Nick Maxwell Sir,—The very striking cover image of Robert Ballagh’s painting, Lest we forget, and the accompanying article ‘John Charles McQuaid reassessed?’ by Mary Kenny (HI 31.2, March/April 2023) together make a valuable and interesting contribution to the debate on this titan of twentieth-century Ireland. However, there is no reference to the McQuaid painting being based on … Read more
ÉAMONN CEANNT’S PIPES The subject of a fascinating biography by Mary Gallagher in the O’Brien Press 16 Lives series, Éamonn Ceannt is perhaps one of the less familiar signatories of the 1916 Proclamation to contemporary Ireland. Yet his influence on Irish traditional music was enormous, as a talented uileann piper and a founding member of … Read more
By Ivor Casey With his domineering physique and commanding voice, actor Godfrey Quigley’s contribution to the world of drama is one that easily garners admiration and a reason to be honoured. From his roles in the Abbey Theatre playing the nasty deputy governor in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (1978) and the prison governor in Brendan … Read more
MAY 13/1986 Peadar O’Donnell (93), militant socialist, died. Born in the Irish-speaking Rosses of north-west Donegal, the youngest of nine children of a musician and migrant worker, O’Donnell was amongst the most influential left-wing republicans during the early years of the twentieth century. His entire life was devoted to the cause of a 32-county socialist … Read more
By Maria Luddy The original ‘Directory of Sources for Irish Women’s History’ was made available on CD-ROM in 1999. With the advances in technology, the CD has now become obsolete and can no longer be read on more recent computers. In mid-2022 we asked the Irish Manuscripts Commission and the Mná 100 unit of the … Read more