By Fiona Fitzsimons In the last generation, the microcredit movement was conceived as a solution to world poverty. The idea was simple: give poor borrowers in developing countries reliable access to credit to fund their business needs. Borrowers made regular, frequent payments, at low interest rates to cover administrative costs, so the whole enterprise was … Read more
By Thomas O’Loughlin Anniversaries—including all the multiples such as centenaries—are a useful way of focusing our attention on the past and its ongoing significance for our self-understanding. And, among several other commemorations, this year has seen events to mark the 1500th anniversary of the birth of Columba (Colm Cille), the founder of the monastery of … Read more
By Brian Hanley Speaking in Leinster House in May 1959, Richard Mulcahy, the IRA’s War of Independence chief-of-staff, quoted a recent study by the British historian A.P. Thornton. Thornton’s The imperial idea and its enemies had asserted that ‘the case of Ireland made it clear to everyone that the British Empire could no longer be … Read more
National Concert Hall, 22 December 2021, 7 January 2022 By Theo Dorgan No more than is the case in other countries, but to pernicious effect all the same, we in Ireland are bedevilled by partial and partisan versions of the past. All too often, great events are second-guessed, edited, half-forgotten, refought and recast, as if … Read more
BY AODHÁN CREALEY NOVEMBER 13/1952 The body of Patricia Curran (19), daughter of former Unionist MP for Carrickfergus and high court judge Lancelot Curran, was found in the grounds of the family home in Whiteabbey, overlooking Belfast Lough. She had been stabbed 37 times in a frenzied attack. The investigation and prosecution of ‘the judge’s … Read more