Irish Parliament House

Thanks very much for this item dealing with the Old Irish Parliament. It’s very sad that the Dail meets nowadays at Leinster House instead College Green.What a beautiful building very close to the main entrance of Trinity!

Nice to see someone pour a little cold water on the sacred aura surrounding the ’98 Rising. If I’m not mistaken, a large number of Munstermen enlisted to resist it. One theory suggests that they had relatives in French military service, and knew what was in store if there was a repeat of the French revolution on Irish soil. That’s not to say the British response wasn’t, in many respects, boneheaded and excessive (as usual), but as you show so well in the above post, before 1798, things were steadily improving, making it a really stupid time to attempt a rebellion.

Mr. Cusack,
I hope you don’t mind that I have taken the liberty of adding your site, which I have enjoyed for some months now, to the blogroll of our little start-up venture of down the dial. Please drop by if you have a moment. Thanks,
MJB

Unfortunately, Dail Eireann couldn’t possibly meet in what is now the Bank of Ireland. The Bank destroyed the Commons chamber when they purchased the building, and pledged never to rebuild it. Also, it’s not really one building but nine, internally discrete structures. It also has a reinforced roof and no external windows. Several hundred soldiers could stand on the roof and use the balustrade to take cover; no windows also meant no opportunity for snipers outside. It’s a lovely building but it’s also a fortress designed to exclude a presumably hostile populace. Ireland may have been “improving” but not that much. The Ascendancy still saw themselves in some ways as an occupying force.

Very interesting post particularly because of my Irish backround

Eamonn,

Excellent point.

Someone (maybe it was me)once said that you can judge the vitality of a democracy by the accessibility of its official forums.

By the way, if you’ve seen the Capitol here in Washington lately, you may start to wonder.

WAC

Very, very pleased to see your piece on the Old Parliament Building. Loved to amble through the old chamber of the House of Lords whenever in Dublin town while I was an exchange student in Maynooth.

While I’d suggest there are a few more buildings in Dublin on a par with it, including John Gandon’s Custom House or the “Peppercanister” Church, I vehemently agree with your post. Your balanced – and informed – approach to Irish history is commendable (and a heartening contrast to the usual Brit-bashing drivel on both sides of the Atlantic and from the self-styled intelligentsia).
The motto of the now defunct Order of St. Patrick was “Quis separabit”. In view of political and historic developments since its inception this motto always sounded, as we say in my native language, like “whistling in the cellar”. Yet, when it comes to architecture, literature and culture, the motto is as true now as it was then.

The Old Parliament serves as a reminder, as do the Lion and Unicorn on Custom House.

Another phrase from a soldiers song of around 1800 (of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, I think) just now strikes me, less Latinate than “Quis separabit” but expressing the same shared heritage and what it stood for: “Let’s twine the shamrock with the rose and pull old Boney by the nose…”

As a German, I am quite happy they did.

Andrew, great site.
Im Irish (mix of both breeds) & agree with your balanced approach to history. There are many in Ireland (south) that retain deep connection with England in particular. The resolution of the troubles in Ulster, may see closer links forged between the two islands in the future.
Finally, can you direct me to the source of your prints & pictures of the old parliment house? Would appreciate your help in this regard. Thank you again.