Norman McMillan (Tyndall Publications, £24 pb, £42 hb) ISBN 0952597403, pb/hb ISBN? In his first encounter with Trinity College, Dublin, in 1971 the author was shown around the Physics Department, and in passing his attention was drawn to a heap of old notebooks, which he was told belonged to George Francis Fitzgerald, but it seemed … Read more
The idea of holding a world congress of the ‘Irish race’ originated with the Irish Republican Association of South Africa in February 1921. Preliminary work was undertaken by Art O’Brien of the Irish Self-Determination League of Great Britain, and Robert Brennan, under-secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Second Dáil cabinet. It was … Read more
In 1900 the council of the Royal Dublin Society proposed that a monument be raised to Queen Victoria within the precincts of the its grounds at Leinster House. At a time of growing nationalist support, the statue was to provide a focus for those Irish loyal to the queen. The sculptor chosen for this prestigious … Read more
On St Patrick’s Day 2001, Bob McLean delivered a lecture in Edinburgh’s City Art Centre on Daniel O’Connell. It accompanied an exhibition of paintings belonging to the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBOS), including a magnificent portrait of the Liberator. With the painting as an imposing backdrop, the lecture detailed for a Scottish audience O’Connell’s significance … Read more
In an article published five years ago, journalist Fintan O’Toole mimicked the resentment in certain quarters of the Republic over the recent direction of public discourse: ‘a lot of what we have had to talk about has been very unpleasant indeed, and we are tired of listening to it. We wonder if it would not … Read more