Browsing Category
Irish History
Communist Days | The conflicting politics of Brendan Behan
Brendan Behan entered the world's stage on the 9th of February 1923. As the Irish Civil War was raging Behan was born in the heart of Dublin city to a family steeped in the Irish Republican tradition. Being born into a staunch family of…
Transatlantic Fenian | The lifelong armed struggle of William Roantree
On Easter Monday 1916 an elderly gentleman hurriedly made his way down Sackville Street in Dublin. His destination was the General Post Office where a group of rebels had proclaimed an Irish Republic and this old man, who had spent his life…
“Last Day in Mary Immaculate” | On Autographs
I love rooting in old drawers when I go back home. Old postcards nestle alongside colourful pastille boxes now rusted around the edges. Two brass rings on each drawer-front need to be pulled at the same time so the drawers will open. Inside…
A History of Modern Ireland in Four Referendums
The 8th Amendment was enshrined in law only months before I was conceived to my 23 year old mother. I often wonder what possessed my young liberal, atheist Irish parents to start a family in that oppressive atmosphere of 1984. In the space…
Citizen Train | The Story of America’s Strangest Entrepreneur
George Francis Train was born in Boston in 1829, but by the age of 4 he had lost his parents and siblings to yellow fever. So, he was brought up by his grandparents who had hoped their grandchild would become a Methodist minister. Instead,…
The Royals’ Rebel Neighbour | Countess Markievicz’s childhood
This year marks the centenary of a great turning point in social history. After several decades of suffrage struggle, The Qualification Act of 1918 permitted women (over the age of 30) to vote and stand as candidates in elections. In the…
Cork 1867 | Boats, Blasts and Flying Fenian Feats
On St. Stephen’s Day in 1867, with darkness falling on Fota Island in Cork’s inner harbour, two gunners and their families sat down to a meal of Christmas Day left-overs. Their home, the island’s Martello Tower, housed a stock of guns and…
Lady Jane Wilde (alias Speranza), Writer
“Great people” rarely come from a vacuum. Though genius can blossom on the hardest ground, it most often finds root on the fertile soil of supportive and almost-equally talented family members. Sadly however, the bright light of genius…
The Ploughman and his Poem | Patrick Kavanagh’s ‘Raglan Road’
Fifty years ago, Patrick Kavanagh died on the 30th of November 1967. He was known to be a cantankerous auld codger but from his pen flowed some warmth in the form of his poetry, and one of his most famous pieces can be found on the pantheon…
The Tipp Train to Croker | Croke Park Bloody Sunday, 1920
November 1920 was a bleak and bloody time in Irish history. Kevin Barry was hanged in Mountjoy, Tom Barry led his West Cork flying column at the Kilmichael Ambush, the town of Tralee was sacked by auxiliaries and the playing field at Croke…