state of war- ireland's bloody birth - final revision

State of War: Ireland’s Bloody Birth

Turlough Kelly

Turlough Kelly 2015 [email protected]

087 962 1437

"ARCHIVE" FOOTAGE - B/W

Fade up on scratchy black and white film of a rather spartan

study. Slightly oblique CU of a distinguished-looking

octogenarian. He begins to speak in a soft, clipped accent.

A graphic in the top left dates the footage to 1961.

ELDERLY TALKING HEAD

You’ve asked me there...a question

which is almost impossible to

answer; that is, if I’ve understood

you correctly, whether...what

direction the country would have

taken..had the events of Easter

1916 turned out differently. [Long

pause, deep breath] One must

understand that the Rising was...an

eruption of, if you like, of an

impulse, of a yearning for freedom

that could not ultimately have been

controlled or constrained, by

anybody. It was...inevitable - in

my view - that the patriotic spirit

of the Irish people would be

stirred by these events, and that,

in the words of the great general,

that freedom would blossom from the

graves of the martyrs of 1916.

INTERVIEWER (O/S)

(in a Northern accent)

But many have...inferred, from your

writings at the time, and from your

conduct at the time, and from the

forces ranged against you during

the Rising -

ELDERLY TALKING HEAD

Yes...

INTERVIEWER (O/S)

- that you fully expected to be one

of those martyrs.

A beat, as the elderly gentleman considers this. A wobbly,

vintage caption appears on-screen, identifying him as P.H.

Pearse - President of the Irish Republic, 1916-23.

ELDERLY PEARSE

I think...there was a willingness,

amongst all those who struck out in

1916, to accept that...one’s own

life was a rather...meager

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 2.

ELDERLY PEARSE (cont’d)commodity, really, when weighed

against the freedom of one’s

people. No man is indispensable.

Had I, you know, taken a bullet or

a bomb in the first hour, or in the

first minute, even - I fully

believe that the Rising would have

succeeded nonetheless. Providence

decreed it. History demanded it.

EXT. O’CONNELL ST. - 2016

A confident, sandy-haired presenter in his early forties

swaggers towards the lens. In the background, two priests

can be seen conversing against a column of the GPO, while a

pair of uniformed soldiers stroll amongst the midday crowds.

PRESENTER

In the stony shade of the

G.P.O./there’s a spot where

spotless lilies grow/where Pearse

and Plunkett echo still/as they

always have, and they always will.

The words of our national poet,

instantly familiar to schoolboys

throughout Ireland for generations.

As the centenary of the Easter

Rising approaches, commemoration is

the order of the day. But what

exactly are we commemorating?

Cut to an extreme wide, revealing Nelson’s Pillar still

standing opposite the G.P.O.

PRESENTER

Is 1916 simply a creation myth, a

comforting lie to ward off doubts

about who we are and where we came

from? Is today’s Ireland still

faithful to the ideals of 1916? And

how close did the IRA come to

losing the war? Tonight, the

oft-told story and the untold story

- of Ireland’s Bloody Birth.

3.

TITLE SEQUENCE, FEATURING MOCK ARCHIVE, DOCTORED HISTORICAL

PHOTOS, ENDING WITH THE LEGEND - STATE OF WAR: IRELAND’S

BLOODY BIRTH.

EXT. BERESFORD PLACE - DAY

Historian DAVID CONWAY (identified as such in caption)

stands addressing an unseen interviewer. Liberty Hall is

conspicuously absent in the background.

DAVID CONWAY

I guess 1916 is important

because...it is

endlessly...appropriable. In other

words, it can be used, and has been

used, to justify and legitimate all

kinds of political positions.

[ARCHIVE STILLS OF ELECTION

LITERATURE REFERENCING 1916 FROM

VARIOUS DECADES AND PARTIES] There

isn’t a political tendency in

Ireland that doesn’t somehow claim

to root itself in the ideals of

1916. And when you have something

that diffuse, that malleable, you

have to ask the question...was

there a single ideal, a single

vision, a single moral or political

grounding, behind the events of

1916? And to me the answer,

clearly, is no; no, there wasn’t.

ARCHIVE IMAGES OF JOHN REDMOND, EDWARD CARSON, ARMED ULSTER

VOLUNTEERS AND WWI TRENCH SCENES

PRESENTER (O/S)

In the summer of 1914, Ireland was

effectively a floating powder keg.

Home Rule was imminent, and

Carson’s Ulster Volunteers were

mobilising for civil war in order

to resist it. It’s an irony of

history that such a war was

prevented, not by a peace

conference, but by the eruption of

much larger war. The outbreak of

World War I brought the Home Rule

crisis to sudden, if temporary

halt; both Ulster Volunteers and

their southern counterparts, the

National Volunteers, signed up to

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 4.

PRESENTER (O/S) (cont’d)join the British Army in their tens

of thousands. Speaking in 1958, the

poet Francis Ledwidge explains why

he, and so many other Irish

nationalists, signed up to fight

for the Empire.

INT. CLUTTERED NEW YORK APARTMENT - 1958

The poet Francis Ledwidge - elderly, mustachioed, still

handsome - sits in front of a bookcase in his messy study.

The footage is ghostly, grainy. A caption reads - NEW YORK,

1958, while the (modern) lower third graphic identifies the

speaker.

FRANCIS LEDWIDGE

(slight American tinge)

I can only claim to speak for

myself, but for my own part, I felt

an enormous sense of obligation,

that - if so many of my comrades

and friends had decided that

signing up en masse for the British

Army was, you know, the best way of

preserving Home Rule, that - even

if I disagreed with them, as I

assuredly did, that my place was

nonetheless by their side. It

should have been, I felt, an

appalling burden for me, for the

rest of my life, to have stood by

while all those brave young

fellows, who believed passionately

and unwaveringly that what they

were doing was the best thing for

Ireland, if they had fallen in

their droves and I had stood airily

by and retreated, as it were, to

the safety of line and metre, while

so many others perished. I should

have felt like a funker, a coward,

all my days thereafter, I believe.

EXT. HARRY STREET - DAY

Wide of the presenter standing on Harry Street, the Westbury

Hotel in the background. To his right, the familiar statue

of Phil Lynott has been replaced by a bronze effigy of a

grinning crooner in a dinner jacket and sensible haircut.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 5.

PRESENTER

While tens of thousands of Irishmen

braved German bombs and bullets on

the battlefields of Europe, tens of

thousands more refused to

countenance the idea of donning a

British uniform. The Volunteer

movement in the south had fractured

upon the outbreak of war, with the

majority following John Redmond

into the ranks of the British Army,

but a significant minority standing

aloof from the fray, determined to

take up arms for Ireland’s cause

and Ireland’s alone. Amongst their

number were the militants of the

Irish Citizen Army, a trade union

militia formed during the Dublin

Lockout of 1913.

INT. OFFICE BLOCK - DAY

The presenter strolls along a dingy office corridor,

eventually arriving at a door marked with a cheap laminated

sign held in place by thumb-tacks, bearing the legend

NATIONAL OFFICE OF THE I.T.G.W.U. He knocks on the door and

is welcomed by HARRY DONOVAN, a wiry, white-haired man in

his 60s. The camera follows the pair into a tiny cramped

office with yellowing portraits of James Connolly and James

Larkin on the wall. There is only one (dated) computer

terminal, one seat, and a table stacked high with dusty

ledgers.

PRESENTER

So Harry - what have we got here?

HARRY DONOVAN

(identified in caption)

What we have here is, I suppose,

the relics, the ephemera of the

Irish Citizen Army. This is the

the, eh, the membership book from,

you can see there, January 1916, so

that would have been, these would

have been the men, by and large,

who fought in the Rising itself, or

at least were present at the

outset.

PRESENTER

And do you feel that the role the

Citizen Army played in the Rising

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 6.

PRESENTER (cont’d)has been somewhat downplayed in the

official history?

HARRY DONOVAN

(nervously, after a pause)

I would think...that’d be fair

enough to say. Yes, that would be a

fair statement.

PRESENTER

And why do you think that is?

HARRY DONOVAN

(glancing nervously at the

camera)

I couldn’t tell you that. That’s a

big question. That’s one...no, do

you mind not filming for a second

now, because that’s the type of

question that’s landed people in

trouble before, and I don’t want

to...

PRESENTER

But, as the National Secretary of

the I.T.G.W.U., and as - the

custodian of these records, you

must be able to advance -

HARRY DONOVAN

No, no, no, all I’m trying to do is

to keep these memories alive, for

all the people of Ireland. All the

people of Ireland. The wider

politics of that or whatever is,

is, not something I’d want to get

into at all.

PRESENTER

But can’t you even -

HARRY DONOVAN

No, no, that’s it now. That’s all.

I’m sorry but that’s it.

EXT. OFFICE BLOCK - DAY

A wide from across the street, as Harry peeps through the

curtains at the camera, then rapidly sweeps them closed. The

presenter walks into frame from behind the camera, glances

up at the office block, and shrugs towards someone

off-screen.

7.

EXT. GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE - DAY

PRESENTER (V/O)

I found no such reticence at the

Shrine of the Valiant in Dublin’s

Parnell Square.

The presenter stands opposite Ferdia mac Giolla Phádraig,

identified in caption as Grand Chieftain of the Sons of the

Irish Volunteers, Oisín Kelly’s Children of Lir in the

background.

FERDIA MAC GIOLLA PHÁDRAIG

The Irish Volunteers are really, I

suppose, the alpha and the omega of

the struggle for Irish freedom. I

would define them as those who had

the strongest bond, the closest

connection, to the eternal pulse of

our ancient land and our ancient

race.

PRESENTER

And how did the Volunteers line out

on Easter Monday, how many men did

they put in the field?


Just over 10,000 Volunteers.

PRESENTER

And members of Cumann na mBan, the

women’s corps of the army.


Yes, certainly, although, I

would...make a distinction there in

terms of who contributed what,

certainly Cumann na mBan had some

very brave ladies amongst their

number, but in terms of actual,

productive, boots on the ground, in

military parlance, all of that fell

to the Volunteers.

EXT. TRALEE - BEACH - DAY

A loving, lingering pan across a stretch of Kerry coastline,

close-ups of rocks etc. Pan to our presenter.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 8.

PRESENTER

Support for an armed rebellion was

limited, even amongst the

leadership of the anti-Redmondite

Volunteers. Eoin MacNeill, Chief of

Staff of the Irish Volunteers, felt

a Rising would achieve nothing

without a major influx of arms and

ammunition from the continent.

While the secret council of the

Irish Republican Brotherhood

plotted against him, they also

planned to meet his strict criteria

for a Rising, by landing German

rifles here, at Tralee in County

Kerry.

EXT. TRALEE - BEACH - DAY - 1966

An almost identical shot of the beach, from 1966.

PRESENTER (V/O)

A captured British vessel, dubbed

the S.S. Aud and captained by Karl

Spindler of the Imperial German

Navy, landed here in Tralee Bay on

the 20th of April, 1916. Due to a

mix-up in communications between

the German military and the

Volunteers, there was no-one here

to meet it. It was then that, in

the words of Sean McDermott,

"Providence lent a hand as fair as

it was deadly".

Medium close-up of a woman in her thirties, Dympna Reilly,

addressing an off-screen interviewer in this same 1966

footage.

DYMPNA REILLY

Well, my mother was walking home

from a céilí one night, she used to

take this right here, ’twas easier,

she said, and she liked to watch

the moonlight play on the sea,

that’s what she always said. Well

anyway, she spotted the boat, the

German boat -

INTERVIEWER (O/S)

The S.S. Aud?

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 9.

DYMPNA REILLY

The S.S. Aud right enough, and so

she had with her an old oil-lamp -

this one here -

INTERVIEWER (O/S)

That’s the actual lamp?

DYMPNA REILLY

’Tis, the actual lamp. And so she

signalled the boat and went to

round up some of the local lads -

INTERVIEWER (O/S)

Local Volunteers?

DYMPNA REILLY

They must have been, right enough.

And so, they landed the guns, and

the boat went off, and there we

were.

INTERVIEWER (O/S)

And here we are!

DYMPNA REILLY

And here we are indeed!

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY

A conference room in Dublin, decorated with portraits of the

Volunteer leadership and some less familiar faces in

military and ecclesiastical garb. The presenter addresses us

across the table.

PRESENTER

The story of Máire Reilly’s lamp -

the magic lantern of Tralee, in

some more sceptical accounts - has

entered national folklore. But

however the rifles got ashore, they

were now in the hands of the

Volunteers; MacNeill’s objections

to a Rising were becoming ever more

strained and tenuous. At a

fractious meeting of the Volunteer

leadership, the arrival of the

German rifles made MacNeill’s

steadfast opposition untenable.

10.

ARCHIVE FOOTAGE - 1961

Back to P.H. Pearse’s spartan study.

ELDERLY PEARSE

The rifles, really, changed

everything. Before that, MacNeill -

who was...a very honourable, very

noble man...he had been able to

sway much of the leadership, and

much of the membership, with his

opinion that a Rising, in the

absence of sufficent weaponry,

would be futile, bloody and

catastrophic. He lacked, I may say,

and I say this entirely without

rancour, an appreciation of what we

might call the...symbolic value of

the violent act, of the selfless

sacrifice. In any case, we now had

the means, and the men, and the

opportunity, to strike at British

power in Ireland with genuine

venom. The longer the meeting

progressed, the shakier his ground

became, until, at last, it

collapsed beneath him entirely. I

won’t say that he gave his consent

willingly - there was a certain

amount of, of, of, cajoling, of

reasoning, of...pricking of the

patriotic conscience, and frankly,

of outright bullying. At any rate,

it had the desired effect, and he

assented, as we all did, to the

staging of the Rising in Easter

Week of 1916.


Archive still and moving images of Dublin life around the

appropriate period, and of positions occupied by Volunteers.

Rostrum zoom on the Irish Republic flag hanging over the

G.P.O.

PRESENTER (V/O)

On Easter Monday 1916, Dubliners

found themselves, to quote James

Joyce, "the oblivious, gaping,

gawping groundlings at an

all-too-real passion play which had

errorupted about their scabby

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 11.

PRESENTER (V/O) (cont’d)ears". Under the guise of "parades

and manoeuvres", the Volunteers and

Citizen Army occupied the centre of

Dublin, with their headquarters at

the General Post Office in

O’Connell St. Even for ordinary

footsoldiers, the giddiness of

writing history was palpable.


Black-and-white archive footage of a tall, thin, owlish

academic seated in an austere office, surrounded by

religious and academic paraphernalia. A caption identifies

him as Prof. Éamon de Valera - Professor of Mathematics,

University College Dublin.

ÉAMON DE VALERA

For myself, I would describe my

feeling that Easter Monday

as...there was - a sober thrill of

elation, I at last felt...that I

could hold my head up above the

venality of the everyday world and

breathe the same air as Tone and

Emmett and all the saints and

heroes of our race. It’s a feeling

which has, despite everything,

remained with me ever since.

GRAPHIC - DISPOSITION OF REBEL FORCES

PRESENTER (V/O)

Although the rebels held key

positions such as the G.P.O., the

Telephone Exchange and - after a

fierce struggle - Dublin Castle

itself, their tactic was one of

static defence. In the event of a

dynamic counter-attack from British

forces, the rebels were in danger

of being overrun. Such thoughts,

however, were far from the mind of

Patrick Pearse, President of the

new Provisional Government, as he

stepped forth from the G.P.O. to

read the Proclamation of the Irish

Republic.

12.


Back to Pearse’s study. He unrolls an original copy of the

Proclamation and perches his reading glasses on his nose.

ELDERLY PEARSE

"Irishmen and Irishwomen" - I was

insistent on mentioning the women,

you see - "In the name of God and

of the dead generations from which

she receives her old traditions of

nationhood, Ireland, through us,

summons her children to her flag

and strikes for her freedom". It’s

a tremendously stirring opening.

Certainly, I always felt that -

there’s something within the Celtic

soul - especially the Celtic soul

- that is deathless and eternal,

and that to summon a Celt to the

cause of his ancestors was

as...potent an appeal as to appeal

to his own immediate circumstances,

his own family, his own children.

Our blood has a sacred claim on our

allegiance, and time becomes quite

meaningless in that respect.


Back to the Shrine of the Valiant, and our two-shot of the

presenter with Ferdia mac Giolla Phádraig, Grand Chieftain

of the Sons of the Irish Volunteers.

PRESENTER

Of course, we know that the

majority of Volunteers who answered

the call on Easter Monday were

expecting parades and manouevres,

and instead found themselves

pitched into a revolution. In

recent years, it’s been claimed

that up to a third of them left

their posts before a shot was

fired, how do you -


No, no. This is just - it has

become fashionable in this country,

ever since the law was changed, to

try to denigrate and downplay the

sacrifice of the Volunteers, just

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 13.

FERDIA MAC GIOLLA PHÁDRAIG (cont’d)because you can. Because you can

get away with it, that’s the world

we now live in.

PRESENTER

But wouldn’t it have been

understandable, if men with

families, with obligations,

suddenly found themselves in the

middle of a pitched battle with a

British Empire, and given the

evidence that exists -


What evidence? There’s no evidence.

There’s no evidence because it’s,

it’s just...inconceivable,

remember, you’ll dealing a quality

of man which we can’t even imagine

today, with men who - patriotism

was their bond; God, faith and

fatherland came before everything

else. There were no desertions in

1916. It’s a slander.

GRAPHIC - 3D MAP OF IRELAND

Zooming along a swish 3D map of Ireland (in time with the

presenter’s v/o) depicting the movement of forces in the

early stages of the Rising.

PRESENTER (V/O)

If the tactic in Dublin was static

defence, then elsewhere in the

country, things were a lot more

fluid. Volunteer units cut off the

approach of British reinforcements

from the Curragh army camp, beating

a fighting retreat all the way to

the outskirts of Dublin. At

Rosslare, meanwhile, the Wexford

Volunteers slowed the arrival of

troops fresh off the boat from

England by harassing and harrying

them at every turn. Elsewhere - in

North County Dublin, Cork, Connacht

and the North-West, raiding tactics

took British and RIC units by

surprise, securing vast numbers of

prisoners and arms.

14.


More "archive" footage captured during the 50th anniversary

of the Rising. In this case, the interviewee is captioned

Commandant W.J. Brennan-Whitmore (retd.). He speaks

(animatedly, though mutely for the duration of the

presenter’s introduction) to an off-screen interviewer.

PRESENTER (V/O)

Back in Dublin, however, progress

was neither smooth nor harmonious.

W.J. Brennan-Whitmore commanded

rebel forces at North Earl Street

during the early stages of the

Rising.

We cut to an "archive" CU of Brennan-Whitmore, this time

with audio.

W.J. BRENNAN-WHITMORE

Early on the Tuesday afternoon, I

think it was, the looting in my

vicinity began in earnest. There

had been some instances of looting

before that, but nothing terribly

serious. The looters were, mostly,

to be frank - drunks, louts,

whores, some of the

more...rapscallion-type breed of

children from the slums. This was

dangerous for two reasons. Firstly,

because we could hardly allow

anarchy, lawlessness, disrespect

for property and rightful ownership

to creep in, if you like, right at

the birth of our Republic.

Secondly, and in a more practical

sense, because the looters were

beginning to compromise our

barricades, tearing away chairs and

bicycles and mirrors and suchlike.

A number of warnings had been

issued from the G.P.O., stating

that looters would be shot. I want

to emphasise that. Warnings had

been issued. Now, at roughly, I

should think, half-past-two in the

afternoon, shots were fired at the

looters from the G.P.O. Whether

these were intended to be warning

shots, I cannot say, but the upshot

was, that a woman was killed.

Whereupon, to my horror and dismay,

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 15.

W.J. BRENNAN-WHITMORE (cont’d)a number of the Citizen Army men

under my command began to return

fire - actually to return fire -

towards the G.P.O. Well of course,

I had them disarmed and expelled at

once. I ought, in fact, to have had

them shot, but that would merely

have brought a rather swift end to

my military career, if not my life,

surrounded as I was by their

comrades.

EXT. CUSTOMS HOUSE QUAY - DAY

Back to historian David Conway, now seated in front of the

Customs House.

DAVID CONWAY

The exchange of fire between the

Volunteers and the Citizen Army,

and the shooting of looters,

really...foreshadows much of what

would disfigure Irish society in

the decades ahead, and even, you

might say, to this day. But of

course, nervous men with rifles and

convictions are probably the last

people on earth who should be

entrusted with the fate of, of

generations unborn, as it were.

But, that’s invariably the way it

turns out.

COLLAGE OF ARCHIVE STILLS

A collage/montage of embattled Dublin, followed by close-ups

and wides of Joseph Mary Plunkett lying dead, face bloodied,

in his uniform.

PRESENTER (V/O)

On April 29th, Joseph Mary Plunkett

became the first signatory of the

Proclamation to be inscribed on

another roll of honour, one that

was to grow immeasurably with each

passing day. Already gravely ill,

he was struck in the temple by a

sniper’s bullet and died instantly

at the age of 28. Meanwhile, in the

North West, the body count was

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 16.

PRESENTER (V/O) (cont’d)growing even more rapidly than in

Dublin.


A caption identifies the elderly man in the plush seventies

pullover as Robert McMorrow, the year as 1972 (grainy

colour) and the source as the North Eastern Broadcasting

Corporation. As he describes his younger self, an image of

him as a teenager in Ulster Volunteer uniform (part of the

original broadcast) appears on-screen.

ROBERT MCMORROW

In 1916 I was nineteen years old. I

joined the Ulster Volunteers along

with most of my family, most of my

street, and when the war broke out

in France, I’d been fairly

desperate to go on and do my bit.

My brother Pete went, my brother

Joshua went, and, but, I was the

youngest, and my father said -

"you’re not goin’". And of course I

pleaded and pleaded with him,

begged him, but he sat me down one

day and he said - "Son, there’s a

war in France right enough, but

there’s a war coming here as well.

When it happens, I want one of my

boys here to defend our own turf,

and never mind France nor Belgium."

Well, he was proved right very

quickly. When the Fenians took

Derry and began to move on Antrim,

we all got called out, the

Volunteers, the Army, the RIC,

every man who could handle a gun or

a spade. The bells were ringing,

the church bells, I always remember

that, as we left the village. Well,

a lot of us never made it back. We

got called back in a day or two, a

fighting retreat, they called it,

and as we passed through our

village, I found my father lying

over a cart, shot in the back of

the head. Well, after that, I

wasn’t the same man. And I don’t

think I’ve been the same man since.

No. Not at all.

17.

GRAPHIC - 3D MAP OF ULSTER

More swish videogame-style graphics depict the movement of

units through Ulster.

PRESENTER (V/O)

The shock of the rebel offensive in

Ulster - carried out by both

Volunteers and irregular, makeshift

militias - droves forces loyal to

the crown immediately east of the

Foyle, from where an impregnable

ring of steel was thrown around

much of the North East.

ARCHIVE - BURNING HOMES AND CHURCHES

PRESENTER (V/O)

For those nationalists and

Catholics trapped within this ring,

conditions were soon to become

intolerable. Weeks of

inter-communal violence in Belfast

resulted in hundreds of deaths on

both sides of the divide.

ARCHIVE - DUBLIN IN FLAMES/RUINS

PRESENTER (V/O)

Back in Dublin, intense bombardment

from land, sea, and - in a new and

terrifying development - from the

air began to make the rebels’

position hopeless.


Pearse’s severe study again.

ELDERLY PEARSE

By the 7th of March, when we

vacated the G.P.O., conditions were

quite beyond description. The

British gunners had quite "zeroed

us in", as I believe is the

military expression, and what was

left of the Post Office would not

have filled a picnic basket. The

last hour, in particular...the fire

was intense beyond all reckoning,

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 18.

ELDERLY PEARSE (cont’d)bodies and...parts of bodies...were

strewn across every conceivable

surface. It was, I have often

thought since, an hour’s foretaste

of Hell which probably set any

remaining atheists among us back

along the true path. It’s beyond my

ability to describe.

GRAPHIC - 3D MAP OF LEINSTER

Another tumble and twirl around a dynamic 3D map of the

conflict zone.

PRESENTER (V/O)

Pearse and Connolly had always

intended to fight to the death, but

were persuaded otherwise when news

reached the beleagured Dublin

command of the remarkable feats of

Thomas Ashe, Richard Mulcahy and

their Fingal Volunteers. Raiding

barracks after barracks, the

Fingallians punched a whole in the

British encirclement, through which

the Dublin Brigade were able to

escape, albeit with heavy

casualties, including the loss of

Thomas Clarke.

ARCHIVE - DESTROYED DUBLIN

Slow, sober montage of buildings reduced to rubble and

soldiers maimeed beyond recognition.

PRESENTER (V/O)

For the small rearguard left

behind, judgement was swift and

brutal. Dublin was quickly

reclaimed for the King; a charred

offering. The 8th of March 1916 was

the recognised beginning of what

has since been referred to, never

without a chill, as the Khaki

Terror.

19.

EXT. TRINITY COLLEGE PLAYING FIELDS - DAY

We follow, handheld, as historian David Conway leads us

across the playing fields of Trinity College. His

description of the Khaki Terror is supported by shocking and

graphic images of the acts referenced.

DAVID CONWAY

We’re strolling across what became,

for a number of weeks in March and

April of 1916, a killing field of

extraordinary savagery. When the

British recovered Dublin, and

especially after they discovered

the number of Dublin Castle

detectives who’d been summarily

shot, it unleashed within the

agents of the British state a kind

of - bloodlust, I think, is the

only way to describe it. No-one was

safe. Anyone who had even the

slightest, the most tangential, the

most indirect connection to

nationalism or republicanism was a

target. Literally every day, and

this was for a period of weeks,

dozens of men and some women were

lined up on these playing fields

and executed by firing squad, with

only the most...perfunctory

pretence of any kind of judicial

process.


A slight, soft-spoken elderly lady sits beside an open

window, trembling slightly.

PRESENTER (V/O)

Geraldine Cummins was 15 when the

Tommies came for her father.

GERALDINE CUMMINS

My father was a printer, we lived

just off Thomas St. At that time,

there was a curfew, but no-one

wanted to leave the house anyway,

the streets were that full of

soldiers and uniforms and guns, and

if you looked at them cock-eyed, or

just looked at them at all, you’d

find yourself laid out on the

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 20.

GERALDINE CUMMINS (cont’d)street, if you were lucky. We’d

hear the lorries rolling along the

street every night and you’d just

shut your eyes and hope they rolled

by. And then there’d be the

shouting and the shooting and all

the rest of it. Well, one night, it

was a Saturday, the lorries came

and they didn’t roll by. There was

a banging on the hall door - you

knew it was soldiers, you could

hear the weight of the rifle, of

the butt, against the door, and all

kinds of shouting and what have

you. My father came into my room

and told me to get under the bed,

not to look out the window, not to

leave the room, I wasn’t to leave

the room, not for anyone, not even

if my mother said. Well anyway, I

heard him go to the door, and open

it, and there was shouting and

roaring and then four sets of

footsteps - quite slow, not

running, quite slow. And then

nothing, and then nothing, and then

- four shots, one after the other.

And that was it. And I didn’t leave

the room for three days after, no

matter who begged me. Because my

daddy had said.

ARCHIVE OF TROOPS CAMPING AND RELAXING IN RURAL LOCATION

Inserts of 3D maps appear to emphasise presenter’s words, as

appropriate.

PRESENTER (V/O)

Though out of immediate danger, the

Dublin Brigade of the IRA,

containing all the remaining

national leaders of the movement,

continued falling back until it

reached Roscommon. The rebels now

controlled, or largely controlled,

an expanse of Ireland ranging from

Donegal to West Cork and from

Galway to Westmeath. The leaders

halted their reatreat at the

village of Elphin, north Roscommon.

It was, as Thomas McDonagh noted

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 21.

PRESENTER (V/O) (cont’d)half a cenury later, an unlikely

seat of government.


An elderly Thomas McDonagh sits warily on the edge of his

chair. A shock of dark hair still crowns his head, while an

archaically large and conspicuous Gaelgeoir’s fáinne adorns

his buttonhole. A modern caption appears on-screen - Thomas

McDonagh’s only ever interview after the Rising.

ELDERLY MCDONAGH

Well, being from a small country

town myself, I certainly felt

fairly at ease in that situation.

But it was a thing we discussed, in

lighter moments, and with the news

from Dublin, there weren’t many,

and you took what you could get in

that line. But, the idea of waging

a war against, against the greatest

empire the world had ever seen to

that point - from what you’d call,

I suppose, really it was no more

than a glorified cowshed. There was

a madness to that, you know, and we

were well aware of it. But it was a

sublime madness, in a way. In

between strategic discussions,

you’d lend the odd hand with

milking a cow or fixing a fence and

you’d think to yourself - "By God,

if Asquith or King George knew I

was chasing chickens around a farm

in Roscommon, I wonder would they

be as frightened of me as they

are". But you know, maybe they

would have been even more

frightened. A man that can churn

butter with a price on his head is

a man you don’t want to cross, in

my experience. The only ones I

never saw engaged in that kind of

thing were Pearse and Connolly;

Pearse was never a practical man at

all, and Connolly was more deeply

affected by what was going on in

Dublin than almost anyone else. I

think he felt a personal

responsibility for it, that he

hadn’t stayed to see it through.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 22.

ELDERLY MCDONAGH (cont’d)But of course, you couldn’t say

anything to him. He wasn’t a man

who put his soul on show. There was

a gruffness and a brusqueness to

him, but it was as much to keep you

at arm’s length as anything

personal, I always felt.

GRAPHIC - COLLAGE OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES

Rostrum-like collage of newspaper headlines (American,

Canadian, Australian, even British) about the atrocities

being perpetrated in Dublin - Brutal Reprisals; Forty Dead

To-Day; Dublin Drowned in Blood etc.

PRESENTER (V/O)

News of the Khaki Terror was

leaking across the Irish Sea. While

German propaganda made great play

of British savagery, public opinion

was turning against the reprisals.

Newspapers across North America,

the Dominions and Great Britain

itself rushed to condemn the

conduct of British forces in

Dublin.

INT. EMBASSY CONFERENCE ROOM - 2016

A well-appointed conference room within the British Embassy

in Dublin. The current British Ambassador to Ireland, Robin

Sparecroft (a florid man with preternaturally black hair)

addresses our presenter across the conference table, a sheaf

of 1916 newspaper headlines in front of him.

ROBIN SPARECROFT

Reading through these reports one

feels - not exactly a sense of

shame, because I’m not sure if

shame is an appropriate response to

a situation that arose, in a state

of war, a century ago, but -

certainly a profound sense of

sorrow and regret. One certainly

wonders, as I think is only proper,

whether Ireland would have taken

the course she did during the

second World War, had these events,

these terrible events in Dublin,

not been relatively fresh in the

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 23.

ROBIN SPARECROFT (cont’d)collective memory of the Irish

people.

PRESENTER

And so, do you believe, as many

Irish people do, that some sort of

formal apology for the events of

the Khaki Terror is in order, even

all these years on?

ROBIN SPARECROFT

That, I’m afraid, is not a matter

on which I’m qualified to

pronounce, as an ambassador, but I

would note - and this is not to in

any way diminish the appalling,

appalling tragedy of what happened

in Dublin - but I do think it is

worth noting that, you know, in

times of war, certain savage

impulses can come to the fore where

discipline and command structures

break down. That was certainly the

case in Munster, in 1916 and 1917,

where scores of RIC men, scores of

loyalists, protestants, people

suspected of being loyalists or

protestants or both, you know, were

summarily executed at the hands of

the IRA.

PRESENTER

But surely the actions of, you

know, His Majesty’s Crown forces,

acting with the imprimatur of the

British state, are a different

matter than uncontrolled,

uncontrollable acts of violence

such as those in Munster.

ROBIN SPARECROFT

Well, you see, I would dispute

whether that’s an accurate, eh,

characterisation of the events in

Munster. Your state, the Irish

state, and your armed forces, trace

their origins and their lineage

directly back to events and people

such as those who burned out

protestants, stole their land and

so forth. So, in a sense, I think

it behoves us all to approach this

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 24.

ROBIN SPARECROFT (cont’d)question of commemoration,

remembrance and so forth with a

more generous, more magnanimous

outlook, and to be open always to

forgiveneses and reconciliation.

And may I just say, if there’s one

thing that Ireland has taught the

entire world over the past twenty,

twenty-five years, it’s the immense

transformative power of forgiveness

and reconciliation.

ARCHIVE OF WORLD WAR ONE TROOP MOVEMENTS

PRESENTER (V/O)

But it wasn’t just global public

opinion that was horrified by the

Khaki Terror. In the trenches of

France and Belgium, former members

of the both the Ulster and the

National Volunteers were still

fighting side-by-side. Tensions

caused by events back home were

reaching boiling point. Several

cases of loyalist troops and

nationalist troops exchanging fire

were recorded, and nationalists

began surrendering to the Germans

in droves, hoping to be sent home

to fight a Rising that had

initially outraged and dismayed the

vast majority of them.

EXT. WAR MEMORIAL GARDENS AT ISLANDBRIDGE - DAY

Historian David Conway, seated under the large gazebo in the

grounds of the War Memorial Gardens.

DAVID CONWAY

By now, events in Ireland were

having a catastrophic effect on the

British war effort. Mass desertions

of Irish troops, even acts of

sabotage by those who remained

behind, were eviscerating morale

across the Western Front. More and

more troops were being recalled to

Ireland to put down the

insurrection, and also to quell

sectarian violence in Scotland and

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 25.

DAVID CONWAY (cont’d)

a wave of strikes in England, all

caused by the Irish war. So really,

you know, at this point, something

has to give.

INT. STUDIO - 2016

A new dramatic set-up. An actor dressed as Lloyd George is

lit chiaroscuro in the foreground. A phonograph record, on

which Lloyd George recorded excerpts of his memoirs, begins

to spin after the presenter’s intro. The scratchy, warbly

voice on the record gradually merges into that of the actor,

who reads aloud from "his" memoirs as he looks down the

lens.

PRESENTER (V/O)

But something was about to give far

closer to home than anyone in the

British government anticipated.

What happened on April the 7th,

1916 brought the horror and

revulsion of the Irish war to the

heart of London’s political

establishment.

"LLOYD GEORGE"

It couldn’t have been much later

than four o’clock when John Redmond

was called by the speaker. He was

greeted instantly by catcalls and

abuse such as I have never heard

from the tongues of civilised men,

and it took quite some moments for

the speaker to restore order,

sufficient to allow him to speak.

With a soft dew of tears veiling

his eyes, Redmond began in a

halting voice, almost below the

threshold of hearing. "Mr.

Speaker", he said, "there is

perhaps no-one in this chamber who

has poured so much of his essence

into the cause of preventing war in

Ireland as I have. I assert this

neither as a boast - the hour is

too grave and too dark for such

trifles - nor to diminish the

contributions of others. I say it

merely to lend weight, the weight

of unshakeable conviction, to the

following words; what is happening,

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 26.

"LLOYD GEORGE" (cont’d)what is being visited upon, the

people of the city of Dublin, at

this moment, by the forces of the

Crown, to whose banner I have

called thousands of patriotic Irish

men - is, Mr. Speaker, a stain upon

the name and the reputation of this

kingdom, of this chamber, of

England itself, which will not be

cleansed in a thousand years".

Uproar. Sheer, animalistic

invective from the more excitable

slopes of the Conservative benches.

Winston Churchill turns the colour

of a ripe poppy, his thin lips

white with fury. A sudden, and

inexplicable lull falls over the

chamber. And in this lull, a voice,

loud and clear and calm, in the

unmistakably crooked tones of

Ulster, cries out - "Redmond!

Here’s the reply you deserve, and

God Save the King!" I glance in

Redmond’s direction. A ripple of

irritation passes across his pallid

features, nothing more. Then, two

snaps ring out from the Strangers’

Gallery; the Ulsterman is wrestled

to the ground. I look back towards

Redmond, to see him slumped back

against the benches, head lolling

helplessly, two neat holes, no more

than pin-pricks, disgorging crimson

blood all over the patriot’s shirt.

GRAPHIC - NEWSPAPER HEADLINE

Headline of The Time - Redmond shot in Common chamber. Irish

leader believed dead.

PRESENTER (V/O)

John Redmond dies in hospital three

days later. His assassin, William

Bryce-Hamilton, is a member of the

36th (Ulster) Division, home on

leave from France.

27.

GRAPHIC - 3D MAP OF LEINSTER

Zooming in to show the convergence of rebel forces on

Dublin.

PRESENTER (V/O)

Redmond’s assassination bolsters

any wavering support for the rebels

within Ireland. With the RIC

effectively dissolved and many

Irish-born soldiers defecting to

the rebels, Dublin is swiftly

encircled from the north, west and

south-west. Richard Mulcahy’s

Special Brigade are the first to

enter the city, on the 15th of May.

To their surprise, General Lowe,

with no prospect of reinforcement

immediately offers his surrender.

"Archive" image of General Lowe surrendering to Richard

Mulcahy (a doctored version of the actual historical

photograph depicting Pearse’s surrender to Lowe).

ARCHIVE - PEARSE ADDRESSING A CROWD IN THE RUBBLE OF DUBLIN

An iconic-looking photograph of General Pearse standing

erect amid the ruined city, a neat sheaf of paper in his

hand.

PRESENTER (V/O)

Days later, the leaders of the

Rising return to Dublin. A

traumatised city offers no heroes’

welcome. On the evening of the

18th, Pearse, surrounded by the

rubble of Dublin, reads his famous

Valediction for the Martyrs. "You

have become one with the soil which

closed over O’Donovan Rossa, which

welcomed Emmett, which soothed the

sleep of Cuchulainn and all our

ancient heroes. Your legend shall

be all the greater...."


...mid-sentence, the presenter’s voices seques into that of

the elderly Pearse, as he recites his own address from

memory, eyes snapped shut.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 28.

ELDERLY PEARSE

...all the more improbable, for the

fact that you walked with us, spoke

with us, danced with us, laughed

with us, fought with us and died

with us. Your children will have a

million fathers and a million

mothers, for they carry inside them

the immortal flame of your heroism,

and it shall warm them all their

days. And when there are no more

wars, no more hatreds and no more

divisions between we of common kin,

you shall be remembered not as

warriors, not as soldiers, but as

the fallen leaves which enrich

their native soil with the final

flaring of their brilliance.

His eyes open slowly, blearily.

INTERVIEWER (O/S)

How did you feel, when you

delivered that speech for the first

time?

ELDERLY PEARSE

I felt transformed. I was

transformed. I once saw a painting,

a renaissance painting called The

Harrowing of Hell. It depicts

Christ descending into the

underworld to retrieve the souls of

the righteous dead. From the moment

I set foot in Dublin after the

British surrender, that image would

not leave me. The words were not

mine. I felt as though they had

been borne up from the rubble, from

the flesh and bones beneath the

rubble, to give us succour in our

greatest despair.

EXT. MARINO - DAY

David Conway again, this time at the Casino near the site of

Croydon Park, a former headquarters of the Irish Transport &

General Workers’ Union.

DAVID CONWAY

What strikes me, reading the

historical record, is how little

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 29.

DAVID CONWAY (cont’d)

celebration there was in Dublin

after the British surrender.

Certainly, if you compare it to the

absolute consternation in the

British papers, and the jubilation

in the German papers, the response

in Dublin is very low-key. And for

good reason, the city is completely

shattered, completely exhausted.

Martial law, curfew and rationing

are still in effect, the new

administration, such as it is,

changes almost nothing. When it

eventually tries to get the city on

its feet, it does so via what we’d

now called shock therapy. Wages are

replaced, temporarily, with ration

coupons, employers are basically

given a free hand to try and get

the city moving again, and there’s

a massive wave of strike action.

"Archive" image of James Connolly addressing a huge meeting

in Croydown Park.

DAVID CONWAY

The workers call for Connolly, who

duly arrives, addresses a huge

crowd in Croydon Park, and famously

declares that "distinctions as

between classes of Irishmen with

the fate of the whole nation in the

balance are absurd and

treasonable". It’s enough to end

the crisis, but it does him few

favours in the long run.


The playwright Sean O’Casey sits in his grimy London

kitchen, animatedly addressing a BBC interviewer.

SEAN O’CASEY

Connolly’s so-called Croydon Park

Address was probably the single

most despicable act in the history

of Irish politics. It was like

climbing on a pile of corpses and

telling them to dance. But, and

now, this is a point I want to

make, it was entirely consistent -

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 30.

SEAN O’CASEY (cont’d)entirely consistent - with the

actions of the I.R.A. and the

provisional government during that

period. This was a force which was

going around Connacht acting like a

bunch of mercenary scabs, breaking

strikes, protecting life-leeching

landlords from the righteous wrath

of the people, upholding private

property above all else. So you

know, all this fine talk, all this

exquisite blather about an Irish

revolution is...It was a

counter-revolution, if not an

anti-revolution, from very early in

the game.



Well, you know, O’Casey’s remarks

have been thoroughly discredited.

This was a man who was an, an,

embittered old communist, an

anti-national crank, who fled to

the, the, the bosom of the Empire

the first chance he got, and never

wasted an opportunity to rubbish

and slander men far braver than him

for the rest of his life.


PRESENTER (V/O)

Another event of lasting

significance in the summer of 1916

was P.H. Pearse’s declaration of

neutrality. To the dismay of the

Germans and the relief of the

British, Ireland would take no

further part in the World War.

ELDERLY PEARSE

To my mind, there was simply no

question of continuing to intervene

in a war which, beyond its

inconveniencing of the British

Empire, held no further relevance

for Ireland. The fields of France,

and those of Ireland, had been

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 31.

ELDERLY PEARSE (cont’d)

soaked in enough Irish blood

already. Connolly and Mulcahy were

fiercely opposed to the declaration

of neutrality. For Connolly’s part,

he saw Germany as a trustworthy

ally, as an implacable enemy of

England, and as a model for the way

an empire might act humanely,

justly and honourably. Mulcahy

simply felt that a declaration of

neutrality would give the British

enough breathing space to turn

their guns back against us. Well,

all I can say to that, is that

history will weigh our respective

judgements against one another, and

on more issues than one.

EXT. KILDARE ST. - DAY

Outside the Dáil, the presenter addressees the camera

directly.

PRESENTER

The elections of January 1917 were

organised in haste and contested in

controversial circumstances. The

formation of a common front - the

National Republican Party - left

the result in no doubt. The N.R.P.

won all 100 seats, with only a

handful of independent unionists

for token opposition. The first act

of the new government was arguably

the most fateful in modern Irish

history.

EXT. BELFAST CITY HALL - DAY

Northern historian Donna Mackie stands outside City Hall,

from which the tricolour and the Red Hand of Ulster flutter

freely.

DONNA MACKIE

By 1917, British Ulster has become

an intolerable burden on the

Westminster Government, and on the

war effort. The situation on the

Western Front is becoming critical,

and Britain and her Allies are in

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 32.

DONNA MACKIE (cont’d)

serious danger of losing the war.

Really, at this point, the new

Prime Minister Lloyd George has no

option, really, but to try and

force through some kind of final

settlement in Ireland. And that’s

how we come to have, what’s known

as the Douglas Convention in some

quarters, and the Douglas Betrayal

in others.

ARCHIVE OF DOUGLAS CONVENTION

Slow rostrum pan around a photograph of a conference table,

at which are seated: Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Richard

Mulachy, David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, Edward

Carson and others.

PRESENTER (V/O)

This photograph was the first most

people, North or South, knew about

a process which was to change Irish

history forever. British and Irish

delegations met on the Isle of Man,

concluding a deal which recognises

Irish independence but leaves

British Ulster in the hands of the

crown, with a promise to review its

status upon the end of the World

War.

EXT. PRO-CATHEDRAL - DUBLIN

PRESENTER

The deal sent shockwaves throughout

the island. While northern

militants continued to demand the

surrender of British Ulster,

launching sporadic attacks across

its borders, most nationalists

regarded the Douglas Convention as

an equitable interim settlement.

For Ulster protestants, however,

the accord was a betrayal of their

history, their identity, their

loyalty and their considerable

sacrifice for the crown. On the

25th of July 1917, loyalist

militants plant an enormous bomb

here, at the Pro-Cathedral.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 33.

"Archive" photo of a devastated Pro-Cathedral.

PRESENTER

112 people are killed. It is the

opening salvo of a Red Hand

Insurgency which will continue for

almost a century.


Back to Sean O’Casey’s grimy kitchen. He seems to have

become even more irritable, and spits out words in a

tumbling torrent.

SEAN O’CASEY

Well of course, the Orangemen felt

the Douglas Convention was an

unwonted betrayal of Christ

himself, or if not Christ, then

certainly St. Patrick, whom they

regarded as Grand Marshall of the

Celestial Lodge of the Orange

Order. But you know, an Orangeman

is never happy unless he’s

screaming "traitor" at someone, his

entire view of the world is

informed by treachery, where

treachery consists of not being

him. It’s a curious kind of

collective solipsism. But if the

Orangemen felt betrayed, by Christ,

they had nothing on the workers of

Dublin. The betrayal they were

about to experience made Judas look

like a steadfast friend to one and

all, like a lad you’d leave your

keys with and ask to feed the cat.

ARCHIVE - STILLS AND HEADLINES

The following is accompanied by still images of mass marches

and newspaper headlines relating to the massacre.

PRESENTER (V/O)

This is the betrayal O’Casey was

referring to; the Tara Street

massacre of November 1917. For

three weeks, the workers of Dublin

had emerged from their hovels and

their sweatshops to rally in

support of the Russian Revolution

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 34.

PRESENTER (V/O) (cont’d)which swept away the Tsardom, and

replaced it with a coalition of

communists. The rallies, and the

revolution itself, were heartily

condemned as anti-Catholic and

satanic, in that order, by the

church hierarchy. On the 30th of

November, under direct orders from

Richard Mulcahy, the I.R.A. fires

on demonstrators on Tara St. 18 are

killed. Under pressure from

Mulcahy’s faction, James Connolly

and Countess Markiewicz resign from

the I.T.G.W.U., and form the rival

Patriotic Workers’ Union.

EXT. BELFAST CITY HALL - DAY

DONNA MACKIE

Of course, at the close of 1917,

the southern government is under

enormous pressure internally, So

it’s really, I suppose, a gift from

the heavens when Carson approaches

them and says that British Ulster

simply isn’t a viable entity

anymore. It’s under attack from

both loyalist and nationalist

militias, law and order has

completely broken down, and the

coffers are totally empty.

ARCHIVE - STILLS AND HEADLINES

Archive images of an exhausted, unsmiling Edward Carson

shaking hands with Patrick Pearse in a still-ruined Dublin.

Images of I.R.A. troops parading through Belfast alongside

Ulster Volunteers, under the flags of both regions.

PRESENTER (O/S)

Faced with an ungovernable rump

state, Carson’s government

capitulates. In return for

financial assistance and internal

autonomy, British Ulster installs a

pro-Dublin military government,

retaining an ambiguous relationship

with the British crown. Carson

describes his surrender as "a

desperate attempt to preserve our

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 35.

PRESENTER (O/S) (cont’d)freedom, religion and laws through

extraordinary measures in

extraordinary times". He

immediately resigns his post and

never sets foot in Ireland again.

EXT. KILDARE ST. - DAY

David Conway leans against the railings of the Dáil.

DAVID CONWAY

Of course, this sort of reconquest

of British Ulster is manna from

heaven for the Mulcahy/Collins wing

of the National Republican Party.

They’ve already carved out a niche

as the most nationally minded, most

pious, most pure faction. In

essence, it’s a simple struggle

between the left of the party,

represented by Pearse and Connolly,

and the right, under Mulcahy and

Collins. Carson’s capitulation

swings the issue decisively in

favour of the right.

INT. BALLSBRIDGE - DAY

A wide, light-filled office, expensively furnished with a

minimalist sensibility. A young woman, Sontosa Ní

Dochortaigh, sits behind a long, tasteful oak desk, flanked

by Irish and American flags. A huge portrait of an aged

Richard Mulcahy, in full miilitary uniform, glares out from

the wall behind her. She’s identified both in caption and by

her placemat as Minister for Public Outreach. Our presenter

enters and the two shake hands.

PRESENTER (V/O)

It’s almost impossible to view

history objectively, rather than

through the distorting prism of the

present. But how seriously do those

who claim to follow directly in the

footsteps of 1916 deserve to be

taken?

PRESENTER

Are you entirely persuaded that the

leaders of the 1916 Rising, when

they formed the National Republican

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 36.

PRESENTER (cont’d)Party, intended it to govern alone

for 100 years?

SONTOSA NÍ DOCHARTAIGH

I think they intended it to heal

the divisions in Irish society and

to foster a sense of national

unity, and in that, I think they

were spectacularly successful.

PRESENTER

Surely a state with an almost

ubroken history of one-party rule

can’t be considered, in any sense,

the democratic society envisaged in

the Proclamation?


I think, on the contrary, if you

look at most societies in Europe,

there has been a natural

convergence towards a set of

policies which are...realistic,

responsible and which form the

bedrock of most governments

throughout the continent,

regardless of their composition.

PRESENTER

Some would say that reflects a

hollowing out of democracy in the

direction of the Irish model?


And they are entitled to say that,

that’s the beauty of living in a

democratic society. I think the

fact that the N.R.P. has been

returned continously in every free

and fair election ever held in this

state proves that the Irish people

are entirely happy with their model

of democracy.

PRESENTER

You say "every free and fair

election". Doesn’t that very

conveniently exclude those

elections which your party declared

unfree and unfair simply because

they didn’t win?

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 37.


I think that’s a very jaundiced and

cynical and, if I can say so, very

negative interpretation of what is,

really, a simple historical fact.

It’s disappointing some people

haven’t moved beyond that kind of

negativity.

PRESENTER

You have a picture of General

Mulcahy on the wall behind you, a

very divisive figure. A figure so

divisive that he was deposed and

executed by his own people -


People have their views on the

General, I think the consensus is

that he was the greatest, most

unifying figure in Irish history.

He was deposed and murdered not, as

you say, by "his own people", but

by anti-national, anti-Catholic

extremists, in the pay of the

Soviet Union, one of the most

despicable regimes which has ever

existed -

PRESENTER

More despicable than the extreme

right-wing, racist regimes of

Italy, Germany and Spain with which

the General allied this country,

for which he was overthrown?


Richard Mulcahy was a human being,

I think that’s sometimes forgotten.

There’s a deeply sinister tendency

on the left to dehumanise your

opponents. No, the General was

human, he made decisions which in

hindsight can be criticised, but

everything he did was in the best

interests of preserving Irish

sovereignty.

PRESENTER

Just finally, Minister, what do you

think Patrick Pearse would make of

our society today, and the way in

which it has been administered by

the N.R.P. for the past century?

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 38.

The minister beams.


I think, if Patrick Pearse were to

walk down O’Connell St. today, and

see the wealth of choice, the

wealth of opportunity for

fulfilling every conceivable need,

the fact that Irish people excel in

busineses, in the arts, that our

country is a strong and independent

voice in Europe, a beacon of

freedom and opportunity throughout

the world, I think - if the Patrick

Pearse of 1916 saw a vision of 2016

- and who’s to say he didn’t - it

would reassure him, more than

anything, more than any inner

conviction ever could, that he set

this country on the right path.


A final visit to 1961.

INTERVIEWER (O/S)

You were still under house arrest

when General Mulcahy was executed

by the Provisional People’s

Government in 1941. How did you

feel when you found out?

Pearse exhales sharply and pauses for a long time.

ELDERLY PEARSE

I have seen, in the course of my

lifetime, enough of blood, enough

of death, enough of violence...that

I would never, could never, applaud

another ounce of it. The fate that

befell Mulcahy, which inevitably

awaits all...those in that

position, was, in my view, an

inevitable closing of a chapter on

a period in Irish history

which...I’m sorry, may I ask you a

question?

INTERVIEWER (O/S)

By all means.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 39.

ELDERLY PEARSE

Are you sure, given that you’re

recording me presently, that you

wish to ask that question? Do you

have the means of destroying or

excising it?

INTERVIEWER (O/S)

We can destroy the film, but I

think it’s a valid question.

Another very long pause. Pearse passes his hand over his

face.

ELDERLY PEARSE

It was...never my intention, nor

was it in the minds, and I’m quite

sure of this, of any who signed the

Proclamation...when we agreed on

the phrase "to cherish all children

of the nation equally"...it was not

in the spirit of, of, equivocation.

The sentence means precisely what

it states. You ask, quite

correctly, quite pertinently, if

ill-advisedly, about my opinion of

General Mulcahy. But you must

understand, Mulcahy was not loosed

upon the world, like Lucifer, to

vex and...torment the righteous.

Mulcahy became what he did,

because...his being as he was...was

the most efficient instrument of

divorcing the majority of the

population from affairs of state

and substance. And that is as much

as I’m willing to say on the

matter.

INTERVIEWER (O/S)

Were you relieved when he was

executed?

PEARSE

No. There are Mulcahies aplenty to

keep the world stocked for

generations.

INTERVIEWER (O/S)

A final question; would you have

proceeded with the Rising, knowing

what you now know?

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 40.

PEARSE

In a heartbeat. Unsaid prayers save

no sinners.

CLOSING CREDITS

POST-CREDITS CARD

An ominous, white-on-black card signed by the

Director-General of Public and National Morality. It reads -

"This programme is not approved for public broadcast".

state of war- ireland's bloody birth - final revision

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