Ending the Revolutions - Historical Errors

December 22, 2023

Dear Editor,

Contrary to what Dr Kildea claims in April 2021, Northern Ireland has not been engaged in a civil war for the past 45 or so years. Further he claims/implies in his article that the “troubles” in northern Ireland are as a result of Partition in 1921 and are therefore somehow linked to the 1916 revolution. The fact of the matter is the “troubles” of the 1960’s started in 1968 not because of some desire to have a united Ireland but because a peaceful demonstration by Bernadette Devlin and her Peoples Democracy group attempted to walk in protest from Londonderry to Belfast. The causes for the protest are legendary, to have a political system that gave one vote for one person, i.e. where everyone had a right to a vote and a say in who represented them and what they wanted. That march became infamous as the marchers were attacked at Burntollett bridge by mainly Unionist sympathisers but others who thought democracy was at risk, the terrible standout fact of the day was that the police tasked with guarding the protest stood by and did nothing. The Peoples Democracy party were not nationalists but socialists.