‘Beef steaks and oyster sauce as usual’

So ran an ad for The O’Donohoe Shell Fish Tavern in Abbey Street in the Freeman’s Journal, 9 January 1847. The Dublin Heritage Group have used it as the title for its ongoing exhibition on Aspects of the Great Famine (June, Rathmines Library; July, Ballyfermot Library; August, Wheatfield Detention Centre). The exhibition endeavours to explore … Read more

Warrior of Wood Quay

As the leading figure of the Wood Quay protests of the late 1970s F.X. Martin is well known to the wider public. Recently retired as Professor of Medieval History at University College Dublin, he spoke to Dáire Keogh recently.  DK: Tell us about your background and early interest in history. FXM: I was born in … Read more

‘The Ireland that I would have’ De Valera & the creation of an Irish national image

Michelle Dowling De Valera’s Ireland has been held up to criticism and even ridicule, depicted as an unrealistic over-romanticised vision of comely maidens and dancing at the cross roads. Yet de Valera was an astute politician with a specific political, cultural and national agenda. If his head appeared in the clouds, his feet were firmly … Read more