As the leading figure of the Wood Quay protests of the late 1970s F.X. Martin is well known to the wider public. Recently retired as Professor of Medieval History at University College Dublin, he spoke to Dáire Keogh recently. DK: Tell us about your background and early interest in history. FXM: I was born in … Read more
Jim Kilroy There was a time when Dublin United Tramways could boast of being one of the finest services in Europe and the seventh largest system, with 330 tram cars. They were regarded as efficient and clean and the courtesy of the staff was legendary. The proud … Read more
Michelle Dowling 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 … Read more
Timothy W. Guinnane Many countries today face, or will soon face, one of two population problems. Some countries’ populations are growing so rapidly that sheer numbers will endanger their ability to provide schooling, employment, and basic social amenities to their people. … Read more
Oonagh Walsh C.S. Andrews said of his youth in turn-of-the-century Dublin that as far as inner-city Catholics were concerned ‘there was no such thing as a poor Protestant’. However, the scale of charitable activity both directed towards, and organised by, Protestants in the city would seem to indicate otherwise. The nineteenth century saw a great … Read more