ON THE night of Saturday March 11, 1923, more than 100 Irishmen and women across Britain were rudely awoken by police, arrested, before being bundled into train carriages and taken to ports across the country. Amid much confusion, these men and women were transported by boat (above) to Ireland and imprisoned. Their crime: anti-Treaty activities committed against the newly established Irish Free State, during the height of the Irish Civil War.

CAIRDE na hÉireann were delighted to welcome a sold-out crowd to the Glasgow Film Theatre recently for the Scottish premiere of the film-documentary, Gerry Adams: A Ballymurphy Man.

ON EASTER Sunday and Monday, commemorative ceremonies took place in Glasgow cemeteries to honour Glasgow-based Irish Republicans who rendered service as members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, Briogaid na h-Albain, Óglaigh na hÉireann, Cumann na mBan, Na Fianna Éireann and Sinn Féin.

CHRIST the King Hall in Glasgow’s southside was filled to capacity recently as An Evening with Pearse Doherty TD brought together generations of the Irish community in Glasgow for a warm, engaging and memorable celebration.

ON MARCH 12, 1925, the newly formed State police force, An Garda Síochána, launched a large-scale raid on Dublin’s notorious red-light district, the Monto, an operation ordered by Garda Commissioner William Murphy.

Twenty years ago, I was with colleagues in Dublin for a once -per-term meet-up of participants in a postgraduate psychotherapy course. It was organised across Northern Europe with students from Britain, Denmark, Iceland and Ireland.

DURING Easter weekend a number of commemorative ceremonies took place in several cemeteries in Glasgow and the west of Scotland, to honour Irish men and women who kept the national spirit alive among the exiles.

IRELAND has voted for more of the same. And why wouldn't it?

ULSTER says no, until it says yes.