Monthly Archives: August 2023

The IRA’s Christmas present to the Niedermayer family: the murder of their father

Posted on Wednesday, 30 August, 2023 by andypollak

Earlier this month I saw ‘Face Down’, a powerful and heartbreaking documentary by the Dublin film-maker Gerry Gregg about the IRA’s 1973 murder of Thomas Niedermayer, the German manager of an electronics factory on the edge of west Belfast. The … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein | 3 Comments

The Border Region as a microcosm of opinion across the island

Posted on Monday, 21 August, 2023 by andypollak

I have a particular fondness for the border town of Clones; it was a place I visited frequently during my 14 years running the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh. It was in the news earlier this month for … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 1 Comment

Why not a loyalist woman as the symbol of the ‘new Ireland’? Why not Bessie Burgess?

Posted on Thursday, 3 August, 2023 by andypollak

I was in Galway last month to see the brilliant production by the Druid theatre company of Sean O’Casey’s classic play set during the 1916 Rising: The Plough and the Stars. This is the tragic story of Jack Clitheroe, who … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Irish reunification, Northern Ireland, Protestantism, unionism and loyalism, Republic of Ireland | 3 Comments