Addressing the Dáil on 27 October 1919, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count George Plunkett, reported ‘a steady progress’ in the development of Ireland’s foreign relations ‘in spite of all impediments’. These impediments were many and they hampered all Dáil Éireann agents abroad. On his first visit to the United States as the President of … Read more
Though he was one of the towering figures of eighteenth-century Irish Patriotism, Henry Flood is little remembered today. Unlike Henry Grattan, with whom he is frequently twinned in historical memory, popular valorisation was not to be his destiny. Thus, there are no statues in his honour; no pubs which bear his name and, most significantly, … Read more
PC Your father taught history at Queen’s. Did this influence your own enthusiasm for history? JG The endless discussions at home about modern history and politics were much more influential. I discovered that my father was in a state of almost permanent opposition to the condition of the world, although little was said of Ireland … Read more
Consider the following scenario. Two musicians are comparing tunes. As one plays the other smiles appreciatively and enquires: ‘Where did you get it?’, to which the player replies: ‘’Tis in the book’. The listener nods. No further explanation is necessary. ‘The book’ in question—The Music of Ireland—was compiled by Francis O’Neill, collector, musician, adventurer, and … Read more
Few figures in Irish history have dominated their times in the way that Daniel O’Connell did. For three decades he personified the aspirations of nationalists and was revered by millions. The popular adulation that he enjoyed, however, was not a natural phenomenon that somehow ‘happened’. In many ways it stemmed from the deliberate and remarkably … Read more