The nationalist Easter Rising of 1916 saw the taking of strategic sites in Dublin, including the General Post Office, and the proclamation of an independent Irish republic. The British government, then engulfed in a life-or-death conflict with Germany, had no qualms about using troops diverted from the Western Front and heavy armaments in central Dublin. Many of the rebels were executed as traitors – a heavy-handed approach that boosted support for Irish nationalism. Future president of Ireland, Éamon de Valera, was originally given a death sentence which was later commuted to life in prison.
In the post-war election of 1919, the nationalist Sinn Féin party won the majority of Irish seats (in the Westminster parliament). The members then declared Ireland independent and formed the Dáil Éireann (Irish Assembly). The Irish War of Independence followed, ending in 1921 with the Anglo-Irish Treaty that established the Irish Free State. The treaty allowed six of the northern counties of Ulster – mostly still in favour of union with Britain – to opt out of the Free State, a right they promptly exercised.
A Victorian post box overstamped with the ‘SE’ Irish Free State mark
The Treaty was, however, divisive among nationalists, many of whom objected to the partition of Ireland. The Free State’s status as a dominion, albeit autonomous, of the hated British Empire also rankled. The subsequent Irish Civil War of 1922-23 between pro- and anti-Treaty forces petered out into a de facto victory for those backing the deal. However, the loss of lives – including charismatic and high-profile figures such as Michael Collins – and the damage from guerrilla warfare laid a poor foundation for a fledgling independent nation.
Ireland remained neutral during World War II. Its next major landmark came in 1973 as the country joined what was then the European Economic Community (now the EU) at the same time as its single largest trading partner the United Kingdom. By then ‘The Troubles’ had already broken out in Northern Ireland, where British troops were engaged and paramilitaries from pro-Republican and pro-British factions were on the streets. The Good Friday Agreement of 1998, ratified by all sides, brought an end to the violence, but political conflict and socio-political division remain.
Eye of the tiger
In the south of the island, economic growth had at best been stuttering since independence, while unrest in the north had blighted investment there since the 1970s. Historically, many of Ireland’s best and brightest left to pursue careers in Britain or further afield. At the start of the 1990s Ireland was a poor country by Western European standards but, driven by EU investment, low taxation, pro-business policies and the availability of a well-educated workforce, the economy entered a boom phase. The economy grew at over 9 per cent a year between 1995 and 2000 and continued to expand at up to 6 per cent a year until the global credit crisis began to hit in 2007-8.
Ireland was by then dubbed the ‘Celtic Tiger’ as one of the few European economies to match the growth in the Asian Tiger economies at the time. Companies such as Microsoft and Facebook had chosen Ireland as a European base. Land prices had ballooned and new housing estates littered the Irish landscape. But the good times ended abruptly with the ‘credit crunch’ of 2008. A calamitous downturn followed and, as a Eurozone economy, Ireland suffered the indignity of intervention from the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
By the early part of the second decade of the century Ireland’s economy returned to growth. Dublin booms again although the growth is less visible in the west of the island. Tourism, for a long time a reliable contributor to the Irish economy, is stirring after suffering (at least by comparison with other sectors) during the Tiger period. Luring visitors away from Dublin and traditional hotspots such as Killarney is a policy goal: projects such as the Wild Atlantic Way are seeing significant investment and improvement in accommodation, places to eat and visitor facilities, some of which seemed destined to moulder away during the boom years.
Dawros Bay is ringed with small beaches such as this one at Rossbeg (Route 1, Stage 8)
What’s in a name?
Because of the history of the island, most places in Ireland have both Irish and Anglicised names. Visitors to Ireland generally find the Anglicised names easier to recognise, read and pronounce – something which could be crucial when following or asking for directions. Purely for pragmatic reasons, therefore, this guide tends to use the Anglicised versions.
Appendix B gives a few of the original Gaelic placenames with an explanation of their meanings.
Built heritage and architecture
Ireland has megalithic structures and other prehistoric remains of the highest order. The Iron Age ring fort of Dun Aengus on the Aran Islands is one of the star attractions, but there are countless other interesting and well-preserved sites.
Ireland is also blessed with some fine early Christian architecture. Skellig Michael monastery is one of the best preserved early Christian sites in Europe. A feature unique to Ireland are its round towers, dating from the 9th to 12th centuries and usually part of a monastic settlement. These thin stone towers, commonly 25–30m high with a conical roof, served as bell towers and places of storage as well as a lookout. There is a fine example at Killala in County Mayo.
Round towers such as this one at Killala are a distinctly Irish medieval form of ecclesiastical architecture (Route 2, Stage 4)
The later Christian architecture of Ireland is also impressive. Muckross Abbey, County Kerry, and Ross Errilly Friary, County Galway, remain as particularly fine monastic ruins.
A fortification to look for from an earlier period is the crannog. These lake island fortifications date from the Iron Age through to medieval times. There are particularly good examples at Kiltooris Lough (Route 1, Stage 8) and on Achill Island (Route 2, Stage 6).
Fast-forwarding to the 18th century, Ireland has more than its fair share of grand houses. Bantry House in County Cork dates from this period. There is also some fine 19th-century Gothic Revival architecture in Ireland.
At a more prosaic level, although the traditional whitewashed thatched Irish cottage is slowly succumbing to modernisation, some good examples still survive, particularly in Donegal.
Culture
Literature
Ireland has a great tradition of Gaelic literature, much of it hailing from the Atlantic coast. Good translations are, however, hard to find. You could try Máirtín Ó Cadhain’s 1949 novel Cré na Cille which has new translations as Graveyard Clay and The Dirty Dust. For poetry, try Máirtín Ó Direáin’s Tacar Danta/Selected Poems. Perhaps more accessible is the Irish contribution to literature in English. The island has produced four Nobel Laureates for literature: William Butler Yeats – who had strong ties with the Sligo area, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney. Another great of Irish literature with ties to the Atlantic coast is John Millington Synge whose one-act play Riders to the Sea, set in the Aran Islands, was first performed in 1904. For a more contemporary perspective, the trials and tribulations of life in Ireland since the financial downturn of 2008 have sparked a revival in novels and short stories. Writers such as Sarah Baume, Kevin Barry and their contemporaries are an effective antidote to any over-romantic view of life in Ireland.
Appendix D contains some suggestions for reading before, during and after your trip.
Gorse flowers on the hills above Lough Swilly (Route 1, Stage 4)
Gaelic sports