled country imagined by daniel o'connell hero of catholic emancipation in the 19th century an ireland of landowners such as charles stuart parnell envisioned and which his land league had done so much to create a society whose fundamental desire now was for stability in the protestant ruled six counties of ulster electoral boundaries had been drawn to ensure majorities for unionists in most areas there'd been fierce retribution against catholics following ira violence more than 8 000 were driven from their jobs hundreds were killed the prime minister james craig was a patrician landowner and proud orangeman catholic northern ireland catholic ulster does not really feature in his political agenda craig i think associates catholicism with a challenge to the state that he finds himself ruler of he associates catholicism with subversion but unionism comes together from a variety of very different institutions and forces it's absolutely not a monolithic group and it contains a spectrum of those who are ferocious in their anti-catholicism across towards a more liberal take on the union and unionism across the river is donegal in the south this is claddy and county tyrone one of the six counties of the new northern ireland state the prime minister james craig had built here a protestant state for a protestant people many years later a unionist leader trying to forge peace with nationalists would ruthlessly acknowledge that this had been a cold house for catholics a place of discrimination and exclusion catholics materially were better off in northern ireland than they were in the irish free state but politics matters more than economics catholics were not welcome and that was clear they had to listen to a tirade of abuse coming up to the 12th of july every year they had to listen to unionist politicians boasting that they'd never employed a catholic never would imply a catholic wouldn't have one around the place that sort of chilly feeling of not being wanted produces serious disaffection [Music] but in the south the new government of common negail led by michael collins heirs had neither the military means economic power or desire to wage a war of territorial redemption the south opted for stability [Music] even with the arrival in power in 1932 of eamon de valera now leading the fianna foil party rhetoric would be a comforting substitute for action ireland united ireland free these are the ideals to which enthusiastic young ireland is now devoting its energy whatever the rhetoric whatever the propaganda campaigns deviler realized that unification was not going to happen and he may even have seen advantages in that i think the majority of southerners were quite happy that northern ireland was gone that the wretched unionists were corralled in their area and were not coming down and not interfering with their setup in their in the size [Music] the founding father of irish nationalism wolfe tone imagined a nation that united catholic protestant and dissenter but ireland was now an island of two states in which religion would be a primary badge of identity here at the phoenix park in 1932 vast crowds gathered for a religious festival that would symbolize the character of the new irish state whatever rhetorical gestures might be made to the protestants of ulster this was a catholic nation [Music] the clergy for somebody like davalero were very important they were his advisors the leaders also had brothers who were priests or nuns that clerical establishment was very much integrated in a way that if you were a political leader the likelihood is that you if you're a catholic you would not be very distant from some relative or brother who was sort of in orders or a nun de valera's landmark constitution of 1937 avoided making catholicism the state religion offering instead a vaguer special position since the 19th century church power had been deeply embedded ireland was a nation of mass devotion and the overwhelming majority of children were educated in church-run schools but this central role came at a price church control of education was close to absolute but its power also extended deep into the criminal justice system this is the old letter frac industrial school in county galway it was one of a network of such institutions up and down the country where the state consigned children many of these institutions were set up under british rule the new rulers of ireland would prove as inadequate as the old in protecting the young physical and sexual abuse on a large scale was part of the secret history of the new state you were constantly waiting to be set upon st joseph's industrial skill letterfrack was an extremely violent place in an extremely violent artist society manix flynn who came from a poor dublin background was sent to litter frack in the early 1960s an individual i saw when i've been dragged out of the bed his head beaten against the wall blood came out of the person the brother then dragged this young boy up and down the dormitory wiping him in his own blood to clean her off the floor depending on what kind of venom the individual who was perpetrating the violence on you whatever brother or whatever civilian it was that was attached to the school it could last for weeks there were children from working-class background from mixed families some of them were the children of mothers who were who had children are a wedlock some of them are from other institutions haven't been in orphanages and orphaned they were the dirty poor that didn't fit into the emerging irish catholic middle classes this society since the foundation of the state has continued the containment of a class of people a segregation of a class of people that it sees has gotten a god's mistake church influence spread far beyond the care of the young from the bishop's palaces came regular dictats on cultural morality eamonn de valera's friend the archbishop of dublin john charles mcquade kept a close eye on the republic's creative spirits his files are a trove of insight into the thinking of the archbishop on a whole range of issues this is the box relating to censorship and in it there's a letter from a parish priest who wants to put on a showing for his parishioners of the oscar-winning movie gigi but the plan has to be abandoned why well according to this file the film contains a reference to a prostitute banned were some of the greatest names in the irish literary canon james joyce george bernard shaw frank o'connor and scores of others and yet in this atmosphere of constraint irish literature flourished [Music] literature acquired a kind of weird glamour by virtue of being persecuted probably in the way it did in soviet russia if you say these people are important enough to suppress you are saying they are very damned important remarkable talents like flan o'brien produced defiantly irish masterpieces in a european surrealist tradition it's as if the radicalism got annulled in political politics and rerouted almost entirely into literature the more repression there was at an official daylight level the more creatively deranged the texts produced it's as if the irish were straights by day and swingers by night [Music] devalera followed church advice on morality but it was not his obsession from the time he came to power in 1932 through his 16 years in office his central preoccupation was irish sovereignty when world war ii broke out devalera resisted churchill's urgings to join the fight [Music] ireland remained neutral [Music] there was a considerable degree of public support for that stance and there was a considerable degree of pride in the idea that we could go our own way partly because this is a country that is still relatively raw from the civil war and if de valera had decided to go in and fight on the part of the allies it could well have divided the body politic but it was an ambiguous neutrality when the german air force attacked belfast devalera sent firemen to help fight the blaze germans bailing out over the south were interned while their allied counterparts were allowed to return to ulster when the ira declared war against britain devalera imprisoned and even executed its members [Music] yet on hitler's death devalera offered his condolences to germany while europe burned devalera set out his vision for an ireland that would be distinctive in its culture and values the island that we dreamed of would be the home of a people who valued material wealth only as a basis for right living of a people who satisfied with frugal comfort devoted their leisure to the things of the spirit a land whose countryside would be bright with cozy homestead with the ramping of sturdy children and the laughter of happy maidens yet to cast this giant of the irish 20th century as an inward-looking nationalist would be wrong he had chairs the league of nations the avoidance of wars and of the burden of preparatory armament is of such concern to humanity that no state should be permitted to jeopardize the common interest by selfish action contrary to the covenant when the league was succeeded by the united nations devil era made striking gestures of independence from dublin came his instructions to support red china's application to join the un to the horror of america [Music] he established the commitment which saw irish troops serve in their thousands on peacekeeping missions there is a real paradox here devalera was well aware of ireland's international role yet his vision for the irish demanded that they remain uncontaminated by foreign ideas it was a vision at odds with modernity economic conflict with britain had damaged ireland at the outset of his rule stagnation deepened with the years around half a million people would leave ireland most seeking a better life in britain the country de valera had spent his life fighting against for irish sovereignty if you had to characterize the ireland of devalera how would you describe it very inward looking very complacent and most of all very poor the last week in secondary school the headmaster came in and asked us those of us who were in the class that were about 30 of us in the class many of us saw our future in ireland and the answer was 2 out of the 30. i was one of those two by the way by the time devalera retired at the age of 77 ireland wanted change [Music] the leader who took over in 1959 was another veteran of revolution but he displayed a steely pragmatism utterly different from devalera's mystical vision of irishness sean lamass encouraged foreign investment removed trade barriers urged efficiency and modernization in industry we started off like all the other newly freed countries with the assumption that freedom alone was enough and that in freedom economic difficulties right themselves we found out the hard way this wasn't so ireland had begun to catch up with the great post-war modernization the young were beneficiaries of free secondary education and a society again open to outside cultural influence television challenged the voice of both priest and politician women joined the workforce in growing numbers and challenged discriminatory laws and across the border the changing world of the sixties seemed to inspire a new kind of unionism a leader emerged who offered a friendlier face to the catholic minority and to the south in january 1965 o'neil and lemass made history by meeting together at stormont the beginnings of north south daetant how important is that moment i think it's symbolically of huge significance this is the first official meeting of the two heads of state since the 1920s we discussed this actually during our meeting which of us would get into the most trouble i said i would and he said he would he did get into a certain amount of trouble during the first six weeks but nothing to the trouble that i got into captain anneal recently said that the south of ireland was a very beautiful young lady and that he was very glad to talk to her over the head we don't look upon the south of ireland as a beautiful young lady the liberal aspirations are very much overdue but part of the difficulty with the o'neill project is o'neill himself but o'neil is an extraordinarily attrition figure who does not connect with nationalism or unionism and in the end is simply not able to deliver the goods [Music] by 1968 o'neil had been outflanked by the older forces of fear [Music] detont with the south was over but in this year of rebellion a movement rises in northern ireland to demand equal rights for catholics for the ulster protestants the civil rights movement was the old catholic conspiracy not a movement for change inspired by the unrest of that momentous year [Music] the following year sectarian rioting erupted the ira long in decline re-emerged to present itself as the people's protector against a hostile state republican and loyalist paramilitaries policemen and soldiers fought over the old ground positively nothing fired up them whatsoever there weren't even stones in the open fire people ran in all directions call themselves an army just completely outrageous the bus station was crowded when a bomb went off without warning within the space of 16 minutes alone 13 blasts sent people screaming from one place of safety to another an army helicopter was flown in to remove the casualties and this was then caught in a separate explosion there can be no question of political status crime is crime is crime [Music] the provisional ira have said they planted the bomb at the brighton hotel where mrs thatcher and her ministers are staying politics is the alternative to war politics is about dialogue i'll talk to anyone that doesn't mean that i approve of what they stand for the war occasionally spilled over into the south but partition had entrenched a separation of the mind the six counties of ulster truly seemed a world away in the republic a younger generation pursued its own narrative of change pushing at the boundaries of church and of state this changing sense of irishness was the beginning of an extraordinary journey [Music] the republic of ireland now looked increasingly beyond its shores as part of a european community through the decades of change from the 60s to the 90s ireland moved from stagnation to growth by the late 90s it was among the richest countries in europe [Music] the country i'd left in the recession of the 1980s was now the celtic tiger low corporate tax and a highly educated workforce helped to produce record growth coming back on holidays during the years of boom it was hard to suppress a sense of shock at the sheer scale of the development pride too in a country that seemed to have shaken off the more inward-looking elements of its historic legacy but and i claimed no great prescience here i also had a lingering unease where was the money coming from and who exactly was it benefiting inequality between rich and poor was still among the worst in western europe and the idea of a new republic was undermined by the old deference to power whatever else might be said about the founding fathers of this state the revolutionary generation they were austere men devoted to public service but they're emerged in this building a new kind of politician one who understood that political power could be the pathway to great personal wealth the man who came to symbolize the irish politics of cronyism was charles hockey leader of the party de valera had founded talented modernising yet he lived like an ascendancy lord bankrolled by businessmen oh he entered a very different ireland in 1960s demographically and economically there was more urban people living in ireland for the first time in rural people in its history that brought on all sorts of pressures more people wanted access to services more people were looking for planning permission where a lot of the corruption in ireland was new politicians stepped in they were self-made men while ireland embraced europe and the technology of modernity the political system was rooted in 19th century localism ireland's new political titan sailed his own yacht to the small island he owned in ireland the parish and not the nation remained the center of the democratic universe land such a fundamental obsession of the irish psyche for centuries was at the center of the new clamber for wealth beginning in the 1960s bribes had been paid to rezone green fields for building development the lost fields of devalera's gaelic idle were the new currency of wealth and power [Music] even as the country boomed judicial tribunals revealed the scale of corruption in irish public life [Music] the moriarty tribunal which sat actually in this very yard estimated that between 1979 and 1996 when uh for substantive praise when charles hawhi was thieshuk during that time he received over nine million in donations there seems to be a very clear relationship between hahi receiving substantive amounts of donations when he was in power and when he wasn't in power he didn't seem to receive that much money at all [Music] as ireland turned towards a new millennium the gleaming buildings rose but old certainties unraveled [Music] scandals rocked the authority of the church as the full scale of clerical child abuse was revealed the tribunals continued to hear allegations of corruption and public life yet prosperity and the old habits of deference ensured public quiescence it's often been remarked that the irish people are very sophisticated politically but the irish are very defiant that the irish are rebels now when you contrast that with the lack of protest with the lack of civic engagement with the lack of a demand for accountability for the abuse of power you have to ask yourself are a lot of those assertions about the irish character and about the irish rebelliousness actually mythical but in 2008 a financial catastrophe unleashed public anger ireland's economy was already in decline when america's property bubble exploded in ireland prices collapsed thousands were forced to emigrate the ghost estates became the symbol of a nation in decline here opposite kilmainham jail where the leaders of 1916 were executed there's a monument which stands next to the empty office buildings of the celtic tiger it reminds the irish people of the proclamation of a nation that would cherish all its children as ireland entered the second decade of the 21st century there seemed the possibility that the old way of doing things might be overthrown this wasn't a transformation that could happen overnight or in the space of one election but there were deeper stirrings of dissent that suggested that an entire political culture could be changed and there was already a recent powerful example of that here on the island in a place we might least have expected but if what has been agreed is implemented in full good faith all of the people of northern ireland will gain there are no victors there are any losers the agreement proposes changes in the irish constitution and in british constitutional law to enshrine the principle that it is the people of northern ireland who will decide democratically their own future i think to change kim when war weariness overtook war readiness and i think that happens sometime in the 1980s and certainly by the early 1990s there was the feeling that this cannot go on we're into the second generation now people were committing atrocities who had not been born when they when the troubles began the piece has so far endured the challenge of unreconciled republican dissidents but the pain of 30 years of killing haunts quiet living rooms across ulster [Music] we want better lives for our children and our grandchildren and their children too that's a lovely photograph of the two of you yeah the harbour somewhere in our glass all right then our coast [Music] bridget mooney's husband raymond was murdered in the grounds of a church in september 1986 in retaliation for the ira murder of a leading loyalist [Music] that's that's where we had our wedding reception so this is the two of you on the day of your wedding it is indeed where were you wearing it um an art oil so were you married in the same church that raymond would later be murdered in yeah and all of my grandchildren that have been born so far i've all been president in order so much of this conflict and i'm not just talking about what's happened in the last 30 years but for hundreds of years has been driven by fear and by hatred i just wonder do you feel hatred now towards the people who killed your husband no for the simple reason if he had just hatred and bitterness or feelings and i refuse to let people who took my husband's life have any place in my body and my heart in my head i know i hate nobody have you ever wanted to and have you ever thought about leaving northern ireland never not while my husband's bodies in the city cemetery never and i've never even thought about it no no and i'll never leave northern ireland now [Music] the poet john hewitt writing at the height of the troubles urged that we should bear in mind these dead i can find no plainer words he was reflecting on a conflict in which men killed and died for the sake of contested identities this was not you it implied patriotism patriotism has to do with keeping the country in good heart the community ordered with justice and mercy hewitt's lines might stand as one of the enduring lessons of the irish story the decommissioning of the arms of the ira is now an accomplished fact the ira abandoned war and unionists agreed to share power with catholics after thirty years of war in which more than three and a half thousand people died the ira accepted the partitioned island agreed by michael collins and the british unity was an aspiration to be achieved by peaceful means in the south the romantic nationalism of earlier generations had largely vanished [Music] when the republic voted to abandon its territorial claim on the six counties it seemed an act of practical patriotism it's an acceptance of political reality and acceptance of engagement with the outside world including northern ireland we no longer have to as it were wave the flag it's there's a feeling of irishness that that is real and much deeper in my view than what existed in the 30s and 40s the republic is now having to accommodate a broader sense of irishness there is racism but far-right politics have not taken root here how many children have parents who are from outside of ireland how about yourself where are your parents from russia and you over here lithuania and poland as well 10 of the population of the south is now foreign born these are the children of those who came here in the boom to find work economic globalization changed the idea of irish identity the old concept of an irish identity i mean the one that i grew up with which was being irish was gaelic and catholic that's gone really isn't it i think there are still plenty of gales around there's plenty of catholics around but i think what's nice about the time we're entering now is the sense that you don't have to be both of those things to be irish and that irish identity now can draw from many many many wells and we're going to build between us the island of tomorrow and who can say what irish identity will morph into [Music] the first inhabitants of this island came from europe they were open to change and absorbed waves of invasion they embraced a spiritual revolution and carried it to distant lands the old hatreds have not vanished but the irish have moved to peaceful coexistence there has been famine revolution and civil war [Music] but in an age of uncertainty we can surely draw strength from the memory of what has been overcome the story of ireland has always been a narrative of change unpredictable and dynamic the past is no longer a melancholy burden or a reason to hate we're never entirely free of the claims of history but neither are we its prisoners ireland today is an island of possibility an open [Music] island [Music] you

Channel: GreenRebel

Views: 266,134

Rating: 4.7849054 out of 5

Keywords: Ireland, Dublin, Story, History, Documentary, Republic Of Ireland, Narrative, Museum, Folk, Culture, Celtic

Id: rO2J70RLzA8

Length: 59min 9sec (3549 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 02 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/-TheWiseSalmon-]

I thought the series was very interesting and I enjoyed watching it, but the people in the comments would probably disagree that the documentary was in any way balanced. Many are angry that the evil colonialist oppressors at the BBC would even dare try to tell the history of Ireland. Apparently it's all lies and Fergal Keane has been outed as a traitor. I was also reliably informed by one commenter (an American) that Northern Ireland is an oppressive regime where Imperialist stooges like me oppress the native Catholic population (who are apparently referred to as "potato niggers") so that the Imperialist Brits can exploit the land for its natural resources, making a massive profit in the process.

[u/[deleted]]

I've watched it before. It is balanced enough and a good documentary series.

Some others are good as well but old.. Ireland - A Television History is good and has 13 episodes, I think it was made by RTE in the 80s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP2lKq0mkjY

Another one is The Troubles which was again in the 80s, I remember it being shown on TV in the 90s. Its by far the most in-depth Troubles related documentary I've ever found on the internet. Some things might be outdated and it was probably made for an English audience but its very good all the same, great archive footage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II77prkxtfo

[u/LFCMick]

The series as a whole is great. I'd recommend it to anyone. It's not without its problems, but that's excusable when the time period being covered stretches from Pre-Christian Ireland all the way to the financial crisis.

[u/Dev__]

It's a five part part series and I loved every episode. I linked to the last one because thats the most relevant to this sub.

[u/LesbianLighterFluid]

Heh, just got done watching that the other day, got the DVDs for Christmas.

I liked the music. :3

[u/idiran]

The accompanying book is worth a read too. A easy read which gives a nice overview of Irish history.

[u/[deleted]]

I was reading the comments because they're always good craic, but somebody said that Churchill offered Ireland the North for use of Ireland's ports. Is this true?