Farmleigh is hosting quite a few festive events in the run-up to Christmas. But if anyone is planning a festive visit, they might also have a look at the exhibition on Sean O’Casey currently on display in Farmleigh House itself. O’Casey was born on Dublin’s Dorset St in 1880, into a Church of Ireland family … Read more
We recently devoted a good deal of attention to the Irish involvement in the First World War, and one rather obvious reason why ostentatious commemoration of the Irish war provokes unease and hostility relates to the questionable nature of British policy in Ireland, and the role of British security forces. This is nothing new: when … Read more
The UCD Press website is currently warning potential buyers of the recent Encyclopedia of Music in Ireland to add €25 postage to the already hefty price due to its weight (click here for proof). No harm, in that light, to highlight a project recently launched by UCC. The Irish composer Aloys Fleischmann (1910–1992) was born … Read more
by Joseph E.A. Connell Jr In 1913, members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in Dublin began drilling in secret. While drilling continued, the IRB requested Bulmer Hobson to approach The O’Rahilly, a prominent nationalist, to ask him to approach Eoin MacNeill, Professor of Early and Medieval Irish History in University College Dublin. MacNeill had … Read more
Kevin O’Sullivan (Manchester University Press, £65) ISBN 9780719086021 Historic ties between Ireland and Africa run deep. The earliest mission stations along the Congo River were founded by the Grattan Guinness family back in the 1870s. They provided King Leopold II with the stepping-stones for building his Congo Free State. In 1900 the Kells-born historian Alice … Read more