This exhibition was opened by Síle de Valera, Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, on Thursday 25 June 1998 and will continue until April 1999. The most remarkable atlas ever produced—the eleven-volume Blaeu Atlas Major, printed in Amsterdam in 1662—is included. It is wonderful that the Irish public, and visitors from abroad, will … Read more
Anne Devlin’s gravestone in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, tells us that she was ‘the faithful servant’ of Robert Emmet, but that otherwise she lived ‘in obscurity and poverty’, dying in September 1851, aged seventy. It was through her connection with Emmet that she achieved fame, although that connection lasted for only a few months in the … Read more
Nineteen ninety-nine brings with it the rejuvenation of the IrishHistory Students’ Association. The IHSA has been bringing historystudents together from all parts of Ireland since the 1950s, primarilythrough its annual conference. This year’s conference will be held from19-21 February 1999 at the Queen’s University of Belfast. This will bea student-oriented affair which allows Irish history … Read more
The cult of Michael Collins reached new heights last summer when the monument at Béal na mBláth developed into a colourful religious type shrine. Apparently believing that they could establish a spiritual link with the ‘Big Fella’ in the sky, people began to leave personal items and religious paraphernalia at the place where he breathed … Read more
Popular myth has it that the Taoiseach, John A. Costello, while in Canada in 1948, got drunk at a dinner and announced that Ireland was to leave the Commonwealth. A variation of the story is that Costello, while dining in the Governor General’s residence, was offended by a replica of the cannon ‘Roaring Meg’ being … Read more