Great Irish Speeches

Dr Richard Aldous is the head of the School of History and Archives at University College, Dublin. He comments regularly on international affairs on Radio 4 and 5, Prime Time, Questions and Answers and contributes to the Irish Times. His published works include a book on Gladstone and Disraeli - The Lion and the Unicorn - Tunes of Glory and Harold MacMillan.

• Foreword by Colm Toibin. Introduction. Henry Grattan 'Spirit of Swift! Spirit of Molyneux!' 16 April 1782. Theobald Wolfe Tone 'Whatever be the sentence of the court, I am prepared for it.' 10 November 1798. John FitzGibbon, Earl of Clare 'I am sickened with this rant of Irish dignity and independence.' 10 February 1800. Robert Emmet 'Then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written.' 19 September 1803. Richard Lalor Sheil 'Hold, I have seen the aliens do their duty!' 23 February 1837. Daniel O'Connell 'Be obedient to me, and Ireland shall be free.' 1 October 1843. Thomas Davis 'Gentlemen, you have a country!' 17 June 1839. David Moriarty 'Eternity is not long enough, nor hell is not hot enough.' 17 February 1867. Charles Stewart Parnell 'No man has the right to fix the boundary of the march of a nation.' 21 January 1885. Michael Davitt 'The Land League repels the accusation, and counter-charges landlordism.' 29 October 1889. The Catholic hierarchy 'Parnell, by his public misconduct, has utterly disqualified himself.' 3 July 1891. John Dillon 'His heart still yearned toward the people of Ireland.' 20 May 1898. James Larkin 'If they want war, then war they will have.' 4 October 1913. Edward Carson 'Ulster is asking to be let alone.' 11 February 1914. John Redmond 'The interests of Ireland are at stake in this war.' 20 February 1914. Patrick Pearse 'The fools, the fools! They have left us our Fenian dead.' 1 August 1915. Michael Collins 'Let us in God's name abide by the decision.' 19 December 1921. Mary MacSwiney 'The grossest act of betrayal that Ireland ever endured.' 7 January 1922. William Butler Yeats 'We are no petty people.' 11 June 1925. John A. Costello 'The Blueshirts will be victorious in the Irish Free State.' 28 February 1934. Sir James Craig 'We are a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State.' 24 April 1934. Eamon de Valera 'That Ireland which we dreamed of.' 17 March 1943. Eamon de Valera 'The abuse of a people who have done him no wrong.' 16 May 1945. Noel Browne 'The honesty of my motives will be attacked by able men.' 12 April 1951. Sean Lemass '100,000 jobs.' 11 October 1955. Frank Aiken 'No one is likely to dispute the existence or the gravity of these dangers.' 17 October 1958. John F. Kennedy 'Ireland's hour has come.' 28 June 1963. Brendan Corish 'The seventies will be socialist.' 13 October 1967. Terence O'Neill 'Ulster stands at the crossroads.' 9 December 1968. Bernadette Devlin 'There is no place in society for us.' 22 April 1969. Jack Lynch 'The Irish government can no longer stand by.' 13 August 1969. Liam Cosgrave 'Mongrel foxes.' 21 May 1972. Charles J. Haughey 'We are living away beyond our means.' 9 January 1980. Joe Connelly 'People of Galway - we love you!' 7 September 1980. John Hume 'Sit down and negotiate our future with us.' 16 November 1981. Des O'Malley 'I stand by the Republic.' 20 February 1985. Garret FitzGerald 'People are entitled to a mature discussion.' 16 May 1986. Alan Dukes 'I will not play that game.' 2 September 1987. Mary Robinson 'Come dance with me in Ireland.' 3 December 1990. Maire Geoghegan-Quinn 'A necessary development of human rights.' 23 June 1993. Seamus Heaney 'The Ireland I now inhabit.' 7 December 1995. David Trimble 'A cold house for Catholics.' 10 December 1998. Mary Harney 'Closer to Boston than Berlin.' 21 July 2000. Joe Higgins 'Ansbacher man.' 11 July 2002. Micheal Martin 'I will introduce a prohibition on smoking.' 30 January 2003. Gerry Adams 'Now there is an alternative.' 6 April 2005. Mary McAleese 'Their deaths rise far above the clamour.' 27 January 2006. Bertie Ahern 'Ireland needs to cherish its roots.' 26 February 2007. Ian Paisley 'Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace.' 8 May 2007. Bertie Ahern 'This is what Ireland can give to the world.' 15 May 2007. Biographies. Index of Notable Phrases. Index.