Owen O'Shea's Blog
Occasional meanderings and insights into Kerry’s past with a focus on electioneering, election results, key political figures, political culture, and the dramatic ups and downs of politics in the county over the past century.
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NEW BOOK CATALOGUES TRAGEDY AND SUFFERING OF CIVIL WAR IN KERRY
The violence and divisions of the Civil War in County Kerry were more vicious, bitter and prolonged than anywhere else in Ireland. For generations, the fratricide, murder and executions, and
The murder of 17-year-old Bertie Murphy
One of the saddest and most shocking aspects of the Civil War in County Kerry is the very young age at which many combatants and civilians met their deaths. Several
Ballymacandy: a new play by Owen O’Shea this November
The dramatic story of the IRA ambush of members of the Crown Forces near Milltown, County Kerry in 1921 is being presented as a new play in Milltown Community Hall
“They reeled back dead” – the killing of two soldiers on Inisfallen Island in Killarney in 1922
As the boat approached the shore of Innisfallen, the largest island on Killarney’s Lough Leane, Robert Roberts’ oars sliced through the still waters with ease. An experienced boatman from Clovers
No Middle Path: new book on the Civil War in Kerry coming soon from Merrion Press
The Civil War in Kerry was more brutal, divisive, violent and protracted than in any other county leaving physical, psychological and emotional scars which have lasted for generations. A new
Brother against brother: the Civil War in Kerry
The Irish Civil War has often been described as the war of the brothers. Families were sometimes split down the middle in disagreement over the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty
Bridie Wren: The Queen of Balochistan
Quite a number of sons and daughters of Kerry have gone out from Ireland and made significant marks in their adopted countries but few underwent the transformation that a young
Bloody Sunday 1972: from the memoir of Fianna Fáil TD for Kerry South, John O’Leary
One event in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s tested the mettle of those of us in Fianna Fáil who were hoping that the Troubles could be ended by peaceful
Reporting the Revolution: Kerry newspapers 1920 – 1923
My presentation to the Daniel O’Connell School 2021 which took place in Cahersiveen in October. The presentation deals with how the newspapers in Kerry reported on the turbulent events in
The Kerry TD killed in a road accident in 1955
The road surface was later described as having been ‘most slippery’ and ‘treacherous’.’ It was Sunday, 11 December 1955 and Johnny Connor, the Clann na Poblachta TD for Kerry North
Three Kerrymen and the Treaty
The plenipotentiaries who signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921 did not include any Kerry men or women. But three Kerry political figures did make their own contribution and
The Kerry MP denied the right to speak Irish in the House of Commons
Thomas (Tom) O’Donnell, who served as the member of parliament for West Kerry from 1900 to 1918, was born on 30 November 1871. A native of Ballyduff near Castlegregory, he
