Nick Maxwell Sir,—I listened back with great interest to your Hedge School, ‘Soloheadbeg—impact and legacy’, recorded at Ballykisteen Hotel, Limerick Junction, Co. Tipperary, on Saturday 19 January 2019 (https://www.historyireland.com/podcast/soloheadbeg-impact-legacy/). In response to a question to the panel from the floor on the role of women in the War of Independence, I was surprised that no mention was … Read more
Sir,—I wish to respond to Owen McGee’s review of my The Irish Republican Brotherhood 1914–1924 (Big Book, HI 33.1, Jan./Feb. 2025). Your reviewer consistently misreports and misrepresents my analysis and arguments. Nowhere, for example, do I claim ‘special insights’. Nor do I contradict myself or rely on interviews to the exclusion of documented evidence. My … Read more
Sir,—After Trinity College Dublin’s Berkeley Library was stripped of its title (because the bishop-philosopher, and sometime college librarian, owned slaves and upheld the institution of slavery in early eighteenth-century colonial America), TCD’s Legacy Review Working Group invited online suggestions for a new name. Accordingly, in the conclusion to my ‘Platform’ piece, ‘Wolfe Tone today’ (HI … Read more
BY DONAL FALLON MNÁ NA hATHBHEOCHANA Good news from the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), where a new exhibition, Mná na hAthbheochana (‘Women of the Revival’), marks a significant milestone as the first Irish-language exhibition hosted by the institution. Telling the story of the women who were central to the foundation of the … Read more
By Ivor Casey With his mixture of humour and comic timing, combined with his ability to take on more serious and dramatic roles, Noel Purcell made his mark as an accomplished character actor; he was also noted for his work in pantomimes and for his appearances on the silver screen. He first began acting as … Read more