Ireland was a very tense place 100 years ago. Though the Truce in the War of Independence was holding, there were ongoing sectarian clashes in Belfast. There were also messages going back and forth between Eamon de Valera in Dublin and David Lloyd George in London about agreeing on negotiations that would decide Ireland's future status. See this short introduction from the Department of Foreign Affairs for more info on the talks in London.
As happened at certain points during the War of Independence, news from Ireland was appearing in newspapers around the world. I have just started tweeting what the French papers were saying about Ireland 100 years ago. I will try to tweet an article every day, or as often as I can, from a range of newspapers with different political outlooks. You can follow the thread here.
As you can see, the French papers contained regular updates on how the two sides were dealing with each other. You can also see that even though the south of Ireland was relatively peaceful and calm at the time, Belfast was experiencing regular episodes of sectarian conflict. Hundreds were killed in the Belfast pogroms of 1920-22. Find out more here.
