Nick Maxwell National Concert Hall, 22 December 2021, 7 January 2022 By Theo Dorgan No more than is the case in other countries, but to pernicious effect all the same, we in Ireland are bedevilled by partial and partisan versions of the past. All too often, great events are second-guessed, edited, half-forgotten, refought and recast, as if … Read more
1921 Eamon de Valera denounced the Anglo-Irish Treaty as being ‘in violent conflict with the wishes of the majority of this nation as expressed in successive elections during the past three years’. 1941 ‘Now is your chance. Now or never. “A Nation once again.” Am very ready to meet you at any time’—secret telegram from … Read more
BY AODHÁN CREALEY NOVEMBER 13/1952 The body of Patricia Curran (19), daughter of former Unionist MP for Carrickfergus and high court judge Lancelot Curran, was found in the grounds of the family home in Whiteabbey, overlooking Belfast Lough. She had been stabbed 37 times in a frenzied attack. The investigation and prosecution of ‘the judge’s … Read more
National Gallery of Ireland until 6 February 2022 By Marie Bourke This exhibition, which marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of this major Irish artist, focuses on Yeats’s memories, including those of his Sligo childhood that provided such a rich source of lifelong inspiration, and his oil paintings—about half of which he created in … Read more
Sir,—The centenary of the Irish revolution has generated a huge and varied literature on what is often called the ‘Irish war of independence’. A number of other terms such as the ‘Tan War’ or the ‘Irish revolution’ were also in use. My tuppence-worth was an essay questioning the appropriateness of the term ‘war of independence’ … Read more