President hails revolutionary spirit of Belfast Presbyterians

PRESIDENT Michael D Higgins yesterday praised the ‘revolutionary activity’ of the Presbyterians of Belfast... albeit those who lived in the 18th century.

He said they had ‘furnished both the intellectual and the material resources’ for Irish rebels, the memory of which has slowly been ‘eclipsed’ in the public mind.

The President made his remarks during a speech in Wexford for the 100-year commemoration of the death of Home Rule party leader John Redmond.

Belfast Presbyterians played a vital role in the 1798 rebellion, with one of the first branches of the United Irishmen being founded there in 1791, and at the first meeting most were Presbyterians, including Robert Simms and Samual McTeir.

President Higgins said the 1798 rebellion proved a decisive moment in Irish history. ‘The bloodshed of the 1790s, and the punitive response of the British government and those Edmund Burke described as the “junto” dominating Dublin Castle, convinced a generation of nationalists that an armed uprising of any size would not only fail but invite an immediate and terrible retribution.’ said President Higgins.

He said that after that politicians such as Daniel O’Connell sought to use parliamentary and extra-parliamentary means to achieve Home Rule and John Redmond followed in that tradition.