Writing Irish history is like weaving a quilt or knitting a pair of socks. It is about making connections, following the pattern and tying the loose ends.
History is never complete. The story is never fully written
When I want to try to understand an episode in history like The Great Hunger/An Gorta Mór or the Hunger strike in 1980, I have to refer to the colonisation and conquest of Ireland since 1500AD. Events or catastrophes like these do not make sense otherwise.
The confiscation of the land of Irish families and the property of the Catholic Church led to the eventual rebellion in 1798 and then political Union and further repression. The pattern emerges –Confiscation, Repression, Resistance and more Repression. Without an understanding of this background and pattern history, it is nigh impossible to understand how events unravelled in history and in our own time and why people made the decisions they did in extremely challenging circumstances.
As a result of ignorance of the past, The Great Hunger was caused by an act of God and the potato blight.
The hunger strike in 1980-81 was a futile loss of life.
Clearly our history is much more complex than this.
When it comes to the recent history of Ireland we must ask: Why did the IRA armed rebellion start again in 1970-71?
Why did ten young men feel compelled to die on hunger strike in 1981?
So many questions! The answers are in our history -not in propaganda.
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