Seán Lemass and His Contribution to Irish History
During his seven years as Taoiseach, Seán Lemass' government achieved
much. The years 1959 to 1966 saw considerable, though often
exaggerated, change in Ireland in the fields of politics, the economy,
the standard of living and international relations. This
transformation succeeded in bringing Ireland up to speed with other
nations and helped prepare the country for the modern world. However,
the credit for this change is by no means entirely due to Lemass.
The first thing that changed was the political situation. Without this
change, Lemass would have achieved little. The year 1959 saw the end
to De Valera's presence, which had dominated politics for decades.
With De Valera went other members of the old generation. This enabled
Lemass, as Taoiseach, to bring in a troupe of young people to
ministerial positions. These included Jack Lynch, CJ Haughey, Donogh
O'Malley and Brian Lenihan. This created a flexible cabinet, in total
contrast with conservative Fianna Fáil governments of the past.
However, it is likely that many of the older generation would have
retired anyway due to old age; a similar shift occurred in other
political parties.
The economic improvement is often exaggerated; after the slump in the
fifties, any recovery would be welcome. Significant improvements were
made, but there were also failures. The continuation of high
emigration figures show that these years were not absolute prosperity.
Lemass changed economic policy, which until now had had dismal
failures. Lemass was a realist and saw that it was no longer possible
to blame Britain for Ireland's situation. ...
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cold war issues. This confused and superficial plan still has
repercussions today. Lemass government neither created a neutral
policy nor one without constraints. This problem has caused
governments to be indecisive, most recently in response to US planes
landing at Shannon.
Ireland was transformed from 1959 onward. Seán Lemass has often been
given too much credit for this. The developments were largely due to
his team of young, intelligent and resourceful individuals. Most of
the government's successes were due to plans designed by men such as
Whitaker and O'Malley. Also, it could be suggested that change was
inevitable - that Lemass was merely in the right place at the right
time. Despite this, Lemass' enthusiasm and determination piloted this
change and his contribution to Irish history is important.
The following is a list of explications pointing towards British and Celtic myths and figures. While pursuing the Celtic influences of Middleton's novel, I found myself searching for the meaning of other present mysteries. This author's twist of two cultures creates a spectrum for possible explication. It seems that the Celtic material melds into British society throughout this novel. In search of specific markers I found myself concentrating mostly on Haydn Middleton's use of names.
“Give me liberty, or give me death.” Patrick Henry is forever noted in history for this famous line during the American Revolution. His contributions to liberty did not stop with the British, however. Patrick Henry was the leader of the Anti-Federalists in the early years of our country. The Anti-Federalists did not want a federal government system, where there is a strong central government, then smaller, state governments. Patrick Henry had his own ideas for a decentralized national government, which he added on to the Constitution during the ratification convention in Virginia.
The Irish American Scholar Program will significantly enhance my educational goals for school as well as my life experiences. The unique opportunity this program offers coincides with a family value of expanding one’s knowledge beyond the small bubble of the everyday and exploring the world. The value of embracing new opportunities started with my grandfather when he broke away from the norm of his family and expanded his boundaries. His family, traditionally, lived and moved together, but when his family moved to Michigan, my grandfather decided to remain in Arkansas and join the Air Force, allowing him to travel not only in the United States but abroad to England. Similarly, my father decided to go to college several hours away from his family at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. This decision led him to a career with the government where he was able to experience several different cultures in the workplace and abroad. Being surrounded by inspirational family members has inspired me to pursue my own unique experience.
1. The Scotch-Irish were staunch libertarians, and acted upon their feelings. Sex ways and dress ways had close ties to each other in the backcountry. To talk about sex and sexual behavior was also acceptable in this culture. The dress women and men wore was meant to arouse the opposite sex. Anglican missionary Charles Woodmason wrote, “They draw their shift as tight as possible round their Breasts, and slender waists (for they are generally very finely shaped) and draw their Petticoat close t their Hips to show the fineness of their limbs– … –indeed nakedness is not censurable without ceremony.” Woodmason was appalled at how these women carried themselves, but to the women, they were sexy. Men even dressed in ways to show off their bodies. Men wore pants that showed their upper thighs and part of their hips. To be naked to the backsettlers was just as normal as being clothed. Families slept together and undressed in front of one another, and some children even ran around half naked according to Woodmason.
Davitt saw this as an opportunity to place the land question at the centre of Irish politics and so he did this by forming the Irish National Land League. He encouraged Parnell to support the agitation and when he did he was made the president of the Irish National Land League. The main objectives of the League were to provide tenants with a fair rent, fixed tenure and free sale. The long term aim was that farmers would own the land (peasant proprietorship).
Most people’s knowledge of Patrick Henry begins and ends with his famous speech. However, his influence was just beginning. Some great orators are content to simply stir up the populace and then step back and let others do the dirty work. Patrick Henry acted. He joined the militia and became a colonel. He stirred up so much trouble that the royal governor issued a proclamation decrying his efforts. In 1776, he was elected governor, leading the critical state of Virginia through the early years of the war. During the dark days of the early revolution, George Washington faced internal threats from other leaders who doubted his ability. Patrick Henry defended him, and even exposed a plot to have Washington replaced. The fate of the Revolution
This gentleman is six foot two, short black hair, black eyes, and with no real distinguishing marks. He is heterosexual, African American, and is An Atheist. His name is David, and he is walking home while wearing sweat pants with a ripped up t-shirt that was from home. Some people would consider this gentleman to be poor and have a horrible education with nothing good on his mind. However David is a part-time firefighter, with a part-time job, and also being part time college student. There is a difference between people hardcore supporting their culture or beliefs, compared to individuals who get stereotyped like David for example. In the article, “Sticks and Stones: The Irish Identity”, by Robert McLaim Wilson and published by Grand Street.
In order to legitimise a regime or cause, traditions may be constructed around historical or mythological events, people or symbols that reinforce the image required to focus people’s conception of the past. People can be encouraged to invent a cohesive view of their shared ‘traditions’ by what could be called cherry picking bits of history.
A is for Arranmore or Aran Island Árainn Mhór, Árainn Uí Dhomhnaill, meaning the 'Aran of the O'Donnells' to distinguish it from the Aran Islands off Galway Bay or the Scottish Isle of Arran , largest inhabited island of the County Donegal and with 7 square miles of land is 2nd of all inhabited Irish islands. It has a permanent population of around 650, summer pop of 1000. Settled in pre-Celtic times, an old fort and several middens-ancient landfills survive as reminders. And 62% of the population is native Irish speakers and the land did not have clean, piped water until mid-1970’s and it only had 47 business telephone lines until 1986 when an automatic switchboard update all for residential service. Fishing was the island’s main source of economy until industry dried up in the 1980’s and now tourism is its chief economic source, although Gaeltacht-intensive Irish speaking-summer schools and newly created call centers and teacher training for Irish teachers have been developed and are helping increase the local economy. The summer influx of young people has given popularity to soccer of the traditional Gaelic games and tourists frequently over-
The role of Michael Joseph O’Rahilly (also known as “The O’Rahilly”) in the Easter Rising of 1916, is not much talked about, and this, in my opinion, makes it all the more fascinating. Many would feel, that he has, in a sense, been ‘written out of history’.
The Success of Sir Robert Peel’s Irish Policy Sir Robert Peel’s strong-nerved and far-sighted approach to Ireland’s social discontent demonstrated all the best attributes of the innovative politician that he was. However, the minimal effect felt by Irish people highlights the eventually fatal inefficiency of his leadership. Peel’s policies were largely based on the principle of “coercion and conciliation”: at first he took an authoritarian stance, and only later looked to be persuasively appeasing. In doing so, Peel hoped to promote Unionism, and hence to instil in the Irish a sense of loyalty towards Britain. He aimed to stop Ireland’s radical threat by winning over the Irish Catholics, and to create a convincingly secure long-term relationship between the two governments.
Search for Meaning in James Joyce's Dubliners Throughout Dubliners James Joyce deliberately effaces the traditional markers of the short story: causality, closure, etc. In doing so, "the novel continually offers up texts which mark their own complexity by highlighting the very thing which traditional realism seeks to conceal: the artifice and insufficiency inherent in a writer's attempt to represent reality.(Seidel 31)" By refusing to take a reductive approach towards the world(s) he presents on the page - to offer up "meaning" or "ending" - Joyce moves the reader into complex and unsettling epistemological and ontological realms. Meaning is no longer unitary and prescriptive, the author will not reveal (read impose) what the story "means" at its close and therefore we can't definitively "know" anything about it. Instead, meaning, like modernism, engenders its own multiplicity in Joyce's works, diffuses into something necessarily plural: meanings. An ontological crisis is inextricable from this crisis of meaning and representation.
James Joyce's "Eveline" is one of fifteen short stories in her novel, Dubliners. It was written during the British oppression of Ireland and therefore was not published until nine years after its completion. "Eveline" tells the story of a young adult named Eveline, who is having difficulty choosing between: leaving her family for a new life and staying, to protect her younger siblings and keep the household together. This story depicts the inner turmoil felt by anyone making a similar decision. The story demonstrates the quandary, or perplexity, of deciding whether to immigrate to another country, leave everything you know and love behind, to start a new life. Joyce's own life must be understood for a proper discussion of the above quandary.
For Gerald of Wales, religion was one of the most essential aspects of being a civilized human being. Therefore, when he wrote, The History and Topography of Ireland, he portrayed its inhabitants as subhuman and barbaric during his apparent travels to Ireland. As a colonizer, Gerald picked a far away place in which many had not been to, in order to establish them as the “other”. Unfortunately, for Gerald, he may have ridiculed the Irish for their lifestyle conveyed in his writing, but his exploitation of them most likely was done because he could in fact relate to them. In the book, The Postcolonial Middle Ages, Jeffery Jerome Cohen’s analysis in his chapter, “Hybrids, Monsters, Borderlands: The Bodies of Gerald of Wales”, closely focuses on Gerald’s cultural hybridity, which mirrors his accounts of the Irish. Although he deemed the Irish as barbaric, they were also hybrids, thus he also shared a feeling of displacement with them. Nonetheless, he still held himself to a higher degree because they did not properly celebrate Christianity, ultimately leading them to make other unpleasant decisions.
Many times poetry is reflective of the author’s past as well as their personal struggles. One struggle that poets write about is of identity and the creation, as well as loss, of individual identities. Using a passage from the essay Lava Cameo by Eavan Boland, I will show how two poets use their craft to describe their struggle with identity. Eavan Boland and Seamus Heaney both write poems which express an internal struggle with roles of identity and how they recreate their roles to fit their needs. Through retrospection and reflection, both poets come to realize that the roles they led as well as those they reinvented have created their own personal identities. Boland, in her essay Lava Cameo, touches on several emotions (loss, despair, etc) and episodes in her life which capture the essence of her identity. It is this notion of individual identity that is a central theme throughout Boland’s essay and some of her poems. Boland, through retrospection and hindsight, has been able to recognize the roles that society has dictated that she follow. These roles were not necessarily created for any rational reason (ex: female role as subordinate and even as marital property). One passage in particular captures the internal struggles Boland has endured. This passage runs from pages 27 to 29 in Boland’s Object Lessons. It begins by saying, "It may not be that women poets of another generation…" and ends with "…but because of poetry."