Seán Mac Diarmada
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Seán Mac Diarmada 2014 Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim presents ‘Reflections on Commemorating the Easter Rising’ Friday 20th – Sat 21st June 2014 Conference Co-ordinator: Proinnsíos Ó Duigneáin Seán Mac Diarmada was born on February 28, 1883 near Kiltyclogher, County Leitrim. He emigrated to Glasgow at the age of fifteen years. Returning to Belfast he was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in 1908. He transferred to Dublin where he became a close personal friend of Tom Clarke. Together they later went on to form the military committee which would plan The Easter Rising which took place in 1916. In 1910 he became manager of the radical newspaper Irish Freedom and as the national organizer for both the IRB and Sinn Féin he travelled extensively throughout the country. By November 1913 Mac Diarmada, who was one of the original members of the Irish Volunteers, continued to work to bring that organization under IRB control. In May 1915 he was arrested in Tuam, County Galway under the Defence of the Realm Act for giving a speech against enlisting into the British Army. He was released four months later. Mac Diarmada fought i n the General Post Office during the 1916 Rising and was one of the seven signatories of the Irish Proclamation, the document issued by the IRB on April 24th, 1916 which proclaimed Irish independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Along with the other six signatories to this declaration, Mac Diarmada was executed in Kilmainham Jail, just three week later, on May 12th 1916. Seán MacDermott Street in Dublin is named in his honour, as is the railway station in Sligo. The GAA park in Carrick on Shannon, Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada, is also named after him. Sean MacDiarmada Summer School Committee: Chairperson: Pat Fox Secretary: Catherine Fox Treasurer: John Keaney Reflections on Commemorating the Easter Rising’. An Oireachtas Committee under the chairmanship of Dr Maurice Manning was set up in 2012 to assist the Government ‘in the development of a comprehensive and inclusive programme’ for the commemoration of the Easter Rising. Dr. Manning stated that his committee would seek to ensure authenticity, proportionality and openness and that it would ‘encourage original research at local and national level, at all times acknowledging the multiple identities and traditions which are part of the historic story of the island of Ireland and Irish people all over the world’. The 2014 Seán MacDiarmada Summer School affords an opportunity to political analysts and commentators, women’s rights activists, arts practitioners, community volunteers and politicians of all persuasions to debate what form the 2016 commemoration should take in an Ireland which has witnessed the Good Friday Agreement, the coming of the British queen to Dublin and the first official visit of an Irish president to Britain. We look forward to discussions on the Proclamation of 1916, on the political thinking of Connolly and Pearse and on commemorating also the thousands of Irishmen who lost their lives in the First World War. Who would agree/disagree with political analyst Anthony Coughlan’s statement that ‘the 1916 Rising and the Proclamation are the title deeds of this state’? Friday 20th June Registration for the Summer School will take place from 4.00 pm to 5.30 at the Kiltyclogher Community Centre. The opening ceremony of the 5th Seán Mac Diarmada Summer School will take place at 6.00pm at the Seán MacDiarmada homestead. The Opening ceremony will be officiated by Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Mr Jimmy Deenihan. The three roomed thatched cottage overlooking Lough McNean remains much as it did 130 years ago. The vernacular buildings, traditional furniture and cooking utensils bear witness to the simple lifestyle of a self-supporting people. Visitors will have the opportunity to visit the home prior to the opening ceremony. Following the opening ceremony light refreshments will be served in the Community Centre in Kiltyclogher. On Friday evening, parking is limited at the grounds of the homestead, we encourage people to park in Kiltyclogher and avail of our free shuttle service. Shuttle buses to the opening ceremony will depart Kiltyclogher Community Centre from 16:00hrs and return after the event. Evening Session: 8.00 pm Carole Coleman Remembering 1916: An Unfolding Story... Carole Coleman is a County Leitrim journalist and author. She was born in London but raised in the shadow of the GAA park, Páirc Sheáin Mhic Dhiarmada in Carrick-On-Shannon. She has made her career in radio and television, serving as RTE’s Education and Environment correspondent (1995-2000) and Washington correspondent (2000-2004). In 2004, she interviewed President George W. Bush at the White House and won the ESB current affairs journalist of the year award. Carole spent over a decade in the U.S., returning home in 2013 to live in Carrick-on-Shannon with her husband and two daughters. She currently works on the foreign desk in RTE. Carole is the author of two books on American politics and culture: Alleluia America: An Irish Journalist in Bush Country (2005) and The Battle for the White House (2008). This will be followed by Panel Discussion chaired by Carole Coleman. Panel: Nóirín Clancy, Johnny Gogan, Denzil McDaniel, Orla Parkingson Nóirín Clancy, a native of Glenfarne, Co. Leitrim, has worked in the area of community development, equality and women’s human rights for over 20 years. She is currently chair of 5050, a single issue national advocacy group dedicated to achieving equal representation in Irish politics. Nóirín studied in NUIG from where she holds two master degrees, one in Rural Development and the other in International Human Rights Law. Johnny Gogan has lived in Leitrim for the past 17 years. A graduate of History he was a founding member of Film Ireland magazine in 1987. His third feature film as writer/ director, the Leitrim filmed Black Ice, was one of the Irish box-office revelations of 2013. His TG4 documentary of his grandfather, the poet Liam S Gógan, Na Coisithe 2010, includes a revelatory insight into Seán MacDiarmada’s authorship of the Proclamation. Denzil McDaniel was editor of the Fermanagh-based Impartial Reporter for 27 years. He became editor of the award-winning newspaper in 1987, months before the Enniskillen Remembrance Sunday bombing which killed 12 people. He subsequently wrote a book on the subject, Enniskillen: the Remembrance Day Bombing (1998). As a working journalist over 40 years, he wrote extensively on the Troubles in Northern Ireland, particularly how it affected his native county and other border counties. Orla Parkinson came to live in Leitrim 12 years ago. A writer and graduate of History and English from TCD she is keenly interested in Irish social, economic and cultural history. Orla holds an MPhil in publishing and an MscEcon in librarianship for which she wrote a dissertation on integrating immigrants. An editor and librarian by profession she is also interested in literature, community development and peacebuilding. Two of her poems appear in the recently- published Shakings of the Bag. Saturday 21st June Registration: 9.00 am Welcome: 9.45 Session 1: 10.00 am – 11.00 am Dr Miriam Moffitt Remembering the Past: A Blessing or a Curse? The Impact of Religious Commemorations on Inter-Church Relations Miriam Moffitt holds a PhD in History from NUI Maynooth and has studied History and Church History at Queens University Belfast, the University of Wales Lampeter and the University of Nottingham. Her work has focussed on the history of religion in Ireland, and especially on how conceptions of identity and ethnicity have been influenced by the manner in which the religious history of the country has been written and interpreted. Her publications include Soupers and Jumpers, the Protestant missions in Connemara, 1848-1937 and Clanricarde’s Planters and land agitation in east Galway, 1886-1916. She currently teaches Church History in St Patrick’s College Maynooth, St Patrick’s College Drumcondra and St Patrick’s College Thurles. 11.00 am – 11.30 am Tea/coffee break Session 2: 11.30 am – 12.30 pm Dr John O’Callaghan Historians and 1916 Dr John O’Callaghan lectures in History and Education in St. Angela’s College, Sligo. His research looks at processes of imperialism, colonialism, decolonisation, the Irish Education system, sports history, the political and military history of the Irish Revolution and the commemoration of the revolution. His publications include: Teaching Irish Independence: History in Irish Schools, 1922-72 (2009). Revolutionary Limerick: The Republican Campaign for Independence in Limerick 1913- 21 (Dublin, 2010). The Battle for Killmallock (Cork, 2011). Subversive Voices: Narratives of the Occluded Irish Diaspora (Oxford, 2012). Plassey’s Gaels: A History of the GAA in the University of Limerick (Cork, 2013) His next book is a biography of Con Colbert, part of the O’Brien Press 16 Lives series on the sixteen rebels who were executed in the wake of the Easter Rising. 12.30 pm – 1.45 pm Light lunch will be served Session 3: 1.45 pm – 2.45 pm Deaglán De Bréadún Nationalism in Ireland: The Two Traditions Reflections on our History from the First World War to the Good Friday Agreement Deaglán De Bréadún is Political Editor of the Irish Sun. He was previously a Political Correspondent with the Irish Times, where he worked for many years before taking voluntary redundancy in 2012. He is the author of a comprehensive account of the peace process, The Far side of Revenge: Making Peace in Northern Ireland (Collins Press, 2001 and 2008) and a collection of short stories in Irish entitled Sceallóga (Chips) published by Comhar Teo. His coverage of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement won the IP/BT Northern Ireland press and broadcast award for daily news journalism.