An Intro into Irish History

Legende:

1st books

religious event
or person

King or Queen

battle

Maps

treaty, law, publ.

5th to 6th centuries BC

Arrival of first Celtic invaders from central Europe. Celts soon came to dominate Ireland and earlier settlers.
Christianity introduced to Ireland; traditionally associated with St Patrick, although there were some Christians in Ireland before the start of his ministry in about 432.

St Patrick:
- Hirtenjunge auf einem Berg in Nord-Irland
- verlässt Irland um zu lernen
- Kehrt zurück mit Missionierungsaufgabe, der er sein weiteres Leben widmet
- Einstiegsauftritt durch Großlagerfeuer, welches er VOR dem des herrschenden Königs entzündet
- Shamrock geht auf das Dreieinigkeits-Gleichnis zurück

521/522
563
597

Birth of Colum Cille
Colum Cille moves to Scotland
Death of Colum Cille

gründet Kloster auf Iona, nachdem er vorherige Orte verwirft, da von diesen aus sein heimisches Irland zu sehen ist, aus dem er als adliger Sohn eines Herrschers verstoßen wurde

7th/8th c.

Book of Durrow
Book of Kells

früheste Zeugnisse kunstvoller schriftlicher Sprache

6th to 9th centuries

"Golden Age" of Irish history, characterised by rich cultural achievements at home, notably in the decorative arts and manuscript illumination, and by successful Christian missionary activity abroad.

Klöster als Zentrum der geistigen Entwicklung lange vor Kontinentaleuropa

800-999

Viking invasions of southern Ireland; development of overseas trade and foundation of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Waterford

795 Viking raids on Iona/Scotland

1002

999

1014

Brian Boru, King of Munster; recognised as King of All Ireland, following his defeat of Vikings in 999; although Viking interference continued until their defeat in the Battle of Clontarf, 1014, in which Boru was killed.

1152

Synod of Kells

1167-1169

Arrival of the Normans,

initially at invitation of Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster, to support his ambition to become King of All Ireland

1170


1171

Richard FitzGilbert de Clare, Earl of Pembroke: "Strongbow" arrives in Ireland
Henry II arrives in Ireland, became King of Leinster through marriage to MacMurrough's daughter Aoife

1172

Henry II, King of England, recognised as overlord of Ireland by both Irish and Norman aristocracy in Ireland;

start of English political involvement in Ireland.

12th to 14th centuries

Normans quickly came to control three-quarters of the land, ultimately assimilating with the local population. During this period similar parliamentary, legal, and administrative systems to those in England were being developed.

1183

Gerald of Wales (tutor to John son of King Henry II) first visit to Eire

1185 again

1315

Edward Bruce invades Eire

1366

Statutes of Kilkenny
(vgl. engl. Gesetzgebung in Schottland nach den Jakobiten-Aufständen im 18 Jh.)

passed by Anglo-Irish parliament in Dublin in an (ultimately ineffective) attempt to re-establish English dominance; excommunication and heavy penalties decreed for all those following customs of or allying themselves with native Irish.

1450

The area of effective English rule in Ireland had been reduced to an enclave around Dublin known as the Pale.

1492

Henry VII sent Sir Edward Poynings to regain control of Ireland.

1494 "Poynings Law" passed two years later, making the Irish parliament subservient to the English monarch.

1534

Outbreak of Lord Offaly's Rebellion

1541

Henry VIII declared himself King of Ireland, the first English monarch to do so

Land declared ultimately property of Crown, to be re-granted with monarch's permission.

1553

King's and Queen's counties (present-day Offaly and Laois) established as first settler plantations

1585

Hugh O'Neill became Earl of Tyrone

1594

start of Nine Years' War, rebellion against English rule

led by Hugh O'Neill

1598

Battle of the Yellow Ford

1601

Formal surrender of O'Neill, following defeat at Battle of Kinsale in 1601;

overthrow of native political system as country brought under English central government.

1607

The northern counties of Ulster were confiscated to the Crown following the fleeing to Rome of Ulster chieftains. (Flight of the Earls)

Two years later the Ulster Plantation implemented, settled by Protestant Lowland Scots and English.

Articles of Plantation

1641/1642

Outbreak of rebellion/civil war

attempt to take control over Dublin Castle by Rory O'More & Phelim O'Neill

1649

Siege/massacre of Drogheda & Wexford. English Parliamentary forces, led by Oliver Cromwell, defeated pro-Royalist and Roman Catholic Irish forces; many Irish landowners were exiled to Connaught and their land confiscated.

1662

Act of Settlement

1689

All of Ireland except Ulster rallied to support James II in his efforts to retake the English throne following the Glorious Revolution of 1688 (Wilhelm of Orange); initial military success caused Protestant settlers to flee to Enniskillen and Derry.

1689 James II landed in sympathising Eire

1690

Wilhelm III landed in Eire

1690

Battle of Boyne

William of Orange defeated Irish forces

1695

First Penal Laws, prevented return of land to Catholics agreed by William III at the Treaty of Limerick (1691), and successively prohibited Catholics from attending Mass, and from buying or inheriting land.

The export to England of milk, butter, and cheese, and export to anywhere of Irish woollen products was also banned and the Irish economy went into decline.

1704

Penal Code introduced denying Catholics the vote and barring them from the military.

1719

Toleration Act

liberated Protestants Dissenters from the requirement of attending the services of the established Catholic church, their obligation to pay tithes (=Kirchenzehnt) remained

1720

Declaratory Act

recognised the right of the parliament at Westminstrer to legislate for Ireland

1724

Swift's Drapier Letters published

1778

Irish parliament passed the Relief Acts, removing some of the most oppressive disabilities of the Penal Laws.

1782

Poynings Law revoked, giving Ireland legislative independence.

1795

Orange Order founded.

1798

Uprising of the United Irishmen, led by Wolfe Tone, suppressed by British troops

1791 Argument on Behalf of the Catholics of Ireland
religiöse Toleranz + republikanische Spaltung

1800

Irish parliament passes Act of Union, formally proclaimed on January 1, 1801

Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland created with a single parliament

1803

Emmet's Rebellion

1823

Catholic Association founded

1829

O'Connell's success forced parliament to pass the Catholic Emancipation Act,

removing virtually all disabilities against Catholics

1842

Nation first published

1845

Nationalist Young Ireland Movement founded; attempted insurrection in 1848 failed but the movement influenced later generations of nationalists.

1845-1849

Successive failures of the staple potato crop led to famine; by 1851 starvation, disease,

and emigration had reduced the population by a quarter

1856

Foundation of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, or Fenians, a revolutionary movement that attempted a failed uprising in 1867.

1869

Disestablishment of (Anglican) Church of Ireland.

1875

Nationalist Charles Stewart Parnell elected to British parliament, where he pursued a policy of obstructionism with other Irish Home Rule MPs to draw attention to the demand for a separate Irish parliament.

1880

Parnell becomes leader of Irish Home Rule movement, combining it with demands for land reform. He subsequently converted British Prime Minister William Gladstone to the cause of Home Rule. First boycotts by Irish tenants against English absentee landlords.

1881

Coercion Act passed giving Lord Lieutenant of Ireland power to arrest anyone merely on suspicion of treason or intimidation.

1882

Assassination in Phoenix Park, Dublin, of Lord Frederick Charles Cavendish and Thomas Burke, respectively Britain's Chief Secretary and Under-secretary for Ireland, by militant nationalists in a protest against the Coercion Act. The subsequent Crimes Act made the provisions of the Coercion Act even more stringent.

1885

Irish Unionist Party founded to fight against Home Rule.

1886

Defeat of first Home Rule Bill presented by Gladstone's Liberal government with support of the Irish Party.

1890

Parnell forced to retire from leadership of nationalists, after he was cited as corespondent in a divorce case. Nationalist movement factionalises.

1891

Second Home Rule Bill defeated. Death of Parnell.

1905

Sinn Féin ("We Ourselves") founded in 1902 by Arthur Griffith, became a political party; initially it was largely a pacifist, propagandist organisation promoting Irish economic welfare and full independence.

1914

Implementation of the Third Home Rule Bill, introduced in 1912 and passed by the House of Commons in 1913, suspended on the outbreak of World War I.

Pro-British nationalists established paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (1913) to resist Home Rule.

The Irish Volunteers, subsequently formed by nationalists as a rival military force, was the core of what by 1919 had become the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

1916

Easter Rising, armed uprising in Dublin, suppressed after six days by British troops.

The executions that followed gained many new recruits for the Irish cause.

1917

Sinn Féin adopted a revolutionary and republican constitution. Subsequently, under Eamon de Valera, one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, it became the dominant party in Ireland, excluding Ulster.

1919

After winning almost all the Irish seats outside Ulster in the 1918 general election, Sinn Féin established an Irish parliament, the Dáil Éireann, in Dublin, and set up its own administration.

1919-1921

War of Independence, precipitated by the killing of two members of the armed police force by Volunteers. The British authorities introduced the "Black and Tans" in response to the IRA's successful use of guerilla tactics.

1920

Government of Ireland Act effectively partitions Ireland by establishing separate home-rule parliaments- one for the six Protestant-dominated counties of Ulster and one for the rest of the country.

1921

The Ulster parliament established in June.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty, providing for a self-governing Irish Free State with dominion status, was signed on December 6, passed by Dáil Éireann on January 7, 1922, and came into effect on December 6, of that year.

1922-1923

The Irish Civil War, caused by a split within Sinn Féin and the IRA over the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty: Michael Collins was a leader of the pro-Treaty faction; De Valera of the anti-Treaty group.

The pro-Treaty group was ultimately victorious and went on to form the governments of the Free State as the Cumann na nGaedheal Party, later Fine Gael.

1926

Sinn Féin split again over recognition of the legitimacy of the Free State. De Valera led the pro-recognition majority out of the party and established the Fianna Fáil Party.

1931

The Statute of Westminster enacted, recognising the legislative autonomy of the British dominions and establishing the Commonwealth.

1932

Fianna Fáil was elected to government, and remained in power until 1948. De Valera began implementing more radical policies, including the repeal of a law restricting IRA activities, abrogating the oath of allegiance, and withholding certain land annuity payments to Britain, which led to a six-year tariff war.

1937

The new republican constitution was approved in a referendum. The Irish Free State was replaced by Éire, and remaining constitutional ties with Britain were severed.

1938

Irish writer and patriot Douglas Hyde became the first president of Éire, and De Valera its first prime minister. The tariff war with Britain was ended.

1939

Éire declares itself neutral on the outbreak of World War II.

1948

Fianna Fáil defeated in general election, replaced by a coalition led by Fine Gael.

1949

On April 18, Éire became the Republic of Ireland, under legislation passed the previous November, and left the Commonwealth. In May the British parliament confirmed that there would be no change in the status of Northern Ireland without the consent of the province's parliament (Stormont).

1955

The Republic of Ireland became a member of the United Nations.

1957

Fianna Fáil returned to power.

1959

De Valera, aged 77, elected president.

1971

The purchase or holding of arms for use outside of Ireland was banned; the following year the government required the surrender of all firearms.

These moves were aimed particularly against the Provisional IRA, a radical wing that had split from the Official IRA and escalated the use of terrorism both inside and outside the republic.

1973

The retirement of De Valera from the presidency. He was replaced by Erskine Childers. Ireland joined the European Community. Fine Gael/Labour Party coalition takes place after election.

1975

Death of De Valera.

1977

Fianna Fáil returned to power under leadership of John Lynch, who held the post until 1979, when he was replaced by Charles Haughey.

1980s

Economic problems helped precipitate a number of short-lived governments, with Haughey alternating as prime minister with Fine Gael leader Garret FitzGerald.

1985

In November, FitzGerald signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which recognised that no change could occur in Northern Ireland's status without the consent of the majority of the population, and gave the Irish government a consultative role in Northern Irish affairs.

1990

Mary Robinson was elected president.

1991

The Republic of Ireland was one of the signatories of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union, after securing a special provision guaranteeing that the country's abortion laws would not be affected by European Union policies. The treaty was ratified by referendum the following year.

1992

Haughey resigned as prime minister and leader of Fianna Fáil amid allegations of scandal. He was succeeded by former Finance Minister Albert Reynolds. Elections in November left the Labour Party holding the balance of power, as partner in a coalition government with Fianna Fáil. A parallel referendum approved proposals to make abortion information available in Ireland and to legalise foreign travel to obtain an abortion.

1993

December 15, Reynolds and British Prime Minister John Major signed the Downing Street Declaration, a statement of fundamental principles with regard to the future of the province-notably that any constitutional change requires the consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland.

1994

Fianna Fáil-led coalition collapsed after the Labour Party withdrew its support. A Fine Gael-led coalition replaced it after a month of negotiations, led by John Bruton, and with the Labour Party holding important government positions.

1995

A bill to legalise the provision of abortion information was passed by both houses of parliament. A referendum on the legalisation of divorce ended the constitutional ban on divorce. The joint peace process framework for Northern Ireland was launched by the Irish and British governments, following the IRA's cease-fire in August 1994.

1996

In February the IRA ended it's cease-fire with the explosion of a large bomb in London's Docklands, leading to the exclusion of Sinn Féin from all-party talks and an impasse in the peace process.

1997

In parliamentary elections the Fianna Fáil party won 77 out of 166 seats and was expected to form a coalition government with Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach.

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/
government_in_ireland/
government_and_politics_
at_national_level/
offices_of_state/
the_taoiseach.html

- the Taoiseach (pronounced 'Tee-Shock') = head of the Irish Government.
- nominated by the Dáil (one of the Irish houses of Parliament) and is appointed by the Irish President.
- The Taoiseach appoints the Government ministers and may dismiss them if there is sufficient reason to do so. The current Taoiseach is Mr. Bertie Ahern, T.D.

- The Taoiseach acts as a channel of communication between the Government and the President and advises the President about summoning and dissolving the Dáil.
- presents Bills to the President for signature so that they can become Acts with legal effect. - keeps the President generally informed on domestic and international policy matters.

- the Taoiseach acts as a spokesperson for the Government on major policy issues and chairs Cabinet meetings.

- takes an interest in the affairs of all the Departments of State and ensures that the plans of departments are co-ordinated
- makes sure that Cabinet decisions are carried out by the ministers and that the ministers fully understand the implications of Government policies.

The Taoiseach also has a major role to play in our relations with foreign countries. He or she represents Ireland abroad and regularly meets with the other heads of state of the European Union to help shape European policy.

The Taoiseach and all the ministers collectively are answerable to Dáil Eireann. The Taoiseach is assisted in his or her duties by the Government Chief Whip.
Contact
Mr. Bertie Ahern, (Taoiseach),
Department of the Taoiseach,
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion Street,
Dublin 2.
Tel: (01) 619 4020
Fax: (01) 676 4048
E-mail: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie

Mr. Bertie Ahern T.D.,
Constituency Office
161 Drumcondra Road,
Dublin 9.
Tel: (01) 837 4129
Fax: (01) 836 8877

1998

Ahern, along with British prime minister Tony Blair, signed the Northern Ireland Peace Agreement in April. A referendum held in May resulted in a 94 per cent "yes" vote in favour of the agreement. Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish constitution were amended.

2004

bank rubbery of over 26 Mill Irish Pound in small notes

2005 involvement of high party officials suspected