Before You

Go on, admit it. How many times this week, or even today, have you told someone how busy or wrecked you are? How many times has someone told you? Dermot Whelan is here to tell you that you are okay, and it’s not your fault!

Patrick Deeley’s seventh collection of poems displays his deep-rooted concern for and engagement with the world around him – expressed, as ever, in muscular, musical, impassioned and persuasive verse.

On 21 June 1798, 20,000 men, women and children found themselves trapped on a hill outside Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, facing a Crown force of some 15,000 troops led by no less than four generals and 16 general officers. It was the dying days of a rebellion that had shaken British rule in Ireland to its core. The army that now surrounded the hill was determined that none should escape.