Martin Sheen proud as he discovers his family’s strong IRA past

I agree with STEVENSTAR and as I've said before, I prefer the British to the Americans. The USA has done far worse things than the British ever did!

WHAT AN IDIOT MORE IN HIS LINE TO GO AND SORT HIS DRUG ADDICT SON... I'M ISISH I LIVE IN IRELAND AND I WAS BORN HERE AND LIKE MOST OF US DECENT HARD WORKING IRISH PEOPLE . WE WISH YOU AMERICANS WOULD KEEP OUT OF OUR AFFAIRS. AND ALSO JUST TO LET YOU KNOW MOST OF US IRISH DESPISE ANYTHING OR ANYONE WHO HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE IRA .... MARTIN SHEEN IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE 'NOT; TO US IRISH PEOPLE....

Martin Sheens a sound man

The Irish Independent quotes the name as "Michael Fieland" in the following:"The actor said he was also relieved to discover that his mother's brother, Michael Fieland, from Co Tipperary, had no part in the assassination of revolutionary leader Michael Collins." Its not unusal to have many variations of the same name ie: Phelan/Whelan origin from Ó Faoláin or just a simple transcription error.

GeorgeDillon/carrickcourt/padraigoclerigh! An unwritten English condition of the Anglo-Irish Treaty (AIT), 1921/-'22 was that the 'British' side wanted Collins' head on silver platter for running their revenge regiment for 1916 (i.e. Black 'n' Tans) ragged with his IRA flying columns. Ergo. Effective assassination. awoken32! Yes, indeed. Charlie's tops. slainte9! A case of too many chiefs and too few indians. Probably why there were so many splits. hooligan6a! Fighting enemies beats deserting to their armies. katieherk! It's along way to Tipperary, not least when you're a Defence Force deserter (DFD) in an enemy army marching away from home. pilib04! Two military bodies trade under the banner of Oglaigh na h'Eireann/Irish Volunteer (or more correctly Volunteer of Irland). I was a member of one Oglaigh na h'Eireann. Woodman! The War of Independence wasn't just fought by proxy post AIT/Civil War. I have it on reliable authority that Defence Force personnel were on the ground in Derry in 1972 pre-Bloody Sunday to engage Crown Forces, withdrawing to minimise casualties due to too many Oglaigi in the field, as also due to political ambivalence.

hooligan6a Listen to Republican Ron Paul and maybe you will learn something. The USA has a lot of enemies, and is creating more all the time. Maybe it's time we stopped before it ends in disaster.

Not all is what it seems. While the Defense Minister, Collins continued to covertly arm the IRA in what is now Northern Ireland and ordered the assassination of British General Wilson when he learned that Wilson was behind pograms against the Irish in the North. he placed great hopes that the forthcoming border commission would enlarge the Irish Free State.Michael Collins was killed during an IRA ambush, no one else was killed or wounded on either side. And the massive head wound seemed like it came from close range. Do we really know what happened?

hooligan6a, i would hasten to add that of course the civil war could be considered a war of national liberation. the free staters were funded and armed by the largest imperialist power at the time, britain! so of course, the IRA that fought the free staters was anti-imperialist. of course at this point you are simply splitting hairs. as for martin sheen, i was merely pointing out that he does not have to support imperialist adventures in order to support the oglaigh na h'eireann! slan go foill, mo chara.

pilib04, Spoken like a true Marxist. Problem is I don't think the Irish Civil war would be considered a war of national liberation.

hooligan6a, martin sheen has no problem with wars of national liberation including the american one. however, he is consistently anti-imperialist whether brit or yank!!!

katie, right on the mark. Phelan is Martin's mother's maiden name. What I don't understand is how such a story could appear in this blog without making the obvious connection between Martin Sheen, his mother Mary Phelan and Martin's uncle Sean Proisias O'Faolain(John Francis Whelan). Sean was a member of the IRA, sided with Republicans against the freestaters, and was also a member of the Gaelic League. Sean was a friend of Frank O'Connor another famous Irish writer. HOW ON EARTH COULD THIS SEAMUS O'SEAGHDHA (JAMES O'SHEA) BE THAT IGNORANT NOT TO MAKE THE CONNECTION. And more importantly how could he possibly come up with the spelling of Martin's mom? IS HE WEST BRIT? Only the English try to anglicize our language!

THE NAME IS PHELAN, NOT FIELAND!!! GET YOUR STORY STRAIGHT. ACTUALLY IT'S MY MAIDEN NAME AND WE'RE FROM THE VERY SAME AREA SO WE MUST BE RELATED. TIPPERARY IS THE COUNTY AND WE STILL RELATIVES LIVING IN UPPERCHURCH,

Strange, Sheen is against the US fighting their enimies, but thinks it is great for the Irish to be killing their own.

Doesn't everyone have a relative who was a captain in the IRA? I guess there were no privates.

i knew charlie was ok..