Eoin MacNeill ( ga, Eoin Mac Néill; born John McNeill; 15 May 1867 – 15 October 1945) was an Irish scholar,
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
enthusiast, Gaelic revivalist, nationalist and politician who served as
Minister for Education from 1922 to 1925,
Ceann Comhairle of
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...
from 1921 to 1922,
Minister for Industries 1919 to 1921 and
Minister for Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
January 1919 to April 1919. He served as a
Teachta Dála
A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parli ...
(TD) from 1918 to 1927. He was a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Londonderry City from 1918 to 1922 and a
Member of the Northern Ireland Parliament (MP) for
Londonderry from 1921 to 1925.
A key figure of the
Gaelic revival, MacNeill was a co-founder of the
Gaelic League
(; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it emer ...
, to preserve Irish language and culture. He has been described as "the father of the modern study of early Irish medieval history".
He established the
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...
in 1913 and served as Chief-of-Staff of the minority faction after its split in 1914 at the start of the World War. He held that position at the outbreak of the
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
in 1916, but had no role in the Rising or its planning, which was carried out by his nominal subordinates, including
Patrick Pearse
Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ga, Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who ...
, who were members of the secret society, the
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
. On learning of the plans to launch an uprising on Easter Sunday, and after confronting Pearse about it, MacNeill issued a countermanding order, placing a last-minute newspaper advertisement instructing Volunteers not to take part.
In 1918 he was elected to the
First Dáil
The First Dáil ( ga, An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the United ...
as a member of
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
.
Early life
MacNeill was born John McNeill, one of five children born to Archibald McNeill, a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
working-class baker, sailor and merchant, and his wife, Rosetta (''
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
'' McAuley) McNeill, also a Catholic.
He was raised in
Glenarm
Glenarm () is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies on the North Channel coast north of the town of Larne and the village of Ballygalley, and south of the village of Carnlough. It is situated in the civil parish of Tickmacreva ...
,
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...
, an area which "still retained some Irish-language traditions".
His niece was nationalist and teacher,
Máirín Beaumont.
MacNeill was educated at
St Malachy's College
St Malachy's College, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is the oldest Catholic diocesan college in Ulster. The college's alumni and students are known as Malachians.
History
The college, founded by Bishop William Crolly, opened on the feast of Sai ...
(Belfast) and
Queen's College, Belfast
, mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back?
, top_free_label =
, top_free =
, top_free_label1 =
, top_free1 =
, top_free_label2 =
, top_free2 =
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public research university
, parent = ...
. He had an interest in
Irish history
The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 33,000 years ago, with further findings dating the presence of homo sapiens to around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Quatern ...
and immersed himself in its study. He achieved a BA degree in economics, jurisprudence and constitutional history in 1888, and then worked in the British
Civil Service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
.
He co-founded the
Gaelic League
(; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it emer ...
in 1893, along with
Douglas Hyde
Douglas Ross Hyde ( ga, Dubhghlas de hÍde; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician and diplomat who served as the first President of Ireland from June 1938 t ...
; MacNeill was unpaid secretary from 1893 to 1897, and then became the initial editor of the League's official newspaper ''
An Claidheamh Soluis
''An Claidheamh Soluis'' () was an Irish nationalist newspaper published in the early 20th century by ''Conradh na Gaeilge'' (the Gaelic League). It was named for the " Sword of Light" (in modern spelling ''Claíomh Solais'') of Gaelic myth.
...
'' (1899–1901).
He was also editor of the ''
Gaelic Journal
The ''Gaelic Journal'' ( ga, Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge) was a periodical publication "exclusively devoted to the preservation and cultivation of the Irish Language". According to Tomas O Flannghaile it was "the first journal devoted to the living ...
'' from 1894 to 1899. In 1908, he was appointed professor of
early Irish history at
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...
.
He married Agnes Moore on 19 April 1898. The couple had eight children, four sons and four daughters
(though the 1911 census entry for Mac Neill noted 11 children, seven of whom were still alive).
Irish Volunteers
The Gaelic League was from the start strictly non-political, but in 1915, a proposal was put forward to abandon that policy and become a semi-political organisation. MacNeill strongly supported that and rallied to his side a majority of delegates at the 1915 ''
Oireachtas
The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:
*The President of Ireland
*The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...
''. Douglas Hyde, a non-political Protestant, who had co-founded the League and been its president for 22 years, resigned immediately afterward.
Through the Gaelic League, MacNeill met members of
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
, the
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
(IRB), and other nationalists and republicans. One such colleague,
The O'Rahilly, ran the league's newspaper ''An Claidheamh Soluis'', and in October 1913 they asked MacNeill to write an editorial for it on a subject more broad than
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
issues. MacNeill submitted a piece called "The North Began", encouraging formation of a nationalist volunteer force committed to
Irish Home Rule
The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the e ...
, much as the
unionists had done earlier that year with the
Ulster Volunteers
The Ulster Volunteers was an Irish unionist, loyalist paramilitary organisation founded in 1912 to block domestic self-government ("Home Rule") for Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom. The Ulster Volunteers were based in the ...
to thwart Home Rule in Ireland.
Bulmer Hobson
John Bulmer Hobson (14 January 1883 – 8 August 1969) was a leading member of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) before the Easter Rising in 1916.D.J. Hickey & J. E. Doherty, ''A New Dictionary of Irish History fro ...
, a member of the IRB, approached MacNeill about bringing the idea to fruition, and, through a series of meetings, MacNeill became chairman of the council that formed the
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...
, later becoming its chief of staff. Unlike the IRB, MacNeill was opposed to the idea of an armed rebellion, except in resisting any suppression of the Volunteers, seeing little hope of success in open battle against the
British army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
.
The Irish Volunteers had been infiltrated by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which planned on using the organisation to stage an armed rebellion, with the goal of separating Ireland from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and establishing an Irish Republic. The entry of the UK into the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
was, in their view, a perfect opportunity to do that. With the co-operation of
James Connolly
James Connolly ( ga, Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born to Irish parents in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connolly left school for working life at the a ...
and the
Irish Citizen Army
The Irish Citizen Army (), or ICA, was a small paramilitary group of trained trade union volunteers from the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) established in Dublin for the defence of workers' demonstrations from the Dublin M ...
, a secret council of IRB officials planned a
general rising at Easter 1916. On the Wednesday before Easter, they presented MacNeill with a letter, allegedly stolen from high-ranking British staff in
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin.
Until 1922 it was the se ...
, indicating that the British were going to arrest him and all the other nationalist leaders. Unbeknownst to MacNeill, the letter—called the Castle Document—was a forgery.
When MacNeill learned about the IRB's plans, and when he was informed that
Roger Casement
Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...
was about to land in
County Kerry
County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...
with a shipment of German arms, he was reluctantly persuaded to go along with them, believing British action was now imminent and that mobilization of the Irish Volunteers would be justified as a defensive act. However, after learning that the German arms shipment had been intercepted and Casement arrested, and having confronted
Patrick Pearse
Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ga, Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who ...
, who refused to relent, MacNeill countermanded the order for the Rising by sending written messages to leaders around the country, and placing a notice in the ''
Sunday Independent'' cancelling the planned "manoeuvres". That greatly reduced the number of volunteers who reported for duty on the day of the Easter Rising.
Pearse, Connolly and the others agreed that the uprising would go ahead anyway, but it began one day later than originally intended to ensure that the authorities were taken by surprise. Beginning on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, the Rising lasted less than a week. After the surrender of the rebels, MacNeill was arrested although he had taken no part in the insurrection. The rebel leader
Tom Clarke, according to his wife Kathleen, warned her on the day before his execution, "I want you to see to it that our people know of his treachery to us. He must never be allowed back into the National life of this country, for so sure as he is, so sure will he act treacherously in a crisis. He is a weak man, but I know every effort will be made to whitewash him."
Political life
MacNeill was released from prison in 1917 and was elected
MP for the
National University
A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state.
Some national universities are associated with national cultural or po ...
and
Londonderry City constituencies for Sinn Féin in the
1918 general election. In line with
abstentionist
Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in ...
Sinn Féin policy, he refused to take his seat in the
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and sat instead in the newly convened
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...
in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
,
where he was made
Secretary for Industries in the second ministry of the
First Dáil
The First Dáil ( ga, An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the United ...
. He was a member of the
Parliament of Northern Ireland
The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...
for
Londonderry between 1921 and 1925, although he never took his seat. In 1921, he supported the
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...
. In 1922, he was in a minority of pro-Treaty delegates at the
Irish Race Convention in Paris. Following the establishment of the
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...
, he became
Minister for Education in its second (provisional) government, the
third Dáil
The Third Dáil was elected at the general election held on 16 June 1922. This election was required to be held under the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed on 6 December 1921. It first met on 9 September and until 6 December 1922, it was the Provisio ...
.
In 1923, MacNeill, a committed internationalist, was also a key member of the diplomatic team that oversaw Ireland's entry to the League of Nations.
MacNeill's family was split on the treaty issue. One son, Brian, took the anti-Treaty side and was killed in disputed circumstances near
Sligo
Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...
by
Free State troops during the
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...
in September 1922. Two other sons, Niall and Turloch, as well as nephew Hugo MacNeill, served as officers in the Free State Army. One of Eoin's brothers,
James McNeill
James McNeill (27 March 1869 – 12 December 1938) was an Irish politician and diplomat, who served as first High Commissioner to London and second Governor-General of the Irish Free State.
Early life
One of five children born to Archibald Mc ...
, was the second and penultimate
Governor-General of the Irish Free State
The Governor-General of the Irish Free State ( ga, Seanascal Shaorstát Éireann) was the official representative of the sovereign of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1936. By convention, the office was largely ceremonial. Nonetheless, it wa ...
.
Irish Boundary Commission
In 1924 the three man
Irish Boundary Commission was set up to settle the border between
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
and the Irish Free State; MacNeill represented the Irish Free State. MacNeill was the only member of the Commission without legal training and has been described as having been “pathetically out of his depth”. However, each of the Commissioners was selected out of political expediency rather than for any established competence or insight into boundary making. On 7 November 1925, a conservative British newspaper, ''
The Morning Post
''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''.
History
The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning Po ...
'', published a leaked map showing a part of eastern
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...
(mainly The Laggan district) that was to be transferred to Northern Ireland; the opposite of the main aims of the Commission. Perhaps embarrassed by that, especially since he said that it had declined to respect the terms of the Treaty, McNeill resigned from the Commission on 20 November. On 24 November 1925 he also resigned as
Minister for Education, a position unrelated to his work on the Commission.
On 3 December 1925, the Free State government agreed with the governments in London and
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
to end its onerous treaty requirement to pay its share of the United Kingdom's "imperial debt" and, in exchange, agreed that the 1920 boundary would remain as it was, overriding the Commission. That angered many nationalists and MacNeill was the subject of much criticism, but in reality, he and the Commission had been sidestepped by the intergovernmental debt renegotiation. In any case, despite his resignations, the intergovernmental boundary deal was approved by a Dáil vote of 71–20 on 10 December 1925, and MacNeill is listed as voting with the majority in favour. He lost his
Dáil seat at the
June 1927 election.
Academic
MacNeill was an important scholar of Irish history and among the first to study
Early Irish law
Early Irish law, historically referred to as (English: Freeman-ism) or (English: Law of Freemen), also called Brehon law, comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval Ireland. They were partially eclipsed by the Norm ...
, offering both his own interpretations, which at times were coloured by his nationalism, and translations into English. He was also the first to uncover the nature of succession in
Irish kingship, and his theories are the foundation for modern ideas on the subject.
He was a contributor to the Royal Irish Academy's
Clare Island Survey
The Clare island Survey was a multidisciplinary (zoological, botanical, archaeological, and geological) survey of Clare Island an island off the West coast of Ireland.
The survey which followed a similar survey of Lambay Island in 1905 and 190 ...
, recording the Irish place names of the island. On 25 February 1911, he delivered the inaugural address on "Academic Education and Practical Politics" to the Legal and Economic Society of University College Dublin.. His disagreements and disputes with
Goddard Henry Orpen
Goddard Henry Orpen (8 May 1852 – 15 May 1932) was an Irish historian. He attended The Abbey School, Tipperary and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin.
Orpen was the son of Dr. John Herbert Orpen (1805–1888) and Ellen Susanna Gertude ...
, particularly over the latter's book ''Ireland under the Normans'', generated controversy.
He was President of the
Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland is a learned society based in Ireland, whose aims are "to preserve, examine and illustrate all ancient monuments and memorials of the arts, manners and customs of the past, as connected with the antiquit ...
from 1937 to 1940 and President of the
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...
from 1940 to 1943.
Later life and death
He retired from politics completely and became Chairman of the
Irish Manuscripts Commission
The Irish Manuscripts Commission was established in 1928 by the newly founded Irish Free State with the intention of furthering the study of Ireland's manuscript collections and archives. Its foundation was primarily motivated by the loss of many h ...
. In his later years he devoted his life to scholarship, he published a number of books on Irish history. MacNeill died in Dublin of natural causes, aged 78 in 1945.
Legacy
His grandson
Michael McDowell served as
Tánaiste
The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Tao ...
,
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform,
TD and a
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. Another grandson, Myles Tierney, served as a member of
Dublin County Council
Dublin County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Bhaile Átha Cliath) was a local authority for the administrative county of County Dublin in Ireland.
History
The county council was established by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. Its headquart ...
, where he was Fine Gael whip on the council.
[Profile](_blank)
, Easter1916.ie; accessed 15 September 2015.
Works
*''Ireland Before Saint Patrick'' (1903)
*''Duanaire Finn: the book of the lays of Fionn'' (1908)
*''Early Irish population groups: their nomenclature, classification and chronology'' (1911)
*''The Authorship and Structure of the
Annals of Tigernach
The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (abbr. AT, ga, Annála Tiarnaigh) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish.
Many of the pre-historic entries come from the 12th-centur ...
'' (1913)
*''Phases of Irish history'' (1919)
*''The Irish law of dynastic succession'' (1919)
*''The Case for an Irish Republic'' (1920)
*''Celtic Ireland'' (1921)
*''History of Ireland: Pre-Christian times to 1921'' (1932)
*''Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland'' (1934)
*''Early Irish laws and institutions'' (1935)
*''The Irish Nation and Irish culture'' (1938)
*''Military service in Medieval Ireland'' (1941)
[For a comprehensive listing of journal articles by MacNeill, see F. X. Martin: 'The Writings of Eoin MacNeill', ''Irish Historical Studies'' 6 (21) (March 1948), pp. 44–62.]
References
External links
*
*
Tierney/MacNeill Photographs, collection of over 500 images, the largest parts of the collection relate to the political and academic careers of Eoin MacNeill and his son-in-law Michael Tierney UCD Digital Library Collection.
File:Piece 207-155; John McNeill or Eoin McNeill (1922).pdf, page=11, British Army military intelligence file for John McNeill
File:Piece 209-029; Eoin Macneill Speech 1917; Brian Macgilligan, Bernard Macgilligan (1916-1917).pdf, page=7, Eoin Macneill Speech 1917
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macneill, Eoin
1867 births
1945 deaths
Academics of University College Dublin
Alumni of Queen's University Belfast
Burials at Kilbarrack Cemetery
Cumann na nGaedheal TDs
Early Sinn Féin TDs
Irish magazine editors
Irish newspaper editors
20th-century Irish historians
Members of the 1st Dáil
Members of the 2nd Dáil
Members of the 3rd Dáil
Members of the 4th Dáil
Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for County Londonderry constituencies
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Londonderry constituencies (1801–1922)
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the National University of Ireland
Ministers for Education (Ireland)
Ministers for Finance (Ireland)
Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1921–1925
People educated at St Malachy's College
People from County Antrim
People of the Irish Civil War (Pro-Treaty side)
Presiding officers of Dáil Éireann
Teachtaí Dála for the National University of Ireland
UK MPs 1918–1922