History lecture series – Eoin MacNeill and the case against the Easter Rising

Dr James McConnel (Northumbria University)

19 January 2017       7.30pm Free

Eoin MacNeill and the case against the 1916 Easter Rising

In his capacity as chief of staff, Eoin MacNeill (in)famously issued the countermanding order to the Irish Volunteers cancelling its mobilisation in advance of the 1916 Easter Rising. This talk examines MacNeill’s role in the events of 1916 and examines his actions in light of a memorandum he wrote in spring 1916, in which he set out in the clearest of language his case against an insurrection being launched if it could not be justified on military grounds.