Nick Maxwell The Whitechurch Carnegie Free Library first opened its doors on St Patrick’s Day 1911. It was designed by Thomas Joseph Byrne (1876–1939), then council clerk and architect to the South Dublin Rural District Council. Byrne was born in Kingston-on-Thames and commenced his study of architecture at the age of fifteen, articled to Edward Carter ARIBA … Read more
On 29 October 1929 the Catholic national newspaper, The Standard, proudly proclaimed that the first prosecution under the Censorship of Publications Act 1929 had been successful. The case had been brought against the editor of the Waterford Standard, D.C. Boyd. Boyd was an outsider in Waterford society—a northern Protestant—with a history of investigating corruption and … Read more
In a sermon, reported in the Standard, the bishop of Waterford, Bernard Hackett, advised his flock that: ‘While this outrage [Boyd’s forthright reporting of the Breen trial] remains un-atoned for, parents cannot be expected to admit the offending newspaper to their households with the implicit confidence which they may have hitherto entertained’. The weight of … Read more
Within a year the euphoria both on and off the pitch had long since evaporated. By May 1974 the Ulster Workers’ Council strike had put paid to the Sunningdale power-sharing experiment, and Northern Ireland was to endure another quarter-century of violence. The Republic had already missed out on qualification for the 1974 World Cup before … Read more
In the summer of 1972 the Republic of Ireland soccer team was invited to play in a friendly tournament in Brazil to celebrate the 150th anniversary of that country’s independence. The Republic had been on a terrible run, which had reached its nadir the previous year with a 6–0 thrashing by Austria on Sunday 10 … Read more