The lessons of history shouldn’t be ignored

A timely warning that the lessons of history shouldn’t be ignored was voiced at the launch of Donal Hall’s book ‘Louth: The Irish Revolution 1912-23’ last week.

The shadow of Bretix loomed over the proceedings, as those gathered reflected on the turbulent period documented in the book and the lasting impact which the establishment of the Border had on this region.

Noted historian and author Professor Terry Dooley, who launched the book, said there were few historians who understood the implications of the Border better than Donal, who was a retired Customs and Excise Officer.

The book documents the lasting legacy of the period, which caused deep pain and divisions within communities and families, as well as on the island of Ireland.

Prof Dooley said that Donal had summed that up with the quote ‘As the guns gradullay fell silent society needed to return to normal; the difficulty was that by 1923 society had not been normal for twelve years due to political upheaval, war and revolution.’

He remarked that it was somewhat ironic that now, after years of normality, the fear of guns along the Border had raised its head again. This, he said, ‘is what happens when politicians fail to understand history.’

The warning was repeated by Donal Hall who noted ‘Anybody reading my book will be struck with how familiar it all is – the principal characters change but the essential arguments have remained the same. Karl Marx’s cynical dictum was that history repeats itself first as a tragedy then as a farce. Maybe I might add, history is repeating itself now, so someone hasn’t been paying attention.’’

In time, history will decide whether the present Brexit crises is a tragedy or a farce. The fear is of the unknown effect that the overspill of Brexit will have on us here in our day-to-day lives is palpable. We have seen it all before.’

Looking back on the period of the 1916 Rebellion, War of Independence and Civil War, Donal, commented: ‘ The revolution was not kind to Co Louth.’

‘We emerged in 1923 divided among our selves and divided from our natural economic, cultural and social hinterland, made worse when the Free State government imposed duties on imports from the UK, and overnight established a way of life along the border that reckoned that the movement of two pounds of butter from one jurisdiction to another was a victory for free enterprise. Ok there might have been more than two pounds of butter. And sometimes it wasn’t butter.’

He said that ‘ The exploitation of the border for profit went far beyond the clichéd image of contraband-laden lorries negotiating the divided fields and roads in the counties adjoining the border. Business and financial institutions learned quickly to turn differing fiscal regulations to their advantage and the ways in which the border could be exploited became widespread and sophisticated, and with Brexit they will again.

‘ There might have been in the past, a certain level of ambiguity towards the land frontier and there might be again in the future,’ he concluded.