Remembering Schism: Commemoration of the Irish Civil War and Contested Narratives in the Contemporary Republican "Family"

Abstract

Within contemporary irish republicanism there is an acute consciousness of the echoes and ghostly resonances of previous schisms, many of which can be traced back to the Civil War era. This article interrogates the divisions that have been an almost constant characteristic of the republican movement over the last century.1 Deploying the metaphor of the republican “family,” it investigates internal divisions within contemporary Irish republicanism, which is today dominated by the Provisional movement in the guise of Sinn Féin.2 Reviewing the past century of commemorative dissent, this article predicts that the centenary of the Civil War (2022–23) will provide another occasion in which questions of legitimacy and struggles over “ownership” of the past demonstrate the fissiparous character of the republican family. Despite Sinn Féin’s electoral success, there are significant groups, many formed from splits within the party and its “armed wing,” the