Tim Pat Coogan's Blog

From Tuesday 27th to Thursday 29th April, the Irish Independent will publish a three-part photographic supplement  covering the 1916 Rising (introduced by Diarmaid Ferriter), the War of Independence (introduced by Dr Anne Dolan) and the Civil War (introduced by Tim Pat Coogan).

“Adding up to a combined 80 pages, these historic supplements include many rarely seen pictures, printed in large format, making these three magazines particularly memorable,” says series editor John Spain.

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Tim Pat reviews ‘Voices From the Grave’ by Ed Moloney for the Irish Independent…

Back in the sixties, when I was starting to research my book on the IRA, Andrew Boyd arranged that I be brought to Belfast’s Linenhall Library where I was sworn to secrecy, brought down to a locked basement wherein a locked steel box was opened and I was given access to the library’s collection of IRA documents — a few handbills and a copy of the booklet Operation Harvest, which was written by a former sub-editor colleague of mine on the Evening Press, Sean Cronin.

Such was the impact of the Special Powers Act and the state of republican documentation at the time. Consequently, as a writer committed to the principles of free speech, I must support the appearance of Ed Moloney’s Voices from the Grave.

But the support has to be accompanied by a health, or rather a provenance, warning.

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By abstaining from politics we cannot influence the decisions that affect our lives argues Tim Pat in today’s Sunday Independent…

A SAYING of my mother’s has resonated with me in recent times: “Don’t leave it to them” By this she meant don’t emigrate and leave oneself with no say in how the country was run.

Or if one did not emigrate, don’t dumbly acquiesce in what those in high places decide.

I’m afraid many of us have been guilty of not taking my mother’s advice and must admit to committing a sin of omission which led to the Government’s sin of commission.

For how many of us can say that we participate fully in the political process?

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Niall O’Dowd went from being an ordinary Irish emigrant to the US in the late ’70s to playing a key role in the peace process. Now he has written his autobiography, ‘An Irish Voice’.

Read Tim Pat’s review from the Irish Independent:

I have always thought of Niall O’Dowd as the contemporary equivalent of John Boyle O’Reilly, the 19th-century Meath-born Irish nationalist who became both the foremost Irish-American journalist of his day and the leading proponent of a political, non-violent settlement of Ireland’s difficulties.

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RTÉ 1 Tuesdays 2nd and 9th March, 10.15-11.15pm

Featuring extensive interviews with Bob Geldof, President Mary McAleese, Tim Pat Coogan, President Peter Pinda of Tanzania and John O’Shea of Goal, ‘On God’s Mission’ examines why the Irish joined the missions in such great numbers, what impact they had on the people to whom they dedicated their lives, and reveals how their work has impacted on Ireland’s international reputation.

Bring back Amhran na bhFiann and put passion back into the pre-match anthem argues Tim Pat Coogan in today’s Sunday Independent

WHATEVER finally emerges from the post-mortems into the death of our hopes for another rugby Grand Slam in Paris recently, one piece of evidence is already glaringly obvious, and damning — it’s time to blow the full-time whistle on Ireland’s Call.

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On RTÉ’s Ryan Tubridy Show (11/2/10), Tim Pat Coogan and George Plant, whose father George was executed in Portlaoise in 1942, discuss the topic of executions in Irish history. Get the podcast (24 minutes long).

On Sunday 7th March, a symposium at the Ennis Book Club Festival entitled ‘Reading History’ will bring together Tim Pat Coogan, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Diarmaid Ferriter and Senator Eoghan Harris in an event chaired by Caimin Jones. Tickets, priced €12, are now on sale.

More information at www.ennisbookclubfestival.com

Our Rome-appointed bishops have been playing the Vatican’s game of Pass the Parcel, says Tim Pat Coogan writing in the Sunday Independent

GIVEN the scale of what is happening in the Irish Catholic Church, debating the departure of five auxiliary bishops has all the rich, ripe irrelevance to the gravity of the situation as had Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s axing of five junior ministers.

The only meaningful departure would be that of the Pope himself. As Cardinal Ratzinger he was probably the best informed man in the Vatican, being both Prefect of the powerful Congregation of the Faith and Dean of the College of Cardinals. These offices mean that he was privy to the ever swelling tide of reports on clerical sex abuse which poured into the Vatican during his tenure in office, from every diocese in the world.

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Reviewed a controversial new book suggesting that Eamon de Valera was a British spy for the Irish Independent…

“John Turi, author of England’s Greatest Spy: Eamon de Valera, described as a former US Naval Intelligence Officer, has already achieved one remarkable outcome with his book (published on Monday). He has made of me a de Valera defender!”

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