Devalera & Fianna Fail

‘The Ireland that I would have’ De Valera & the creation of an Irish national image

De Valera’s Ireland has been held up to criticism and even ridicule, depicted as an unrealistic over-romanticised vision of comely maidens and dancing at the cross roads. Yet de Valera was an astute politician with a specific political, cultural and national agenda. If his head appeared in the clouds, his feet were firmly on the … Read more

Dancing, Depravity and all that Jazz The Public Dance Halls Act of 1935 by Jim Smyth

A protracted war of independence and a bitter civil war left the new Irish Free State with economic and social problems of enormous proportions – the economy and infrastructure were ravaged, unemployment and ill-health were endemic and the wounds of the civil war were far from healed. But the agenda of perhaps the most powerful … Read more