‘Brian Boru was a fine figure of a man and all the women of Ireland were after him . . .’ So says the ‘kindly’ Christian Brother to bemused pupils in one of the few lighter moments in Cathal Black’s otherwise bleak drama documentary Our Boys (originally banned from RTÉ when released in 1981). Given … Read more
March 1 Sat 10am National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Sq. W, lecture theatre. War Artists study day. Speakers: Keith Jeffery, Brendan Rooney, Seán Rainbird, Kathleen Palmer, Sebastian Barry, Brian Maguire, Mick O’Dea, Richard Mosse, Marie Bourke. Enquiries: +353 (0)1 6633504/5/7, education@ngi.ie. 2 Sun 3pm National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks. The Irish soldier on film, … Read more
In his most shocking claim, David ‘Hibernicus’ Byrne relates how Rochfort was sitting in his hostess’s dressing gown one morning, having his hair powdered by a barber, when he was informed that a new prisoner had just been brought into the village. According to Byrne, ‘so blood thirsty was he that on hearing that a … Read more
by Joseph E.A. Connell Jr By the early twentieth century the Curragh army camp in County Kildare was Britain’s premier military base in Ireland. Ulster unionist opposition to the passage of Home Rule in 1912 was heightened by the support it received from elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Not surprisingly, given its predominantly privileged background, … Read more
Dessie Doyle and Brian Drummond (Lilliput Press, €20) ISBN 9781843512738 The Erne catchment is the second largest on the island and as early as 1915 proposals had been aired to harness its waters cascading down more than 40 metres between Belleek and Ballyshannon. These waters were, of course, severely muddied by partition—by 1922, 730 of … Read more