Prelude to the Easter Rising of 1916

Prelude to the Easter Rising of 1916
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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Top ten Irish phrases and and what they really mean

In an article entitled "Top ten Irish phrases and and what they really mean (From "Erin go bragh" to "Cead Mile Failte", an insight into Irish sayings)By 
NIALL O'DOWD,
 
IrishCentral Founder
 


Here are the top ten Irish sayings and what they mean:

May the road rise to meet you -
 From the Gaelic, "Go N-eiri an bothar leat", which means may success be with you.
Top of the morning -
Hollywood invention, never used in Ireland.

And the rest of the day to yourself -

Also Hollywood.

Slainte -
Meaning good health. Slainte is the Gaelic word for health.
Slan -
Meaning farewell. Slan is the Gaelic word for safe so it means keep safe.
Erin go Bragh -
Meaning "Ireland forever" in Gaelic.
A hundred thousand welcomes -
From the Gaelic “Cead Mile Failte” which means literally that.

Dia is Muire Dhuit -
Meaning hello in Gaelic. The phrase literally means "God and Mary with you."

Dia is Mhuire Duit agus Padraig -
How the person responds,"God and Mary and St. Patrick with you."

Pog Mo Thoin -
Yes it means what you think it does, Gaelic for kiss my a**.

*Originally published in March 2010.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Members of the Nineteenth Dáil - Dr. Conor Cruise O'Brien

 Dr. Conor Cruise O'Brien
 
Dr. Conor Cruise O'Brien
 
Conor Cruise O'Brien (3 November 1917 – 18 December 2008) often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish politician, writer, historian and academic. His opinion on the role of Britain in Ireland and in Northern Ireland changed during the 1970s in response to the outbreak of 'the Troubles' after 1968. He saw opposing nationalist and unionist traditions as irreconcilable and switched from a nationalist to a unionist view of Irish politics and history. O'Brien's outlook was always radical and the positions he took were seldom orthodox. He summarised his position as, "I intend to administer an electric shock to the Irish psyche". Internationally, he opposed in person the African National Congress's academic boycott of the apartheid regime in South Africa and in later years also supported the state of Israel. These views contrasted with those espoused during the 1950s and 1960s.

During his career as a civil servant, O'Brien worked on the government's anti-partition campaign. At the 1969 general election, he was elected to Ireland's parliament as a Labour Party TD for Dublin North–East becoming a Minister from 1973–77. He was also the Labour Party's Northern Ireland spokesman during those years. He was later known primarily as an author and as a columnist for the Irish Independent.

Cruise O'Brien was born in Dublin to Francis ("Frank") Cruise O'Brien and Kathleen Sheehy. Frank was a journalist with the Freeman's Journal and Irish Independent newspapers, and had edited an essay written fifty years earlier by William Lecky, on the influence of the clergy on Irish politics.

Kathleen was an Irish language teacher. She was the daughter of David Sheehy, a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party and organiser of the Irish National Land League. She had two sisters, both of whom lost their husbands in 1916. Hanna's husband, the well known pacifist and supporter of women's suffrage Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, was executed by firing squad on the orders of Captain J.C Bowen Colthurst during the 1916 Easter Rising. Soon afterwards Mary's husband, Thomas Kettle, an officer of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers was killed during the Battle of the Somme. These three women, Hanna and his mother in particular, were a major influence on O'Brien's upbringing alongside Hanna's son, his cousin Owen Sheehy-Skeffington.

O'Brien's father (who died in 1927) wanted Conor educated non-denominationally, a wish that Kathleen honoured. O'Brien followed his cousin Owen into Sandford Park School that had a predominantly Protestant ethos, despite objections from Catholic clergy. O'Brien subsequently attended Trinity College Dublin which played the British national anthem until 1939, though O'Brien and Sheehy-Skeffington sat in protest on such occasions. O'Brien was editor of Trinity's weekly, TCD: A College Miscellany. His first wife, Christine Foster, came from a Belfast Presbyterian family and was, like her father, a member of the Gaelic League. Her parents, Alexander (Alec) Roulston Foster and Mary Lynd, were Irish republicans and supporters of Irish reunification. Alec Foster was headmaster at the time of Belfast Royal Academy and was later a founding member of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and also a strong supporter of the Irish Anti-Apartheid movement.

He was a former Ulster, Ireland and British & Irish Lions rugby player, having captained Ireland three times between 1912–1914. O'Brien and Christine Foster were married in a registry office in 1939. The couple had three children – Donal, Fedelma, and Kathleen (Kate), who died in 1998. The marriage ended in divorce after 20 years. In 1962, O'Brien married the Irish-language writer and poet Máire Mhac an tSaoi in a Roman Catholic church. O'Brien's divorce, contrary to Roman Catholic teaching, was not an issue since that church did not recognise the validity of O'Brien's 1939 civil wedding in the first place. O'Brien referred to this action, which in effect formally de-recognised the legitimacy of his former wife and children, as "hypocritical ... and otherwise distasteful, but I took it, as preferable to the alternatives." Mac an tSaoi was five years his junior, and the daughter of Seán MacEntee, who was Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) at the time. They subsequently adopted two Congolese children, a son (Patrick) and a daughter (Margaret).

O'Brien's university education led to a career in the public service, most notably in the Department of External (now Foreign) Affairs. He achieved distinction as managing director of the state run Irish News Agency and later as part of the fledgling Irish delegation to the United Nations. O'Brien later claimed he was something of an anomalous iconoclast in post-1922 Irish politics, particularly in the context of Fianna Fáil governments under Éamon de Valera. He considered that those who did not conform to traditional Roman Catholic mores were generally ill-suited to the public service, though that does not appear to have impeded his ascent through it. In the Department of External Affairs during the 1949–52 inter-party government, O'Brien served under former IRA Chief of Staff republican, Seán MacBride, the 1974 Nobel Peace Laureate, son of John MacBride and Maud Gonne. O'Brien was particularly vocal in opposition to partition during the 1940s and 1950s, as part of his official duties.

In 1961, O'Brien came to world prominence after secondment from Ireland's UN delegation as a special representative to Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the United Nations in the Katanga region of the newly independent Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). O'Brien attempted to prevent the mineral rich region from seceding by expelling French and other western backed mercenaries. After initiating military action and under pressure from western powers attempting to provoke secession, in particular Britain and white ruled Rhodesia, O'Brien stepped down from his UN position and also simultaneously from the Irish diplomatic service in late 1961.

He wrote immediately about his experiences in The Observer (London) and in the New York Times, and later in To Katanga and Back (1962), considered a classic of both modern African history and of the inner workings of the United Nations. In 1962, in response to an invitation from the Chancellor of the University of Ghana, and the country's leader, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, O'Brien accepted a position as Vice-Chancellor of the University. However, his interpretation of academic freedom later differed from that of Dr. Nkrumah, and he subsequently resigned in 1965. Following this he was the first Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities at New York University from 1965 to 1969. During the 1960s O'Brien opposed western, in particular US, imperialism and protested against US participation in the Vietnam War. O'Brien supported the right of oppressed people to use violence. In a debate involving Noam Chomsky, Hannah Arendt, Susan Sontag and others in 1967, he asserted,

The question has also been raised here about the terror used by the National Liberation Front [in Vietnam], and by other revolutionary movements. I think there is a distinction between the use of terror by oppressed peoples against the oppressors and their servants, in comparison with the use of terror by their oppressors in the interests of further oppression. I think there is a qualitative distinction there which we have the right to make.

O'Brien returned to Ireland and in the 1969 general election was elected to Dáil Éireann as a member of the opposition Labour Party, representing the Dublin North–East constituency, together with three other TDs, including Charles Haughey, whose probity in financial matters he questioned. He was appointed a member of the short-lived first delegation from the Oireachtas to the European Parliament. Following the 1973 general election, O'Brien was appointed Minister for Posts and Telegraphs in the 1973–77 Labour Fine Gael coalition under Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave.

During this period, after the outbreak of armed conflict in Northern Ireland in 1969, O'Brien developed a deep hostility to militant Irish republicanism and to Irish nationalists generally in Northern Ireland, reversing views articulated at the outset of unrest. He extended and vigorously enforced censorship of Radio Teilefís Éireann (RTÉ) under Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act. In 1976 he specifically banned spokespersons for Sinn Féin and the Provisional Irish Republican Army from RTÉ. At the same time, he attempted unsuccessfully to get Britain's BBC 1 television channel broadcast on Ireland's proposed second television channel, instead of allowing RTÉ to run it.

Two additional notable incidents affected O'Brien's career as minister, besides support for broadcasting censorship.

In August 1976, Bernard Nossiter of the Washington Post interviewed O'Brien regarding the passage of an Emergency Powers Bill. During the course of the interview O'Brien revealed an intention to extend censorship beyond broadcasting. He wished to "cleanse the culture" of republicanism and would like the bill to be used against teachers who allegedly glorified Irish revolutionaries. He also wanted it used against newspaper editors who published pro-republican or anti-British readers' letters.

O'Brien mentioned the Irish Press as a newspaper which in particular he hoped to use the legislation against and produced a file of Irish Press letters to the editor to which he took exception. Nossiter immediately informed Irish Press editor Tim Pat Coogan of O'Brien's intentions. Coogan printed Nossiter's report (as did the Irish TImes), republished the letters to which O'Brien objected, and ran a number of strong editorials attacking O'Brien and the proposed legislation. The interview caused huge controversy, resulting in modification of the measure appearing to target newspapers.

O'Brien also supported Garda brutality in this 1973–77 period, though this was not revealed by O'Brien until 1998 in his Memoir. In Memoir: My Life and Themes, O'Brien recalled a conversation with a detective who told him how the Gardaí had found out – from a suspect – the location of businessman Tiede Herrema, who had been kidnapped by group of maverick republicans in October 1975: "[T]he escort started asking him questions and when at first he refused to answer, they beat the shit out of him. Then he told them where Herrema was." O'Brien explained, "I refrained from telling this story to [ministerial colleagues] Garret [FitzGerald] or Justin [Keating], because I thought it would worry them. It didn't worry me." Elements of the Garda Síochána that engaged in beating false confessions out of suspects quickly became known as the "Heavy Gang".

O'Brien's Dublin North–East constituency was abolished as part of a government inspired redrawing of boundaries. In the 1977 general election he stood in Dublin Clontarf and was one of three ministers defeated in a general rout of the outgoing administration. He was, however, subsequently elected to Seanad Éireann in 1977 from the Trinity College Dublin constituency, though he resigned his seat in 1979 due to new commitments as editor-in-chief of the London Observer newspaper.

Between 1978 and 1981 O'Brien was editor-in-chief of The Observer newspaper in Britain. In 1979 he controversially pulped an Observer magazine with an article by Mary Holland, The Observer's Ireland correspondent. Holland, whose reporting won her a Journalist of the Year award, had been one of the first journalists to explain discrimination in Northern Ireland to a British audience. The article was a profile of Mary Nellis of Derry and dealt with her radicalisation as a result of the conflict. O'Brien objected and sent Holland a memo stating that the "killing strain" of Irish republicanism, "has a very high propensity to run in families and the mother is most often the carrier". He continued,

It is a very serious weakness of your coverage of Irish affairs that you are a very poor judge of Irish Catholics. That gifted and talkative community includes some of the most expert conmen and conwomen in the world and I believe you have been conned.

Holland was forced out of the newspaper by O'Brien. She later joined the Irish Times as a columnist. She also rejoined The Observer after O'Brien's departure in 1981.

In 1985, O'Brien supported unionist objections to the inter governmental Anglo-Irish Agreement. In 1996 he joined Robert McCartney's United Kingdom Unionist Party (UKUP) and was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum. In 1997, a successful libel action was brought against him by relatives of Bloody Sunday victims for alleging in a Sunday Independent article in 1997 that the marchers were "Sinn Féin activists operating for the IRA". O'Brien opposed the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and opposed allowing Sinn Féin into government in Northern Ireland. He later resigned from the UKUP after his book Memoir: My Life and Themes called on Unionists to consider the benefits of a united Ireland to thwart Sinn Féin. In 2005 he rejoined the Labour Party. O'Brien defended his harsh attitudes and actions towards Irish republicans with,

"We do right to condemn all violence but we have a special duty to condemn the violence which is committed in our name".
Conor Cruise O'Brien's many books include: States of Ireland (1972), where he first indicated his revised view of Irish nationalism, The Great Melody (1992), his unorthodox biography of Edmund Burke, and his autobiography Memoir: My Life and Themes (1999). He also published a collection of essays, Passion and Cunning (1988), which includes a substantial piece on the literary work of William Butler Yeats and some challenging views on the subject of terrorism, and The Siege: The Saga of Israel and Zionism (1986), a history of Zionism and the State of Israel. His books, particularly those on Irish issues, tend to be personalised, for example States of Ireland, where he made the link between the political success of the republican Easter Rising and the consequent demise of his Home Rule family's position in society. His private papers have been deposited in the University College Dublin Archives.

In 1963, O'Brien's script for a Telefís Éireann programme on Charles Stewart Parnell won him a Jacob's Award.

He was a longtime columnist for the Irish Independent. His articles were distinguished by hostility to the 'peace process' in Northern Ireland, regular predictions of civil war involving the Republic of Ireland, and a pro-Unionist stance.

O'Brien held visiting professorships and lectureships throughout the world, particularly in the United States, and controversially in apartheid South Africa, openly breaking the academic boycott. A persistent critic of Charles Haughey, O'Brien coined the acronym GUBU (Grotesque, Unbelievable, Bizarre and Unprecedented), based on a statement by Charles Haughey, who was then Taoiseach, commenting on the discovery of a murder suspect, Malcolm MacArthur, in the apartment of the Fianna Fáil Attorney General Patrick Connolly. Until 1994, O'Brien was Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dublin.

The works of Dr. Conor Cruise O'Brien include:

  • Maria Cross: Imaginative Patterns in a Group of Modern Catholic Writers (as Donat O'Donnell) (London: Chatto & Windus, 1952) OCLC 7884093
  • Parnell and His Party 1880–90 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957) ISBN 978-0-19-821237-9 (1968 edition)
  • To Katanga and Back: A UN Case History (London: Hutchinson, 1962) OCLC 460615937
  • Writers and Politics: Essays & Criticism (London: Chatto & Windus, 1965) ISBN 978-0-14-002733-4 (1976 Penguin edition)
  • Murderous Angels: A Political Tragedy and Comedy in Black and White (play) (Boston: Little, Brown, 1968) OCLC 449739
  • The United Nations: Sacred Drama with illustrations by Feliks Topolski (London: Hutchinson, 1968) ISBN 978-0-09-085790-6
  • Camus (Fontana Modern Masters, 1970) ISBN 978-0-00-211147-8 – released in US as Albert Camus of Europe and Africa (New York: Viking, 1970) ISBN 978-0-670-01902-1
  • States of Ireland (London: Hutchinson, 1972) ISBN 978-0-09-113100-5
  • The Suspecting Glance (London: Faber, 1972) ISBN 978-0-571-09543-8
  • Herod: Reflections on Political Violence (Hutchinson, 1978) ISBN 978-0-09-133190-0
  • The Siege: The Saga of Israel and Zionism (1986) ISBN 978-0-671-63310-3
  • God Land : Reflections on Religion and Nationalism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988) ISBN 978-0-674-35510-1
  • Passion and Cunning and Other Essays (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988) ISBN 978-0-297-79325-0
  • The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography of Edmund Burke (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992) ISBN 978-0-226-61651-3
  • On the Eve of the Millennium (Toronto: House of Anansi, 1994). ISBN 978-0-88784-559-8
  • The Long Affair: Thomas Jefferson and the French Revolution, 1785–1800 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996) ISBN 978-0-226-61656-8
  • Ancestral Voices: Religion and Nationalism in Ireland (Dublin: Poolbeg Press, 1994) ISBN 978-1-85371-429-0
  • Memoir: My Life and Themes (Dublin: Poolbeg, 1999) ISBN 978-1-85371-947-9
  • Máire and Conor Cruise O'Brien:
    • A Concise History of Ireland (London: Thames and Hudson, 1972) ISBN 978-0-500-45011-6 – released in US as The Story of Ireland (New York: Viking, 1972) ISBN 978-0-670-67475-6


    
    

    Members of the Nineteenth Dáil - Richard Burke

    Richard "Dick" Burke (born 29 March 1932) is a former Irish Fine Gael politician and European Commissioner.

    Burke was born in New York in the United States in 1932. He was raised in Tipperary and educated at the Christian Brothers School, Thurles, University College Dublin (UCD) and King's Inns. He worked as a teacher before embarking on a political career. His first political involvement was with the Christian Democrat Party founded by Seán Loftus. However, he soon became a member of Fine Gael, becoming a member of Dublin County Council in 1967. Two years later in 1969 he was elected to Dáil Éireann for the first time, becoming a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin County South. He was immediately appointed Chief Whip by party leader Liam Cosgrave.

    In 1973, a new Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition government was formed and Burke was appointed Minister for Education. During that period in power he joined the Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, in voting against the government's own Contraceptives Bill. In 1976 he won an internal cabinet battle with Justin Keating for the nomination as Ireland’s European Commissioner. In that position he succeeded Patrick Hillery who returned to become President of Ireland.

    Burke did not contest the 1977 general election but on the completion of his four-year term as Commissioner, Burke accepted an invitation to stand at the 1981 general election for Fine Gael on returning to Ireland from Harvard University after his fellowship year at Leverett House from 1980-1981. He was elected for Dublin West.

    However, Burke was not appointed to the short lived cabinet. He retained his seat at the general election which followed in February 1982, but Fine Gael was out of office. The governments' short-lived cabinet, in the absence of suitable and available members of their own party, nominated Burke for acceptance by the Council of Ministers as commissioner for the second time where his seniority resulted in his nomination as Vice-President of the Commission. Burke became President and chief executive officer of the Stichting Cannon Foundation in Europe until his retirement in 1998.

    Burke is married to Mary and has 6 children.

    Members of the Nineteenth Dáil - Justin Keating

    Justin Keating
     
    Justin Keating (7 January 1930 – 31 December 2009) was an Irish Labour Party politician, broadcaster, journalist, lecturer and veterinary surgeon. In later life he was President of the Humanist Association of Ireland.

    Keating served in Liam Cosgrave's cabinet as Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1973 to 1977. He also spent time in Seanad Éireann and was a Member of the European Parliament. He was considered part of a "new wave" of politicians at the time of his election.

    He was born in Dublin in 1930, a son of the noted painter Seán Keating. Keating was educated at Sandford Park School, and then at University College Dublin (UCD) and the University of London. He became a lecturer in anatomy at the UCD veterinary college from 1955 until 1960 and was senior lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin from 1960 until 1965. He was RTÉ's head of agricultural programmes for two years before returning to Trinity College in 1967. While at RTÉ, he scripted and presented Telefís Feirme, a series for the agricultural community, for which he won a Jacob's Award in 1966.

    Keating was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Labour Party Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin County North constituency at the 1969 general election. From 1973 to 1977 he served in the National Coalition government under Liam Cosgrave as Minister for Industry and Commerce. In 1973 he was appointed a Member of the European Parliament from the Oireachtas, serving on the short-lived first delegation.

    During 1975, Keating introduced the first substantial legislation for the development of Ireland's oil and gas. The legislation was modelled on international best practise, ensuring the Irish people would gain substantial benefit from their own oil and gas. Under Keating's legislation the state could acquire a 50% stake, by right, in any viable oil and gas reserves discovered. Production royalties of between 8% and 16% with corporation tax of 50% would accrue to the state. The legislation specified energy companies would begin drilling within three years of the date of the issue of an exploration license.
    He lost his Dáil seat at the 1977 general election, but was subsequently elected to Seanad Éireann on the Agricultural Panel, serving there until 1981. He briefly served again in the European Parliament from February to June 1984 when he replaced Séamus Pattison.

    In the aftermath of President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's "World Without Zionism" speech in 2005, Keating published an Op-ed in The Dubliner Magazine, expressing his views on Israel. The article starts by claiming that "the Zionists have absolutely no right in what they call Israel". Keating then proceeds to explain why he thinks Israel has no right to exist, claiming that the Ashkenazi Jews are descended from Khazars.

    Keating died on 31 December 2009, one week before his eightieth birthday. Tributes came from the leaders of the Labour Party and Fine Gael at the time of his death, Eamon Gilmore and Enda Kenny, as well as former Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach John Bruton.

    Members of the Nineteenth Dáil - John O'Sullivan

    John L. O'Sullivan
     
    John L. O'Sullivan (8 June 1901 – 28 February 1990) was an Irish Fine Gael politician and farmer from West Cork who was a Senator for 7 years and later a Teachta Dála (TD) for 8 years.

    O'Sullivan was an unsuccessful Fine Gael candidate for Dáil Éireann at the 1937 general election in the Cork West constituency, was defeated again at four further general elections before finally being elected to the 19th Dáil nearly thirty years later.

    After his defeat in Cork West at the 1954 general election, O'Sullivan won a seat in the 1954 Administrative Panel elections to the 8th Seanad Éireann, and was re-elected in 1957 to the 9th Seanad. He did not contest the 1957 general election.

    He was first returned to the Dáil at the age of 68 at the 1969 general election, as the only Fine Gael TD in the 19th Dáil for the 3-seat Cork South–West constituency. He was re-elected at the 1973 general election, but lost his seat at the 1977 general election.

    Members of the Nineteenth Dáil - Gerard Cott

    Gerard Cott (born 30 April 1940) is a former Irish Fine Gael politician and secondary teacher. He was elected to Dáil Éireann for the Cork North–East constituency at the 1969 general election. He did not contest the 1973 general election.

    Saturday, October 5, 2013

    Members of the Nineteenth Dáil - Seán Brosnan

    Seán Brosnan (21 December 1916 – 18 April 1979) was an Irish barrister and Fianna Fáil politician from County Cork. He served for 10 years in the Oireachtas, as a Teachta Dála (TD) and as a Senator.

    At the 1969 general election, Brosnan was elected to the 19th Dáil as a TD for Cork North–East. It was his second attempt — he had been defeated in 1965 — and he lost his seat at the 1973 general election. He was then elected to the 13th Seanad Éireann on the Administrative Panel, but he regained his Dáil seat in a by-election in November 1974 after the death of his Fianna Fáil colleague Liam Ahern.

    Brosnan was re-elected at the 1977 general election to the 21st Dáil, and also served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). MEPs were at that time appointed by national parliaments rather than being elected, and Brosnan was one of a 10-member delegation from the Oireachtas until the first direct elections in 1979.

    After his death in 1979, the resulting by-election on 7 November was won for Fine Gael by Myra Barry.

    Members of the Nineteenth Dáil - Paddy Forde

    Patrick "Paddy" Forde (22 July 1922 – 13 May 1972) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. Forde stood unsuccessfully for election at the 1965 general election. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) at the 1969 general election for the Cork Mid constituency. He died in 1972 during the 19th Dáil, a by-election was held on 2 August 1972 which was won by Gene Fitzgerald of Fianna Fáil.

    Members of the Nineteenth Dáil - Peter Barry

    Peter Barry (born 10 August 1928) is a retired Irish Fine Gael politician and businessman from Cork city. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1969 to 1997, and as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1982 to 1987 he helped negotiate the Anglo-Irish Agreement and in 1987 he served for a short time as Tánaiste (deputy prime minister).

    Barry was the son of Anthony Barry, a Fine Gael Teachta Dála (TD) and well-known businessman. He was educated in Cork and then became the major shareholder in the family company, Barry's Tea.

    Peter Barry was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD for the Cork City South–East constituency at the 1969 general election. When Fine Gael came to power at the 1973 general election, he was appointed Minister for Transport and Power. In 1976 he became Minister for Education. In 1979, when Garret FitzGerald became leader, Barry was elected deputy leader of the Fine Gael party. From 1981 to March 1982 he served as Minister for the Environment.

    From December 1982 to 1987, he was the Minister for Foreign Affairs. In his capacity as Foreign Minister he was heavily involved in the negotiations which resulted in the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement. He also became the first joint chairman of the Anglo-Irish Inter-Governmental Conference which was established by the Irish and British governments. Following the Labour Party's withdrawal from the coalition government in 1987 Barry became Tánaiste for a brief period.

    When FitzGerald resigned as Fine Gael leader after 1987 general election Barry was one of three candidates (along with Alan Dukes and John Bruton) who contested the leadership of Fine Gael. Dukes was the eventual victor.

    He retired at the 1997 general election and his seat was held for Fine Gael by his daughter, Deirdre Clune.

    He receives annual pension payments of €126,000.

    In 1986, the fifteen Unionist members of the Westminster parliament resigned in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement, leading to by-elections. To ensure contests in each constituency, Wesley Robert Williamson changed his name by deed poll to Peter Barry and stood in the four constituencies of North Antrim, South Antrim, East Londonderry and Strangford under the label "For the Anglo-Irish Agreement". Despite not campaigning, he won over 6,000 votes.

    Diaspora Irish answer Ireland’s call at Global Forum in Dublin -- Ireland gathers its worldwide tribe together at weekend think-in

    In an article from Irish Central dated 5 October 2013, states:

    Enda Kenny

    The Grand Hall at the former Kilmainham hospital in Dublin is a relic of British times, a beautiful piece of architecture that conjures up colonial Dublin from centuries ago.

    The lords and ladies who graced the dance floor of long ago must have turned in their eternal sleep last night as Irish from all over the world gathered to hear President Michael D. Higgins and Prime Minister Enda Kenny address the Global Irish Forum over dinner. James Galway added a music interlude after dinner that was the melody of angels.

    Kenny outlined the Irish abroad role as similar to the “meitheal” the old coming together of farmers and farmers’ sons to help a local farmer who was in need in rural Ireland.

    The expatriate Irish were again answering Ireland’s call,  Kenny told the assembled crowd, from Seattle to Singapore to Sydney they had showed up and Argentina and  Vancouver and Turkey too.

    Practically every minister in the government, including foreign minister and Deputy Leader Eamon Gilmore, showed too, a sure sign of how seriously  the government was taking the foreign friendly invasion.

    Ministers sat hosting each table. The dinner was four and half hours long -- only in Ireland murmured one Irish American, but no one was leaving. 

    President Higgins was no less eloquent, welcoming the global family back home and saying wherever they were from in the world there was a great welcome for them.

    Earlier in the day the meitheal had split into various working groups discussing issues such as tourism, youth unemployment, investment, small business and much else. Ireland is in trouble still, paying off massive debts but the arrogance of old is gone and a deep connection to their expatriate tribe is now evident.

    From the initial Gathering sprang the first seeds of the actual gathering in 2011. That has proven a tremendous boon for the tourism industry and the small businesses that thrive on it.

    Also, from the last forum, came the Connect Ireland initiative which pays individuals to seek out and direct potential investors to Ireland. At the conference it was announced that 83 further jobs had been added to the hundreds already created.

    What will be the big idea to emerge from this Forum? No one knows yet and the final day sessions will reveal many potential initiatives that could into great acorns grow.

    Friday was a good day for the Irish abroad, paid the utmost acknowledgment by the state so many feel such deep connections to. Only good things can happen as a result.

    Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/periscope/diaspora-irish-answer-irelands-call-at-global-forum-in-dublin----ireland-gathers-its-worldwide-tribe-together-at-weekend-think-in-226577761.html#ixzz2gsFQn5qP 
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    Irish postal service dedicated stamp to centenary of Irish Volunteer Force

    In an article in Irish Central dated October 5,2013, subtitled by Jane Walsh "An Post honors Volunteers who were central to the 1916 Easter Rising" states:

    An Post Stamps - Irish Volunteer Force
    An Post, Ireland’s national postage service, has issued a stamp to commemorate the centenary of the Irish Volunteer Force.
    The 60c stamp features a group of Irish Volunteers from Waterford by A.H. Poole Studio Photographers, and was shared by the National Library of Ireland.
    In the six years of their short existence the Irish Volunteer Force helped shape the course of Irish history and left behind a legacy that lives on to this day. The Irish Volunteers were formed to defend the application of the Home Rule Bill to the whole of Ireland.
    However, with the outbreak of World War I, the implementation of Home Rule was deferred. This led to a split in the Irish Volunteers. The majority formed the National Volunteers and went to Europe to help Britain in its war effort, believing this was the best way of achieving Home Rule.
    The remaining Irish Volunteers, led by Eoin MacNeill stayed in Ireland. It now contained many Irish Republican Brotherhood members who were intent on striking against Britain while it was distracted by the war. MacNeill opposed a rebellion, but was tricked into supporting their plans. The rising took place at Easter 1916, but was a failure. In the aftermath, the Irish Volunteers were forced underground where they reorganized. In the War of Independence which began in 1919, the Irish Volunteers became known as the Irish Republican Army.