David Fitzpatrick on “Terror in Ireland”

Recently we reviewed the new book ‘Terror in Ireland 1916-1923’ -a collection of essays on revolutionary and state violence in Ireland in that period for the Near Fm History Show. (you can listen to the whole show here).

Here Cathal Brennan and John Dorney interview the editor of the collection David Fitzpatrick of Trinity College Dublin on the subject of political violence in Ireland.

Fitzpatrick on Terror part 1

Fitzpatrick on Terror part 2

We discuss among other things,

What is terrorism?

Are states as well as insurgents guilty of it?

Was British state violence in Ireland counter productive?

Did the IRA concentrate on ‘soft targets’?

Was sectarianism a factor in political violence?

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3 Responses to "David Fitzpatrick on “Terror in Ireland”"

Leslie Eric Blennerhassett says:

7 June, 2012 at 12:44 am

I was asked to read a paper on the effect of the Irish Rebellion on the Protestant Minority to Birmingham Irish Heritage group and was fortunate to quote the recent research done by the late and esteemed Prof Hart on the subject. I have some detailed accounts of the terror with family letters and how it affected my granfather and my grand uncle (victims of arson attack and the demolition of their home and their escape and potential murder of their women and children) also the nightly assault on Ballyseedy Castle from which Major Blennerhassett escaped. He sucumbed subsequenttly to stomach injury due to violent physical assaults and from which he eventually died. My thanks to Bill Jehan who gave me copies of these letters from the British Goverment archives which I will be pleased to send on. I should point out that none of these relatives were directly or indirectly involved with pro British hostilities against the IRA or other pro nationalist militia. They were targets on two accounts, they were know to be loyal to the Crown and also because they were of Protestant Ascendancy stock.

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seamus moriarty says:

17 October, 2014 at 10:31 pm

You have made a small but significant contribution to our understanding of this era and thanks for that

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Leslie Eric Blennerhassett says:

4 July, 2017 at 11:48 pm

Thanks Mr Moriarty for your reply and appreciation re one minority tale of the Irish conflict which conflict sadly left a disunited Ireland when more peaceful constitutional methods would have achieved a more enlightened outcome.

The Poet WB Yeats was fully cognisant of this when he stated “a terrible beauty has been born” and felt indirectly responsible for the ensuing conflict as Maud Gonne McBride later asserted.

I add to my belated appreciation, a belated correction!

Major Arthur Blennerhassett though never fully recovered from the physical and psychological distress, died of natural causes rather than from the assault per se as previously incorrectly indicated.

His astute daughters Hilda and Vera deterred the burning of their home by talking to the IRA irregulars and by plying them with alcoholic beverages and hospitality.

As ex World War 1 naval nurses both would have the requisite social skills to parley with the would be arsonists.(See Blennerhassett family website for more information).

I intend to include my “Paper on the Effects of the 1916 Rebellion on the Southern Irish minority” read at the Birmingham Heritage Society, 7th February 2007 on the Blennerhassettfamily web site under Literary and Historic Associations.

I did not included the Blennerhassett’s adverse experience above in my Paper as I wished to exclude perception of personal historical bias.

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