It covered the recent emerging links between the more violent groups, such as the Fenians, the Land League and the growing Irish Home Rule movement that was led by Parnell.
[4] Archbishop Walsh of Toronto had said: "Let a great National Convention be held in Dublin, composed of chosen representatives of the clergy and people of Ireland and of an advisory representation of the Irish race abroad."
John Dillon on behalf of the INF replied: "That this party approves of the suggestion made by the Archbishop of Toronto in favour of a National Convention representative of the Irish race throughout the world.
"[5] Pope Leo XIII sent a blessing in Latin: "Sanctissimus, bonum spirituale et temporale Hibernorum exoptans, finem dissensionum precatur".
Eventually the Irish Parliamentary Party did reunite in 1900, chaired by Redmond, and achieved the enactment of the Home Rule Act 1914, but this was suspended for the duration of the First World War.
[7] Comprising 2,300 delegates at the Hotel Astor, was held six weeks before the Easter Rising, and considered the division between the Home Rule parties and the more militant nationalists.
The Rising would be supported by Clan na Gael, but other members remained hopeful that the 1914 Home Rule Act, which had been passed but suspended during World War I, might work.
Held on 18–19 May, and organised by the Friends for Irish Freedom, this convention looked forward to the end of the world war, in which America was now an ally of Britain.
[9] The convention therefore had the difficult task of steering between its support for militant groups such as Sinn Féin, which was opposed to British rule in Ireland, and proclaiming the loyalty of Irish-Americans to the USA.
[10] The convention ended with an address by Judge Goff to President Wilson, which was considered to be mild and conciliatory: "to take such measures as are best calculated to bring about the independence of Ireland".
"[21] The outcome was a rare moral victory for de Valera's anti-treaty followers; the seven-men executive committee had four of his nominees, while the pro-treaty side only had one of its candidates elected, Eoin MacNeill.
McGeough, who had been extradited from Germany to the United States in May of 1992 on foot of charges from 1982 relating to the procurement of weapons for use by the IRA against the British in the North of Ireland, had been released on bail within weeks of his arrival in the US and immediately set about speaking and organizing on behalf of the Irish Republican cause among Irish-Americans.
He joined the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) at this time and worked closely on Irish and Catholic issues with many of its prominent members, including Vic Sackett from Long Island.
The IAM’s primary role was to facilitate meetings involving a wide spectrum of Irish-American organizations as well as plan and fundraise for the Convention itself.
On September 15th of that year, McGeough and New York-based Catholic activist Kathleen O’Callaghan arranged for a special Mass to be said in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan for the intentions of Irish Unity.
More than 2,000 people packed into the cathedral for the occasion, which was seen as a preliminary move ahead of the actual Convention and the huge turnout indicative of the growing interest in the event.
The wording of the resolution was as follows: "We, the children of the Irish Diaspora, demand that Britain set a date for withdrawal from our ancestral homeland so that Ireland may exercise its right to be a sovereign and independent nation."
On Easter Monday, April 4th, 1994, Gerry McGeough began a three year prison sentence for the earlier weapons charges and was no longer directly involved in the preparations for the Convention.