Great programme there about Dan Breen on TG4. The man feared no one, his aims were simple. He wanted a brutal occuping force out of his country and he fought them with all the means at his disposal. He made NO apologies for his actions and said "If a man comes into my home, my country and tries to take it over by force I will kill him and I will use any means possible. I am sorry for nothing, to no man or God". If only the country had more men like him then and now.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9816 - 15/01/2011 21:12:41    847085

Dam i missed that. is it avaliable online anywhere?

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11539 - 15/01/2011 21:19:51    847093

We have, commonly called dissedents or traitors by some. dont think dan would have taken a seat in stormont

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 15/01/2011 21:24:46    847100

dhorse
County: Laois


dont think dan would have taken a seat in stormont

I wonder? He was the first anti treaty TD to take a seat in the dail in 1927. Times change, situations change and People change.

derryman (Derry) - Posts: 3246 - 15/01/2011 21:40:01    847112

Can't wait for the Tom Barry and Ernie O'Malley episodes in the next two weeks. Pity they didn't make a real War of Independence Heroes series out of it, have an episode on Collins, McEoin, Lynch, Brennan, Maguire and so on.

Seamus89 (Kilkenny) - Posts: 3848 - 15/01/2011 21:46:00    847117

derryman
County: Derry
Posts: 2090

847112 dhorse
County: Laois


dont think dan would have taken a seat in stormont

I wonder? He was the first anti treaty TD to take a seat in the dail in 1927. Times change, situations change and People change.
__________________________________________

It's a shame they had to start a civil war first... pointless.

A hero up until 1922. He wised up 5 years later...

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20763 - 15/01/2011 21:47:56    847121

Modern Sinn Fein have signed their own Treaty with the British..

I wonder if Dan was alive today, would he have walked away from the Good Friday agreement...?

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20763 - 15/01/2011 21:50:54    847125

I wish we had a modern day Dan Breen to deal with those nauseating fawning psychophantic West Brits who shame Ireland.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9816 - 15/01/2011 21:51:21    847126

jimbodub
County: Dublin
Posts: 7443

847121 derryman
County: Derry
Posts: 2090

847112 dhorse
County: Laois


dont think dan would have taken a seat in stormont

I wonder? He was the first anti treaty TD to take a seat in the dail in 1927. Times change, situations change and People change.
__________________________________________

It's a shame they had to start a civil war first... pointless.

A hero up until 1922. He wised up 5 years later...


It is so strange how different life journeys and circumstances offer such differing perspectives.

derryman (Derry) - Posts: 3246 - 15/01/2011 21:56:35    847132

Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 3055

847126 I wish we had a modern day Dan Breen to deal with those nauseating fawning psychophantic West Brits who shame Ireland.

Pffffhhh...

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20763 - 15/01/2011 21:57:17    847135

derryman
County: Derry
Posts: 2091

847112
dhorse
County: Laois


dont think dan would have taken a seat in stormont

I wonder? He was the first anti treaty TD to take a seat in the dail in 1927. Times change, situations change and People change.

I was about to make that point.

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 16/01/2011 10:38:39    847158

This board gets less interesting every day. No matter what the topic it turns into hardline nationalists vs what they see as 'sell out southerners' with a few wums thrown in. All that gets argued is rhetoric.

Breen was a hero, but he was exceptionally brutal, and did not act within the laws of warfare. Neither did large swathes of the forces of the crown, but thats not the point. Still, it would have been difficult to win the war without men like him who were willing to go the extra mile. The thing I always admired most about Breen, and it sometimes exasperated me, was that he couldn't care less about anyone outside this island. He would never go fawning to London, Paris or Washington, regardless of what benefits it may or may not bring, his world view was Ireland, and while its a view that has its drawbacks its almost entirely missing from our politicians today, and I wish it was there.

abhainn (Galway) - Posts: 1000 - 16/01/2011 10:59:16    847169

What time and what day is the series on at?

dammon (Meath) - Posts: 1291 - 16/01/2011 12:17:00    847201

abhainn
County: Galway
Posts: 644

___________

Genuine question abhainn, in what way did Breen act contrary to the rules of warfare ? Is there any rules to a guerilla campaign ?

Breen divides opinion in Ireland as much now as when he was living and fighting for the IRA, I personally believe that in the south of our country there seems to be a romantic almost spiritual reverance to the men of 1916-22. People think the men who took part were all great lads, went to mass, didn't drink, didn't womanise, they were all pure gaels who had to kill in a just cause, they did not enjoy it but had to do it, no glory just duty.

Breen was honest, brutally honest - the honesty of a soldier. He stated in no uncertain terms that the IRA did not kill RIC men, the IRA murdered RIC men. These great lads were the same lads who shot men in the head coming out of mass, Breen called it what is was - murder, he did not dress it up in patriotic rhetoric, he murdered enemies of his country and made no apologises.

Such quotes as higlighted by Ulsterman do not sit easy with generations of Irish people who believe these men were almost Christ like in their noble devotion to Ireland, to highlight the obvious truth that they were ruthless and vicious is something they refuse to even begin to understand.

artisan (Down) - Posts: 1794 - 16/01/2011 12:20:55    847203

This is the same thread as so many others we've had just with a different title.

Very good documentary though continuing the great work that TG4 are doing.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13792 - 16/01/2011 13:08:48    847217

abhainn.
exceptional and spot on , you hit the nail right in the head , on the philospohy and outlook on how dan breen seen his country and his people , and most importanly what he wanted for the island of ireland , as ulsterman states we lack a lot of his kind today , to deal especially with panderers and sellouts of the biggest kind .

ta32 (Tyrone) - Posts: 4907 - 16/01/2011 13:46:12    847233

dhorse.
very rare i agree with you , but dan breen would have not taken a seat in stormount .. he simply would have not , also many like minded republicans in his time would have taken a same stance , which techinally they did , and they were accused of treachury and anti this and anti- that .. things are very familiar ?

ta32 (Tyrone) - Posts: 4907 - 16/01/2011 13:49:54    847234

Breen did not have an alternative once the British witheld the Home Rule.
Once Sunningdale was agreed there was a peaceful option. The Loyalists aided and abbetted by the slaughter campaign of the Provos saw that off.

N16Calling (UK) - Posts: 260 - 16/01/2011 14:18:54    847240

Eoghan Harris, writing in today's Sunday Independent, said that the programme, while well made, was overly reverential. He said that if he had produced it, he would have called the show 'Dan Breen: Portrait of a political psychopath'. Harris said that the two RIC men killed at Soloheadbeg were deserving of more recognition, and he accused Breen of being a cold-hearted murderer, whose deeds still inspire Real IRA men of today.

I do not agree with these opinions, but I thought I'd post them here anyway, as it's good to see what the other side of the argument thinks.

Seamus89 (Kilkenny) - Posts: 3848 - 16/01/2011 14:34:56    847246

That is a very good point No16. The Provos were wrong not to consider Sunningdale. If they had done that, then the combined force of Irish nationalism, as well as that of the majority of the British public, could have forced the unionists to accept powersharing and cross border cooperation.

Seamus89 (Kilkenny) - Posts: 3848 - 16/01/2011 14:37:23    847247