Dunmanway Discussion Group holds conference in Dublin on experience of Protestant minority in Republic of Ireland - group formed by relatives from Bandon Valley Massacre

A group of academics have met for a conference in Dublin to discuss the experience of the Protestant minority in the Republic of Ireland.
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By Philip Bradfield
Published 8th Nov 2023, 16:24 BST
Updated 8th Nov 2023, 16:27 BST

The Dunmanway Discussion Group held the conference on ‘Irish Protestant Minority Experiences’ at Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street in Dublin on Wednesday 8 November.

The event was chaired by human rights activist and former Belfast UUP councillor Jeff Dudgeon.

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It examined the experiences of Irish Protestant minorities in the Republic of Ireland in border areas, starting with the Bandon Valley Massacre by the IRA in 1922 and then looking at succeeding decades.

The Dunmanway Discussion Group held the conference on ‘Irish Protestant Minority Experiences’ at Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street in Dublin. Photo: Google maps.The Dunmanway Discussion Group held the conference on ‘Irish Protestant Minority Experiences’ at Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street in Dublin. Photo: Google maps.
The Dunmanway Discussion Group held the conference on ‘Irish Protestant Minority Experiences’ at Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street in Dublin. Photo: Google maps.

The group’s stated aim is to promote truth and reconciliation in respect of the Bandon Valley Massacre. It was formed by descendants of families impacted by the massacre and other concerned individuals came together in 2022 after the Irish Government declined to mark the centenary of the killings.

Its convenor, Neale Jagoe, currently lives in Ballycastle. His great-grandparents William and Elizabeth fled their home in Dunmanway, west Cork for Belfast after an attempt on their lives by the IRA.

Speakers at the conference included:

- Prof Brian Walker on ‘The Dunmanway Killings’

- Prof Graham Walker on ‘North and South: 1945-55’

- Dr Ken Funston on ‘Border Protestants and Republican Violence’

- Mr Eoghan Harris on ‘An Tost Fada’

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- Dr Ellen McWilliams will read from her current work ‘Resting Places: On Wounds,War and the Irish Revolution’

- Dr David Jameson will read from his recent work ‘The Tilson Case: Church and Statein 1950s Ireland’.

The conference was recorded and can be watched on the Dunmanway Discussion Group channel on Youtube.