Netflix, 2016–17 By John Gibney Does the British head of state sit down to watch The Crown? What was interpreted as an exceptionally subtle reference in Queen Elizabeth II’s annual Christmas message to an incident depicted in the second series of what could be said (no pun intended) to be the jewel in the crown … Read more
Governor’s House, Millmount, Drogheda www.droghedamuseum.ie, info@droghedamuseum.ie By Tony Canavan Millmount is an impressive hill on the banks of the River Boyne overlooking Drogheda. It is made even more impressive by the Norman motte on top, on which stands a Martello tower, all attesting to the historical significance of the location. The museum itself is in … Read more
By Joe Culley Breasal Ó Caollaí, Niall O’Hagan and Ken Finlay (eds), The last voyage of the Leinster: remembering the Dún Laoghaire and Holyhead mailboat (Leinster Centenary Committee, €15 hb, 48pp, ISBN 9781909751767). Patrick F. O’Donovan, Stanley’s letter: the national school system and inspectors in Ireland 1831–1922 (Galway Education Centre, €38 hb, 358pp, ISBN 9781999754006). … Read more
NOEL DORR, Royal Irish Academy, €30, ISBN 9781-908997647 By Cillian McGrattan Cillian McGrattan lectures in Politics at the University of Ulster. Former Irish senior civil servant Noel Dorr revisits the increasingly well-furrowed ground of the Sunningdale period (1973–4) in this autobiography-cum-history. Although Dorr’s perspective on events was rather limited at the time owing to his … Read more
NIAMH HOWLIN, Four Courts Press, €55, ISBN 9781846826214 By Dean Jobb Dean Jobb teaches journalism and non-fiction writing at the University of King’s College in Nova Scotia. ‘In a case on which religious animosities prevailed,’ a member of parliament declared in 1824, he ‘would infinitely rather trust the life of a man to one of … Read more