- Eamon Bulfin
Eamon Bulfin (1892 – 1968) was an Argentine-born Irish republican. He was the son of writer
William Bulfin (1864-1910) ofBirr , King's County (now known as Birr,County Offaly ). William Bulfin emigrated to Argentina at the age of 20 and was a writer and journalist who became the editor/proprietor of "The Southern Cross".Eamon Bulfin was a pupil at
Patrick Pearse 's school, St. Enda's (Scoil Éanna), and subsequently studied atUniversity College, Dublin where he became captain of the Irish Volunteer Company.In the
Easter Rising of 1916 inDublin , he raised the tricolour on the General Post Office (GPO).Fact|date=September 2008 Following the failure of the insurrection, he was condemned to death but, because of his Argentinian nationality, was instead deported toBuenos Aires .He was appointed by the President of the new Republic,
Eamon de Valera , as Irish Representative to Argentina. De Valera described Bulfin's job as to “inaugurate direct trade between Ireland and the Argentine Republic… to co-ordinate Irish opinion in the Argentine, and to bring it into the Irish demand for a republic.” [ [http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishpost/featurearticles/anirisheasterrising.asp Irish News UK - News from the Irish Community in Britain ] ]Bulfin was one of several representatives abroad appointed for that purpose, and recognition of the importance of their work led to the establishment in February 1921 of a separate Department of Foreign Affairs. [http://www.ria.ie/projects/difp/downloads/section3.doc]
In the 1920 County Council elections, Eamon Bulfin was nominated in his absence for a seat on King’s County Council. He was elected and, even though he was in Argentina, he was immediately appointed chairman of the council. One of the first things the new council did was to agree that the county’s name be changed from King's County to its ancient name of Offaly.
On the formation of the
Irish Free State , Bulfin returned to Ireland, becoming active in local politics.His sister, Catalina (1901-1976), was secretary to
Austin Stack . Catalina Bulfin married the Nobel Prize-winnerSeán MacBride , the son of Major John MacBride andMaud Gonne .Bulfin Road in
Inchicore ,Dublin 8 is named after him.ee also
*
Francis Bulfin References
External links
* [http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishpost/featurearticles/anirisheasterrising.asp An Irish Argentine in the Easter Rising] (The Irish Post)
*Murray, Edmundo. [http://www.irlandeses.org/dilab_bulfine.htm "Bulfin, Eamon (1892-1968), Irish republican and diplomatist"] in "Irish Migration Studies in Latin America", November-December 2005
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
