15,000 attend Irish Nation League meeting in Phoenix Park
Dublin, 13 September 1916 - More than 15,000 people attended a meeting of the Irish Nation League on the Nine Acres in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.
The League was established by nationalists in Ulster and its ambition is to prevent the partition of Ireland and to deliver Irish independence.
The meeting in the Phoenix Park was the first meeting under the auspices of the League outside Ulster. During the meeting references to Irish Parliamentary Party leaders, notably to John Redmond, were met with 'vigorous booing'.
The chair of the meeting, P.W. Kenny from Waterford, called for a return to the values of Charles Stewart Parnell. He stressed the 'noticeable falling among Irish leaders from the ideals bequeathed to them by Parnell’, stating that the 'crowning offence' of Ireland’s current parliamentary leaders was the manner in which they had 'tried to barter, for personal or party advantage, part of the sacred soil of Ireland and tampered with the birthright of the Irish people.'
Inspector General's Report in July 1916 on a proposed anti-partition public meeting in Cork to be addressed by MP Laurence Ginnell. Click to view full document. (Image: National Archives of Ireland, CSORP 1916-12669-1)
Among those to address the meeting was Rev. Philip O’Doherty from Carndonagh. He told the meeting that the leaders of the Irish Parliamentary Party had effectively called on Ulster ‘to commit suicide so that they might have an evening’s entertainment’.
In the aftermath of the meeting branches of the League were formed in Dublin. A large meeting saw a branch formed at the Banba Hall and another was formed at the Workmen’s Club on York Street.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
