PAT AND THE LAND WAR

By Michael de Nie The Irish Land War (1879–82) was an economic, political and social conflict contested on multiple fronts. One of these fronts was the popular press, as newspapers and periodicals on both sides of the Irish Sea offered contrasting and often starkly conflicting narratives about the condition of Ireland and how it might … Read more

WHO PAINTED SPICE BAG’S ORIGINAL?

By Niamh O’Sullivan The doctored eviction image shared by Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin, originally executed in 2021 by the artist Adam Doyle, a.k.a. Mála Spíosraí/Spice Bag, was inspired by a 2018 eviction in Dublin’s North Frederick Street at which masked gardaí assisted. It struck a deep chord, leading to calls for an … Read more

REFLECTIONS ON IRISH NATIONAL FLAGS, 1798–1848

By Sylvie Kleinman In February 2023, locals assembled in Ballyfermot People’s Park ‘amongst a sea of flags from around the world’ to counter the racism and xenophobia fuelling ongoing anti-immigration protests. Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy would not ‘have other people’ say that the Irish were ‘racists’ or ‘haters’. Their flags projected international solidarity. Coincidentally, the … Read more

ENGLISH OR NORMANS?

Sir,—History Ireland is up to its old tricks again. In the article on Sefraid Ó Fearghaill (HI 31.1, Jan./Feb. 2023, pp 14–17) by Stephen Hewer it is stated that ‘by 1270 the English had been colonising parts of Ireland for over 100 years’. In the same article there are several other references to the ‘English’. … Read more