David Patrick Moran (; 22 March 1869 – 31 January 1936), better known as simply D. P. Moran, was an Irish journalist, activist and cultural-political

theorist A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

, known as the principal advocate of a specifically Gaelic Catholic

Irish nationalism Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cult ...

during the early 20th century. Associated with the wider

Celtic Revival The Celtic Revival (also referred to as the Celtic Twilight) is a variety of movements and trends in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries that see a renewed interest in aspects of Celtic culture. Artists and writers drew on the traditions of Gae ...

, he promoted his ideas primarily through his journal, '' The Leader'', and compilations of his articles such as the book ''The Philosophy of Irish Ireland''. He was born in Manor, a townland in

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

, the youngest of twenty children born to James Moran, a builder, and Elizabeth ( Casey) Moran. One of his brothers would serve on the defense team of Patrick O'Donnell. He was educated at

Castleknock College Castleknock College () is a voluntary Vincentian secondary school for boys, situated in the residential suburb of Castleknock, west of Dublin city centre, Ireland. Founded in 1835 by Philip Dowley, it is one of the oldest boys' schools in ...

, near Dublin before working as a journalist in London, where he was a member of the

Irish Literary Society The Irish Literary Society was founded in London in 1892 by William Butler Yeats, T. W. Rolleston, and Charles Gavan Duffy. Members of the Southwark Irish Literary Club met in Clapham Reform Club and changed the name early in the year. On 13 Februa ...

. His brand of nationalism and concept of the

decolonisation Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...

of Ireland was of a homogeneous Irish-speaking and Roman Catholic nation, promoting the revival of the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

and of

Gaelic games Gaelic games () are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the most popular of the s ...

in Irish cultural life. He often employed disparaging terms ("

West Brit West Brit, an abbreviation of West Briton, is a derogatory term for an Irish person who is perceived as Anglophilic in matters of culture or politics. West Britain is a description of Ireland emphasising it as subject to British influence. H ...

s", " shoneens", "sourfaces") in reference to Unionists and/or non-Catholics.

Irish-Ireland

Despite the failure of the 1893 Home Rule Bill and the division of the

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nati ...

in 1891, nationalists took heart from

Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde (; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician, and diplomat who served as the first president of Ireland from June 1938 to June 1945. He was a l ...

's 1892 speech, entitled "The Necessity for De-anglicising Ireland". Moran built upon this thesis and provided a wider ideology for enthusiasts, particularly after the re-unification of most of the nationalist parties from 1900. In his 1905 text ''The Philosophy of Irish-Ireland'', Moran argued that to be Irish required: * the use of the

* membership in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

* an anti-materialist outlook on life * the playing of only

Though a sponsor of the use of Irish, he never became fluent in the language himself. He emphasised the use of English in 1908–1909 as "an active, vigilant, and merciless propaganda in the English language." In the longer term, when Irish became again the language of the people, its use would enable a de facto censorship of any foreign and unwelcome ideas written in English. While Moran argued that the idea of 'the Gael' was one that could assimilate others, he also felt that it would be hard if not impossible for members of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

who were Unionists to ever qualify as Irish, being 'resident aliens'. This extended to

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

literature. He rejected the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre (), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland () is a theatre in Dublin, Ireland. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904, and moved from its original building after a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the p ...

and questioned Yeats' genius. He once spoke out against the influence Moran claimed Britain exercised over Irish universities, stating: ''"We are all Palemen Now"''. In the matter of religious differences,

Daniel O'Connell Daniel(I) O’Connell (; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilisation of Catholic Irelan ...

had said in 1826 that 'the

oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

Catholics of Ireland are a nation'. Moran moved beyond that, affirming in 1901 that '...the Irish Nation is de facto a Catholic nation'. Moran was virulent in his opposition to female suffrage.

Belfast and Ireland

His articles frequently contrasted "

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

" with "Ireland'", yet hoped that Belfast could eventually change and assimilate. He felt that Ulster unionists should: "''... be grateful to the Irish nation for being willing to adopt them''". His paper published numerous articles by the future TD

Arthur Clery Arthur Edward Clery (25 October 1879 – 20 November 1932) was an Irish republican politician and university professor. Early life and education Clery was born at 46 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin, to Arthur Clery (who also used the names Arthur P ...

(writing under the pen-name "Chanel"), who advocated partition on the grounds that Ulster unionists were a separate nation, but Moran himself disagreed and: "refused to concede the legitimacy of a northern Protestant identity." When Irish republicans initiated the

Anglo-Irish War The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along wi ...

in 1919, widescale anti-Catholic rioting broke out in Belfast in 1920 and 1922. Moran identified this as being caused by

Orangeism The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...

, which he described as "a sore and a cancer" in Ireland. He also alleged that "bigotry on the part of Catholics in the Six Counties is immediately due to Orange bigotry".

Support for the Treaty

Moran was initially a supporter of the

, believing that the separatism advocated by

Arthur Griffith Arthur Joseph Griffith (; 31 March 1871 – 12 August 1922) was an Irish writer, newspaper editor and politician who founded the political party Sinn Féin. He led the Irish delegation at the negotiations that produced the 1921 Anglo-Irish Trea ...

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

was impracticable; however, he opposed

John Redmond John Edward Redmond (1 September 1856 – 6 March 1918) was an Irish nationalism, Irish nationalist politician, barrister, and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. He was best known as leader ...

's support of the British World War I effort. Moran supported the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty (), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain an ...

agreed in 1921–22, and saw the

partition of Ireland The Partition of Ireland () was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK) divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland (the area today known as the R ...

as beneficial for a truly Irish culture in the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

. This caused a sea-change in his opinions; from now on Northern Ireland could be safely ignored, along with what he saw as the English evils of '

free thought Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an unorthodox attitude or belief. A freethinker holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and should instead be reached by other met ...

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

, and free literature'. He claimed Irish life and culture had to be protected from foreign influences, including the twin evils of the

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

and the English press. The new

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

music of the 1920s and other imported cultural elements were deprecated as "imported debasement and rot"."D.P. Moran and ''The Leader'': writing an Irish Ireland through partition"
findarticles.com; accessed 23 April 2016.

References

Sources

* Maume, Patrick. ''D. P. Moran'' (Dublin, Historical Association of Ireland, 1995) * Mathews, P.J. ''Revival'' (Field Day series vol. 12, Cork, 2003) passim; index p. 205 () * Moran, D.P. ''The Philosophy of Irish Ireland'' (first published 1905; 2006 reprint by UCD Press with introduction by Patrick Maume)

External links

Irish Ireland

Moran biodata

"Irish nationalism" blog on DP Moran

at Irish History Links {{DEFAULTSORT:Moran, D.P. 1869 births 1936 deaths 19th-century Irish journalists 19th-century Roman Catholics 20th-century Irish journalists 20th-century Roman Catholics Irish language activists Irish publishers (people) Irish Roman Catholic writers Writers from County Waterford Anti-Masonry Anti-Protestantism People educated at Castleknock College 19th-century Irish businesspeople 20th-century Irish businesspeople