Colum Kenny

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Colum Kenny
Colum Kenny and Ambassador O'Malley December 2014.jpg
Kenny and US ambassador Kevin O'Malley at the launch of "Irish American Odyssey"
NationalityIrish
Occupation(s) Journalist, barrister and historian
Known forEmeritus Professor at Dublin City University (DCU), in Dublin, Ireland
Notable workThe Enigma of Arthur Griffith

Colum Kenny is a journalist, barrister and historian. He is Emeritus Professor at Dublin City University (DCU), in Dublin, Ireland. He was formerly chair of the Masters in Journalism programme at DCU in the School of Communications 1982-2015. [1]

Contents

Kenny was a member of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland 2010-2015 and of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland/IRTC 1998-2003. A former employee of RTE, he was a founding board member of the E.U. Media Desk in Ireland and is a council member of the Irish Legal History Society. [2] He was a member of the Media Mergers Advisory Group that reported to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in 2008. [3] The author of many academic articles on cultural and media matters, he is also a member of the National Union of Journalists and a frequent contributor to media debates and a consultant on communications.

Awards

Kenny was awarded the DCU President's Award for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2004/5.

In 2018 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Irish Legal History Society. [4]

Colum Kenny's book, "Midnight in London: The Anglo-Irish Treaty Crisis 1921"

During the night of 5–6 December 1921, Irish delegates at Downing Street signed an agreement to end the War of Independence and create a new Irish state. This is the story of that fraught deal, and of the events and people behind it. The story is told from original sources and eyewitness accounts, and brings to life the Treaty that sparked a civil war but made modern Ireland. Irish negotiators were under great pressure in London. For nearly two months Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins and three others faced some of the most powerful men in the British Empire, including David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. Griffith and Collins saw the Treaty as a stepping-stone to greater freedom. Both were dead within a year. Colum Kenny turns a spotlight on the key issues and problems they faced, examining why Éamon de Valera stayed away and what the delegates themselves achieved. Ireland was already partitioned when the talking started. The choice was whether or not to fight on for some kind of republic – or accept Britain’s offer of limited independence. [5]

Did Michael Collins say that in signing the Anglo-Irish Treaty on the 6 December 1921 he was signing his own death warrant? Colum Kenny addressed this question in this book.

“A quotation has been attributed to Michael Collins, and very often repeated, to the effect that when he signed the agreement that night, he signed his own death warrant. This statement cannot be confirmed, as only one biographer, Rex Taylor, has claimed to have seen the letter in which it was reportedly made.”

Colum Kenny went on to say, “Collins did write to his friend Kitty Kiernan on 6 December to say that he had not got to bed until 5 o’clock that morning, adding, ‘I don’t know how things will go now but with God’s help we have brought peace to this land of ours - a peace which will end this old strife of ours forever’” [6]

Published works

Books by Colum Kenny include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish Republican Army (1919–1922)</span> Paramilitary organisation

The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary paramilitary organisation. The ancestor of many groups also known as the Irish Republican Army, and distinguished from them as the "Old IRA", it was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916. In 1919, the Irish Republic that had been proclaimed during the Easter Rising was formally established by an elected assembly, and the Irish Volunteers were recognised by Dáil Éireann as its legitimate army. Thereafter, the IRA waged a guerrilla campaign against the British occupation of Ireland in the 1919–1921 Irish War of Independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish Civil War</span> 1922–1923 conflict between factions of the IRA

The Irish Civil War was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Éamon de Valera</span> Irish statesman (1882–1975)

Éamon de Valera was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of government and head of state and had a leading role in introducing the 1937 Constitution of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Collins (Irish leader)</span> Irish revolutionary and politician (1890–1922)

Michael Collins was an Irish revolutionary, soldier and politician who was a leading figure in the early-20th century struggle for Irish independence. During the War of Independence he was Director of Intelligence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a government minister of the self-declared Irish Republic. He was then Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State from January 1922 and commander-in-chief of the National Army from July until his death in an ambush in August 1922, during the Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglo-Irish Treaty</span> 1921 agreement which ended the Irish War of Independence

The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence. It provided for the establishment of the Irish Free State within a year as a self-governing dominion within the "community of nations known as the British Empire", a status "the same as that of the Dominion of Canada". It also provided Northern Ireland, which had been created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, an option to opt out of the Irish Free State, which the Parliament of Northern Ireland exercised.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish Republic</span> Revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom; 1919-1922

The Irish Republic was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by 1920 its functional control was limited to only 21 of Ireland's 32 counties, and British state forces maintained a presence across much of the north-east, as well as Cork, Dublin and other major towns. The republic was strongest in rural areas, and through its military forces was able to influence the population in urban areas that it did not directly control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Ireland (1921–1922)</span> Political region created in 1921 and abolished in 1922

Southern Ireland was the larger of the two parts of Ireland that were created when Ireland was partitioned by the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It comprised 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland or about five-sixths of the area of the island, whilst the remaining six counties in the northeast of the island formed Northern Ireland. Southern Ireland included County Donegal, despite it being the largest county in Ulster and the most northerly county on all of the island of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish War of Independence</span> 1919–1921 war between Irish and British forces

The Irish War of Independence or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-military Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and its paramilitary forces the Auxiliaries and Ulster Special Constabulary (USC). It was part of the Irish revolutionary period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Griffith</span> Irish politician and writer, founder of Sinn Féin

Arthur Joseph Griffith was an Irish writer, newspaper editor and politician who founded the political party Sinn Féin. He led the Irish delegation at the negotiations that produced the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, and served as the president of Dáil Éireann from January 1922 until his death later in August.

The Provisional Government of Ireland was the provisional government for the administration of Southern Ireland from 16 January 1922 to 5 December 1922. It was a transitional administration for the period between the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the establishment of the Irish Free State. Its legitimacy was disputed by the Anti-Treaty members of Dáil Éireann.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parliament of Southern Ireland</span> Home rule legislature established by the UK Government during the Anglo-Irish War

The Parliament of Southern Ireland was a Home Rule legislature established by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It was designed to legislate for Southern Ireland, a political entity which was created by the British Government to solve the issue of rising Irish nationalism and the issue of partitionism, while retaining the whole of Ireland as part of the United Kingdom.

The Third Dáil was elected at the general election held on 16 June 1922. This election was required to be held under the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed on 6 December 1921. It first met on 9 September and until 6 December 1922, it was the Provisional Parliament or the Constituent Assembly of Southern Ireland. From 6 December 1922, it was the lower house of the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State, until its dissolution on 9 August 1923.

Events from the year 1922 in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King's Inns</span> Irish legal society

The Honorable Society of King's Inns is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Partition of Ireland</span> 1921 division of the island of Ireland into two jurisdictions

The partition of Ireland was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. It was enacted on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The Act intended both territories to remain within the United Kingdom and contained provisions for their eventual reunification. The smaller Northern Ireland was duly created with a devolved government and remained part of the UK. The larger Southern Ireland was not recognised by most of its citizens, who instead recognised the self-declared 32-county Irish Republic. On 6 December 1922, a year after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the territory of Southern Ireland left the UK and became the Irish Free State, now the Republic of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Gavan Duffy</span> Irish politician, barrister and judge

George Gavan Duffy was an Irish politician, barrister and judge who served as President of the High Court from 1946 to 1951, a Judge of the High Court from 1936 to 1951 and Minister for Foreign Affairs from January 1922 to July 1922. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin County constituency from 1921 to 1923. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the South Dublin constituency from 1918 to 1921.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London on 6 December 1921 and Dáil Éireann voted to approve the treaty on 7 January 1922, following a debate through late December 1921 and into January 1922. The vote was 64 in favour, 57 against, with the Ceann Comhairle and 3 others not voting. The Sinn Féin party split into opposing sides in the aftermath of the Treaty vote, which led to the Irish Civil War from June 1922 to May 1923.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bar of Northern Ireland</span> Northern Irish professional association

The Bar of Northern Ireland is the professional association of barristers for Northern Ireland, with over 600 members. It is based in the Bar Library, beside the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, together with the Bar Council of Northern Ireland and the Executive Council. The Executive Council has taken on many of the functions formerly exercised by the Benchers of the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland, which was established at a meeting of the Bench and Bar held on 11 January 1926.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Moylett</span>

Patrick Moylett (1878–1973) was a 20th-century Irish nationalist who, during the initial armistice negotiations to end the Anglo-Irish war, briefly served as president of the Irish Republican Brotherhood during late-1920. A successful businessman in County Mayo and County Galway, he was a close associate of Arthur Griffith and frequently travelled to London acting as a middleman between Sinn Féin and officials in the British government. He ran a business that was used as a front to import armaments for the cause and held that many of those that became closest associates of Éamon de Valera during the civil war rift had at one time worked for the British. Particularly that Erskine Childers despite his involvement with the Asgard and his close association with Éamon de Valera had been in the direct pay of the Admiralty Naval Intelligence Service up till 1916 before becoming secretary to the Éamon de Valera led treaty discussions.

References

  1. "Colum Kenny Staff Profile DCU". 29 January 2015.
  2. "Irish Legal History Society Council Members".
  3. "Advisory Group on Media Mergers Report 2008" (PDF).
  4. "Irish Legal History Society Gold Medal Winners".
  5. "Midnight in London – Eastwood Books".
  6. Midnight in London: The Anglo-Irish Treaty Crisis 1921. Chapter: The Agreement Signed.