Nick Maxwell

By John Gibney The ‘Republic of Biafra’ came into being in May 1967, when Nigeria’s eastern province seceded and declared itself independent. Nigeria itself had become independent in 1960; its federal structure reflected its ethnic distinctions, with the east being dominated by the Igbo (or Ibo). Following an abortive coup by Igbo officers the previous … Read more

By John Mulqueen ‘As we marched down Grafton Street calling out our message and asking for support, a few … decided to join us … The rest ignored us or patronisingly smiled at our foolishness … We were eventually met by a solid blue line of gardaí … I asked permission to protest formally at … Read more

By Brian Harvey Every year, the minister for finance steps up in the Dáil to announce the budget. Buried deep within is normally a grant to fund Irish emigrant services overseas (€12.6m in 2021). Examination of the development of these services in Britain shows some strange intrigues at their heart and challenges some of the … Read more

By Angus Mitchell On 24 November 1922, Erskine Childers—the renowned author and anti-Treaty republican—was executed by a military firing squad of the Irish Free State in Beggar’s Bush barracks. During the century since his tragic dénouement, various efforts have been made to explain Childers and ‘the metamorphosis of a stiff-upper-lip Boy’s Own novelist into a … Read more

By Evan Comerford ‘The present famine, as all other famines in Ireland, has been the direct result of the system of land tenure which is maintained there’ (Charles Stewart Parnell, address to US House of Representatives, Washington, 2 February 1880). In 1879 Ireland was on the brink of famine once more. A succession of poor … Read more