Nick Maxwell By Lar Joye This September marks the 80th anniversary of the start of the Second World War and the passing of the Emergency Powers Act 1939 by Dáil Éireann. Between 1939 and 1945 Ireland remained neutral, although many Irish men and women joined the British Army. The Irish Army expanded to several times its pre-war … Read more
Albert Power’s bust of Terence MacSwiney (1879–1920). By Síghle Bhreathnach-Lynch On 26 October 1920 the Freeman’s Journal devoted its front page to the Sinn Féin lord mayor of Cork, Terence J. MacSwiney, who had died the previous day in Brixton Prison, London, after a hunger strike lasting 74 days. A photograph of the dead man, … Read more
A moment in modernism’s development in Ireland. By Brian Trench In April 1926 writers Liam O’Flaherty (front cover) and Francis MacManus debated the role of religion in Irish culture. O’Flaherty was ‘strongly anti-church’ while MacManus was ‘defending it’, according to one of those present, fellow writer Rosamond Jacob. All three were members of the Radical … Read more
Irish neutrality in the Second World War. By John Gibney and Michael Kennedy In September 1939 the Second World War began, and in Ireland the ‘Emergency’ commenced. The common use of the term arose from the 1939 Emergency Powers Act and the declaration of a ‘state of emergency’ by the Fianna Fáil government of Éamon … Read more
Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin By Muirne Lyons Rathfarnham Castle is a sixteenth-century semi-fortified house with an eighteenth-century Georgian interior. It was built in 1583 by Adam Loftus (c. 1533–1605), who came to Ireland in 1560 and quickly rose to a number of prestigious positions, including archbishop of Dublin and lord chancellor of Ireland. As archbishop, Loftus … Read more