Ancient Order of Hibernians

But, you know, we do have an element of hypocrisy here.

We have people on the Republican side that support the Ancient Order of Hibernians, for example, which is a Catholic fraternal organisation.

Richie Neal was complaining about Garvahy during the week in terms of that.

He was honoured by the IOH in America a number of years ago.

Well, You can see from people talking in their witness statements that one of the hardest places to recruit members for the IRB was in Ulster.

And Ulster is one of the strongest areas for the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Irish Parliamentary Party through their local leader, Joe Devlin.

And among working class Catholics in Belfast, it is the Irish Parliamentary Party and the Ancient Order of Hibernians that remains the dominant nationalist force, even long after the 1916 Rising.

Precisely so, yeah.

And there's actually, there goes on to be lots of violent conflict between Republicans and Hibernians, especially in the North, but not only in the North.

Like the Hibs are also, they're strongest in the North, yes, but they're also pretty strong in places like Cork, for example.

even in the 1911 election, so well before the revolutionary period started, there's a very violent series of elections in Cork between actually rival factions of the parliamentary party.

So it's split off called the United Irish League and the Hibernians are on the side of the party itself.

Women going to kind of the front line.

There's a really cool memorial in Washington, D.C. called Nuns of the Battlefield, which was put up in 1924, which is funded by the ladies' auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

So these Irish women clearly felt it was important to commemorate these women religiously.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

There are a number of towns and villages in Northern Ireland that are unionist in make-up.

And Hibernian parades go through there unmolested.

They're not attacked.

There's no aggression.

The unionist community just say it's the Hibernian's day.

Let them have their walk.

Let them do what they want to do.

intractable at this point.

Now, the caricature is that that happens and there's nothing happens in the other direction.

Yet Hibernian parades consistently take place in unionist towns and villages and unionist residents don't become mobilised, as has been called for this week, They don't have a spokesperson in their village, which is mainly unionist, that was convicted of terrorism, who then whips them up into a frenzy to oppose the Hibernians' march.

That march proceeds peacefully and quietly, and they have their enjoyable day, and they go home, and everyone gets on with life.

Now, why can people in Garvaki Road not do the same? This is not something that's triumphalist.

I'm not sure if you heard the full interview with Sinn Féin's upper band, MLA John O'Dowd, but he was saying the reason why there are hundreds of people on the Garfahy Road and they will stay there is because they do view the Orange marches as sectarian, as about domination, and they don't give their consent.

And if they don't give their consent, that should determine that people don't march.

Well, what I think John O'Dowd and maybe some from the Gavacki Roads residents group should do is take a short trip to either Kilkeel or Desert Martin unionist towns and villages and ask the residents there how is it that they allow Hibernian marches to go through their unionist areas? Why is it that those people can be accommodating? And Sinn Féin would apparently not be accommodating.

But look, I think the one good thing that has emerged from today is that see from now on, any talk of a greed island, shared Ireland, new approach, reaching out, all of that died on the 26th of the 9th, 26th.

You've got the militia, and you also have charitable organizations.

So in New Orleans, we see that formed in 1818 with the Hibernia Association, not to be confused with the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

It's a completely different organization, Hibernian Association, charitable organization that was formed by upper class Business, Irish businessmen in New Orleans because they saw this first big wave of Irish immigrant males coming to New Orleans via the port from ships directly from Ireland.

So this is our first big wave for New Orleans that we get Irish people directly from Ireland to New Orleans versus through Spain or France.

Um, speaking of the Irish women, are there any organizations that are still active today that have been active for years like those for the Irish women?

They come and go.

Probably the one that's most consistent, it would be the ladies' Ancient Order of Hibernians.

And-

After retirement, he got to play a lot of it as he and Doreen moved out to San Diego to be closer to their kids and grandchildren.

John was a past president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Scranton.

John and Doreen married for 54 years until her passing in 2022.

Army veteran John Patrick McCabe, our veteran of the hour.

He, he, he, he would've been playing to that.

And I'm sure, you know, like, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, I know, is still going strong over there.

Yeah.

So he would've been playing to that, that crowd.