St Comgall’s School, Falls Road, Belfast www.wherethetroublesbegan.com By Donal Fallon In August 1969, the Falls Road was described to readers of the New York Times: ‘At best, this is a dim Victorian district of redbrick row houses, second-class stores, cheap cafes and dowdy pubs. Today, the streets were littered with glass, stones and bricks. Shops, … Read more
RTÉ1, 29 December 2025, and RTÉ Player By Sylvie Kleinman ‘Daniel O’Connell almost single-handedly raised a nation from its knees, and forced Britain, the most powerful empire in the world … to grant the Irish people their democratic rights’ (our emphasis, as are all italics in quotations below). An arty map shows this empire—in 1886. … Read more
By Joseph E.A. Connell Jr There were four assassination attempts on Benito Mussolini, the infamous fascist dictator of Italy who inspired Adolf Hitler, though he survived them all. Only one came close to succeeding, when 50-year-old Irish woman Violet Gibson fired on him on 7 April 1926 and almost altered the course of history. The … Read more
By Joanne Rothwell The workhouse schoolmistress was tasked with instructing the children, taking them out for exercise and ensuring their discipline and moral character. She was subject to inspection by the Board of Guardians and the National Board of Education. In their advertisement for an infant schoolmistress in the Waterford News and Star on 19 … Read more
By Lar Joye Traditionally, from 1922 to 1964 the Irish Defence Forces had relied mainly on Ireland’s old colonial master, Britain, for their armaments. While in the 1930s two Landsverk L60 light tanks and eight L180 armoured cars were purchased from Sweden, generally most equipment was still made in Britain. By 1964 the old Swedish … Read more