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The Sunday Magazine

The Triumph of Failure: Ireland 1916

Few crushed rebellions have spawned as much poetry, song, legend and heated argument, as the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. The Rising was doomed as a military operation. But it set in motion the final bloody struggle for Irish independence after 800 years of English rule. And it continues to shape the consciousness and politics of modern Ireland. As the country marks the 100th anniversary of the Rising, Michael Enright goes to Dublin to visit the iconic locations of the Rising: the General Post Office on O'Connell Street' where it all began; Kilmainham Gaol, where the leaders were executed by the British; and Glasnevin Cemetery, where the dead of Ireland's independence struggles lie.
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13th May 1916: The bombed buildings at the corner of Sackville street and Eden Quay on the banks of the Liffey in Dublin. The buildings were shelled by the British admiralty gunboat, the Helga, during the Easter Rising. (Getty Images)
The Sunday Edition1:42:28Special: The Triumph of Failure: Ireland 1916 (March 2016)

History is alive on the streets of Dublin.

Few crushed rebellions have spawned as much poetry, song, legend and hot argument, as the Easter Rising in Dublin, 1916.

The Rising was doomed as a military operation. But it set in motion the final bloody struggle for Irish independence after 800 years of English rule. And it continues to shape the consciousness and politics of modern Ireland.

All that remained of the Metropole Hotel, beside the GPO on Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street), after the Easter Rising, 1916. This site is now occupied by Penney's Department Store. (National Library of Ireland on The Commons/Wikimedia)
As the country marks the 100th anniversary of the Rising, go with Michael Enright to Dublin to visit the iconic places where the Rising took place: the General Post Office on O'Connell Street where it all began, Kilmainham Gaol, where the leaders were executed by the British and Glasnevin Cemetery, where the bodies of Irish revolutionary heroes lie. Along the way, Michael meets some of Ireland's most distinguished historians, most voluble writers, most flamboyant activists.

This special program is called, "The Triumph of Failure: Ireland 1916".

Michael's guests are:

Patrick Geoghegan, historian 
Deirdre Nic Eanruig, active member of the 1916 Relatives Association
Lia Mills, author of Fallen, a novel set during the Easter Rising
Declan Kiberd, Irish Studies professor
Senator David Norris, politician, activist and James Joyce scholar
Colm O'Gorman, head of Amnesty International in Ireland
Tara Flynn, actor, comedienne and activist
​Alan Titley, ​writer and scholar

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