The story begins in 1935, when by the Montreal Agreement, the governments of the USA, the UK, Canada and the Irish Free State ruled that all transatlantic aircraft would land at an Irish airport when travelling east or west. Foynes is today, as it was then, a small town on the south side of the … Read more
Isn’t it ironic that the conquistadors of Spain, who first brought the potato to the attention of those outside the Americas, were relatively indifferent to the vegetative gold that they stumbled upon in the 1530s? They rode over the tubers, in pursuit of the Inca leader Atahualpa and his fabled riches. Little did they realise … Read more
The issue of integrated education in Northern Ireland has been given new impetus by recent political developments; the appointment of Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness as education minister and the devolution of powers to the local Assembly. He has yet to make any firm pronouncements but it is clear that increasing demand for integrated schools will … Read more
Lost glass negatives of dramatic and moving pictures taken by the Manchester Guardian’s first staff photographer during the Irish Civil War have recently been discovered in Manchester. With the advent of modern digital photography, which does not require old-style developing and printing techniques, the darkroom shared by the Manchester Evening News and the Guardian was … Read more
A casual observer moving through the modern landscape might assume that the reduction of the built heritage and conspicuous places of late medieval Gaelic Ireland is a recent phenomenon, but altered views and loss of place were integral to the Gaelic experience from the late sixteenth century onwards. This is most apparent in regard to … Read more