Nick Maxwell Coco Television/Keough Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, University of Notre Dame RTÉ1, February 2016 Briona Nic Dhiarmada, The 1916 Irish rebellion (Cork University Press, 216pp, €29.95 hb, ISBN 9781782051916). Foreword by Mary McAleese. By John Gibney 1916 is a major three-part documentary on the Easter Rising, drawing upon the considerable financial and academic resources of … Read more
By Lar Joye In the 1930s, nearly 1,000 Irishmen followed in the long tradition of foreign service by enlisting to fight in the Spanish Civil War; some fought with the Nationalist forces and others joined the Republicans. What was different with this war was the passion of those who fought—they believed fervently in a cause; … Read more
It should be remembered that some of the information contained in the files held in the PRONI was compiled by the government of Northern Ireland before any official announcement was made by the USSR government. It wasn’t until 14 May 1986 that Mikhail Gorbachev, as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, … Read more
THIRTY YEARS AGO A RADIOACTIVE PLUME CREATED BY THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT DRIFTED OVER EUROPE. FILES HELD IN THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE OF NORTHERN IRELAND ALLOW US SOME INSIGHTS INTO THE OFFICIAL RESPONSE NORTH OF THE BORDER. By Alan W. Robertson At 1am on 26 April 1986, Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power station in … Read more
The Irish National Aid and Volunteer Dependants’ Fund By Fiona Fitzsimons The WO35 records featured in the previous issue tell the story of how the Irish population, initially hostile to the rebels in 1916, were alienated by the authorities’ heavy-handed response. The records of the Irish National Aid and Volunteer Dependants’ Fund (INAAVDF) complete the … Read more