I started reading about Ireland and about its history in order to understand just a bit of the Irish paradoxes. Although I started from the very beginning the matter was still incomprehensible. I therefore began to write down the headlines in Danish.
In 1998 when I got my own website I wondered what to put there. My family, my career or my garden could not attract much attention. But my Danish survey of the history of Ireland would be different from most other websites, so I uploaded the whole story.
I considered my web-project to be complete by then. However the beginning of 1998 was to become a turning point in the history of Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement created optimism and a new hope of lasting peace. I therefore added new chapters on the peace agreement and on the ups and downs since then. Obviously there is still a way to go before a real peace has been achieved and right now I can't see the end of my project.
A lot of people wrote to me asking for details or references. This has proved the need for a brief Danish version of the history of Ireland. In 2001 more than 50 persons on the average have been visiting my website every day.
However about 10 % of the visitors on my website are non-Scandinavians. I have added this page in order to serve these people with some information about my project and with some of the important references.
I considered reference documents and speeches most interesting in the original English language. I also have to admit that a proper translation of the documents to Danish is not that simple. On the other hand the number of visitors to the reference pages in English has been very limited. Therefore all information in English will be concentrated in this English section of my website together with selected news.
I have no intention of making an English version of the whole story. I have neither the ability nor the capacity to write in English and several excellent sites already offer that sort of information.
It remains to be seen if this section serves the interests of some visitors.
Since my first visit to Ireland the history of Ireland was a puzzle to me. Why has this beautiful country with its charming and hospitable population become the arena of a never-ending conflict? Differences in religion, language, race or culture gave no reasonable explanation. Which coincidence has caused so much suffering in Ireland while other countries such as Denmark had nothing but trifles to quarrel about?
Irish Proclamation of Freedom Read by Patrick Pearse from the Steps of the General Post Office, Dublin, Ireland on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916
The Irish Government, June 1997:
Bloody Sunday and the Report of the Widgery Tribunal
Full text of the Good Friday Agreement, April 10, 1998.
Investigation into the human rights in Northern Ireland, September 29, 1998
Statement by Rosemary Nelson, solicitor for Garvaghy Road residents
Nobel Peace Price Award, December 11, 1998:
Nobel Address by David Trimble, First Minister and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party
Nobel Address by John Hume, leader of the catholic SDLP
George Mitchell's Peace Principles, November 1999:
Statements of November 16 and 17, 1999, by Ulster Unionist Party, Sinn Féin, Progressive Unionist Party and IRA
George Mitchell's statement, November 18, 1999
Suspension of Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive. February 2000:
Decommissioning reports, Mandelson in House of Commons, IRA statements
Peace process resumed. May 2000
British-Irish joint statement and IRA statement.
Inspection of IRA weapons dumps, June 2000
Arms inspector's report
An Irish bookshop: Read Ireland
Wesley Johnston's History of Ireland
The CAIN Project (The Northern Ireland Conflict)
Danish Irish Society
Sinn Féin Homepage
The Irish Times
E-mail me your comments and questions
Ireland History in Maps
Irish History on the Web
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
Ulster Unionist Party
The Irish Republican Socialist Party
Fine Gael
Ulster Democratic Unionist Party, DUP
Fianna Fáil
Ulster Democratic Party
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
The Wild Geese (USA) Irish soldiers in exile
Visit Danish Irish Society
2002-02-12 16:32:00 EST
SEARCH FOR NEW PSNI LEADER WILL BE BROAD
The search for Northern Ireland's new Police Chief Constable could go worldwide, it emerged tonight. Members of the Policing Board who meet next week to begin the selection process are also offering a salary of more than £GBP 130,000.
2002-02-05 17:37:00 EST
POLICE BOARD MEETS WITH OMBUDSMAN AND FLANAGAN
The Northern Ireland Policing Board has held a marathon round of talks centered on the police investigation into the Omagh bombing. The board had been engaged in a full day of discussions over both Police Ombudsman (watchdog) Nuala O'Loan's and police chief constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan's reports on the investigation which has led to calls for the newly renamed Police Force of Northern Ireland to be removed from leading the investigation.
2002-01-30 17:20:00 EST
AHERN BACKS O'LOAN IN OMAGH BOMBING ROW
Irish premier Bertie Ahern today threw his weight behind calls by Northern Ireland's Police Ombudsman to have a third party investigate the Omagh bombing.
2002-01-30 12:40:00 EST
30 YEARS AFTER: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED
The city of Derry observed a minute's silence at 16:15 GMT today to mark the 30th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. The minute's silence was observed at the precise moment in 1972 when British paratroopers fired on a civil rights march, killing thirteen unarmed protesters. Fourteen other people were wounded, one of whom later died.
2002-01-25 16:36:00 EST
IRISH GOVERNMENT REITERATES CALL FOR INDEPENDENT OMAGH INQUIRY
The Irish Government last night stood by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman's demand for an independent investigation of the Omagh bombing. This was despite yesterday's rejection of the proposal by the Police Service Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan. The Irish premier, Bertie Ahern, said Mrs Nuala O'Loan's recommendation that a team led by a senior investigating officer, independent of the PSNI, should be asked to conduct the Omagh bomb investigation "still stands".
2002-01-24 12:54:00 EST
FLANAGAN MEETS WITH OMAGH BOMB RELATIVES
One of the main spokesmen for the relatives of the Omagh bomb victims has said they are not happy with the response from PSNI chief constable, Ronnie Flanagan about the handling of the investigation. Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the 1998 bomb attack, was speaking after a five-hour meeting between Sir Ronnie Flanagan and the bereaved relatives in the County Tyrone town.
2002-01-22 17:13:00 EST
FIRST CONVICTION FOR OMAGH BOMBING
A pub owner from the border town of Dundalk, Colm Murphy, has been convicted of conspiring to cause the Omagh bombing in 1998. The 49-year-old is the first person to be convicted in relation to the bombing, in which 29 people were killed and 200 were injured.
2002-01-21 11:13:00 EST
HUME TESTIFIES BEFORE BLOODY SUNDAY INQUIRY
The SDLP's MP for Foyle, John Hume, has spoken of his fears for the Civil Rights march which turned into Bloody Sunday after a confrontation with troops a week earlier. The Foyle MP said that he stayed away from the anti-internment march of January 30 1972 which ended with 13 people shot dead after British Paratroopers opened fire with CS gas and rubber bullets during a civil rights meeting at Magilligan Strand, County Derry, seven days before.
2002-01-21 15:34:00 EST
OMAGH POLICE BOOK DISAPPEARED DURING INQUIRY
A book detailing terrorist threats vanished from Omagh police station at the height of inquiries into the RUC investigation of the bomb atrocity, it was revealed tonight. It disappeared after senior officers were questioned about warnings in advance of the Real IRA attack which left 29 people dead.
2002-01-18 13:00:00 EST
MASSIVE TURNOUT AT ANTI-SECTARIAN RALLIES
A demonstration against the recent sectarian violence in Belfast today has been described as one of the largest the city has ever witnessed. The protests were held following the murder of Catholic postman Daniel McColgan and loyalist paramilitary death threats to postal workers and teachers.
2002-01-17 12:00:00 EST
HAASS MEETS WITH SINN FEIN IN BELFAST
US Special Adviser on Northern Ireland Richard Haass said today he had agreed to disagree with Sinn Fein over its refusal to join the new policing board. But he expressed the hope that republicans would soon join the 19-member board, set up under the Good Friday Agreement, intending hold the new Police Service of Northern Ireland to account.
2002-01-15 14:56:00 EST
POSTAL WORKERS STRIKE FOLLOWING DEATH THREATS
Postal staff in Northern Ireland have voted to stay away from work indefinitely until a loyalist death threat against Catholic workers is lifted. The decision was taken at a meeting of postal workers unions this afternoon, in the aftermath of the murder of a Catholic postman by loyalist paramilitaries
2002-01-15 12:37:00 EST
UNIONIST QUESTIONED OVER KILLING OF POSTMAN
A local councillor, Tommy Kirkham, is one of those being questioned by police in Northern Ireland in connection with the killing at the weekend of Danny McColgan, a Catholic postman murdered by loyalist paramilitaries. Mr Kirkham was a member of the loyalist Ulster Democratic Party, which was linked to the UDA before it was dissolved at the end of last year. He and another man were arrested on Monday.
2002-01-14 12:14:00 EST
TEACHERS AND POSTAL WORKERS ARE LEGITIMATE TARGETS: UDA
Postal workers in Northern Ireland announced this morning that they would be stopping work for 48 hours in response to the loyalist sectarian murder of Catholic postal worker Daniel McColgan in Belfast. The Red Hand Defenders/UDA has now extended the threat to all Catholic postal workers and school staff and teachers in north Belfast which it says are "legitimate targets".
2002-01-11 13:09:00 EST
CALM RETURNS TO ARDOYNE AFTER NIGHT OF RIOTING
Students in north Belfast got to school without incident this morning following a night of further clashes in North Belfast again last night. Security cameras are to be installed in a part of north Belfast which has seen two nights of clashes between members of the nationalist and loyalist communities.
2002-01-10 14:09:00 EST
ARMED GUNMEN ATTACK SECOND BELFAST SCHOOL
An armed loyalist gang has damaged cars parked in a Catholic secondary school in north Belfast. The police said they were investigating the attack on Our Lady of Mercy Girls' Secondary School by six men carrying crowbars. Shortly before 1100 GMT the men went into the car park of the school on Bilston Road. Eyewitnesses said at least one of them was armed with a gun.
2002-01-09 13:27:00 EST
THREE SHOT AS NORTH BELFAST VIOLENCE ESCALATES
Serious rioting has broken out in north Belfast after Catholic pupils were blocked by loyalists from leaving a Catholic primary school. Following the incident at Holy Cross Girls' Primary School, what police have described as "serious street disturbances" broke out nearby at the Ardoyne Road roundabout and on the Crumlin Road.
2002-01-09 11:47:00 EST
TROUBLE AT HOLY CROSS SCHOOL BEGINS AGAIN
New trouble has flared today at the flashpoint Holy Cross Primary School in north Belfast where loyalists had been preventing Catholic school children from attending their school via the Glenbryn area of Ardoyne.
2002-01-04 12:27:00 EST
LOYALIST KILLED BY HIS OWN BOMB
Police in Northern Ireland believe that a teenager killed in an explosion in Coleraine, County Derry last night may have been preparing to throw a pipe-bomb. William Moore Campbell, a 19-year-old Protestant, from Winston Way in the Heights area of the town, died in an explosion just yards from his home late last night.
2002-01-02 08:59:00 EST
LOYALISTS ACCUSED OF MURDER BID IN NORTH BELFAST
Loyalists have been today accused of attempted murder after a Catholic man was stabbed at a sectarian interface in north Belfast. The 43-year-old father-of-five is in a stable condition in hospital after being attacked near his home in Newington Street in the Limestone Road area.
2001-12-21 13:59:00 EST
DEATH THREATS MADE AGAINST OMAGH INFORMER
Death threats have been made against a man at the center of a public row between Northern Ireland's chief constable and police ombudsman. Bullets were said to have been sent in the post to the special branch informer, known under the alias Kevin Fulton.
2001-12-19 14:49:00 EST
SDLP CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT OMAGH INVESTIGATION
Urgent changes are needed to the police service after the Northern Ireland ombudsman's devastating report into the Omagh inquiry, the nationalist SDLP said today.
2001-12-17 16:33:00 EST
DECOMMISSIONING DATE EXTENDED
Paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland are to be given another five years to decommission, under legislation unveiled today by the British government.
Read the full stories at The Irish American Information Service