Nick Maxwell BBC Northern Ireland 27 March 2024 By Brian Hanley Reviewing John Bowyer Bell’s The secret army in January 1971, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh recommended the book ‘highly’, calling it ‘required reading’ for ‘all with a deep interest in Ireland’. Ó Brádaigh was a senior figure in the newly formed Provisional IRA, whose Belfast paper, Republican News, … Read more
BBC Radio 4 16 March 2024 By Eoin Dillon When Brendan Behan is being discussed as a writer, very often it is mentioned early on that he was also a house-painter, and it is left at that as though a sense of incongruity is warranted but not to be pursued any further. Trades are an … Read more
By Joseph E.A. Connell On 3 July 1924, Minister for Education Eoin MacNeill announced that the teaching of Irish was to be made compulsory in all schools. A key figure of the Gaelic revival, MacNeill was a co-founder of the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge) in 1893. He has been described as ‘the father of … Read more
By Joanne Rothwell These days there are lots of articles about the benefits of ‘wild swimming’, but the healthful benefits of sea bathing and sea air have long been proclaimed. County Waterford as a coastal county had a number of sea-bathing locations. Tramore is one of the best known and was developed first by private … Read more
By Anna Rose Garvey The role of an archivist can be varied and multidisciplinary. At times, a collection may provide new insights into old problems, if an archivist is ready to make the connection. In 2023 a member of the IFI Irish Film Archive team made a unique discovery: excerpts from an MGM film believed … Read more