Walter Devereux, first earl of Essex, and the failure of plantation in Elizabethan Ulster, c. 1573–6. By David Heffernan Walter Devereux, first earl of Essex, was a paradoxical figure. When he died in Dublin on 22 September 1576 at the age of just 37 he was surrounded by some of the leading political figures of … Read more
On the challenges of writing (yet another) biography of ‘the Chief’. By David McCullagh In 2010, shortly after the publication of my biography of John A. Costello, I was asked by an interviewer about my choice of subject. I airily replied that, while little had been written about Costello, ‘the last thing the world needs … Read more
By Siobhán Ryan In 1813 the Sligo Grand Jury appointed three commissioners to supervise the provision of a new county gaol. A site comprising almost seven acres in Abbeyquarter North, on the eastern fringes of Sligo town, was selected for a complex intended to hold up to 160 inmates. The estimated cost of the gaol … Read more
Soloheadbeg—vindicating a democratic mandate for independence. By Martin Mansergh ‘History was forged in sudden death on a Tipperary byroad as surely as it ever was in meetings at Downing Street or for that matter at the Mansion House in Dublin, where the Dáil met coincidentally but fortuitously that same day, 21 January 1919.’ So wrote … Read more
The worst single episode of loss of life suffered by the Irish Defence Forces since the Civil War. By Terence O’Reilly By September 1941 the Second World War had been ravaging the continent of Europe for two full years. Ireland had successfully remained neutral, owing in no small part to the rapid expansion of the … Read more