One Daniel of a guy

TOMORROW marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Daniel O'Connell, one of Ireland's most significant historical figures.

- Here, historian DONAL FALLON

Here, historian DONAL FALLON looks at the life and work of a man far ahead of his time, who was an antislavery pacifist but who also had his critics, and who had an enduring impact on us as a nation.

THE next time you're passing the Daniel O'Connell monument facing onto Dublin's O'Connell Bridge, look closely.

On top, when a seagull isn't claiming the position, we see The Great Liberator O'Connell — but in the row below him, the central figure is Ireland herself.

She's standing on broken chains, and holding the Act of Catholic Emancipation in her hand. Around her are artisans, lawyers, artists, a bishop, children and more besides.

The monument has a simple message: all of Ireland stood behind Daniel O'Connell.

But closer inspection still reveals bullet holes aplenty. Ireland has taken one to her arm, while several are in O'Connell's chest.

The end product of the fierce fighting at Easter Week 1916, there's a certain irony in their presence here. O'Connell was very much a pacifist, and someone who rejected revolution.

BLOOD

No freedom, he believed, "is worth the shedding of a single drop of human blood".

O'Connell entered the world on August 6, 1775, 250 years ago tomorrow. Born near Cahersiveen in the Kingdom of Kerry, his life was greatly shaped by the turbulence of the world in the late 18th century.

In an Ireland where Catholics were denied many fundamental rights, the generosity of his wealthy uncle Maurice allowed O'Connell to seek an education in France, a place he happened to find himself in when the revolution there took hold.

One story has it that the young O'Connell, fleeing from France on boat, encountered the Irish brothers John and Henry Sheares.