TG: Tell us about your family background? KW: I come from the parish of Clonegal which straddles the counties of Wicklow, Carlow and Wexford; by a lucky accident, I was born on the Wexford side of the parish. My family has been there as far back as records go. A local townland Baile uí Fhaoiláin … Read more
In an article published five years ago, journalist Fintan O’Toole mimicked the resentment in certain quarters of the Republic over the recent direction of public discourse: ‘a lot of what we have had to talk about has been very unpleasant indeed, and we are tired of listening to it. We wonder if it would not … Read more
The story of the Refugee Resettlement Farm, which existed in Millisle, County Down from 1938 to 1948, is one of the little-known ‘secret histories’ of the Second World War in Ireland. To this remote, disused farm on the beautiful Ards peninsula, came, in the late 1930s, Jewish children who escaped on Kindertransports, together with older … Read more
The Channel packet, lifeline of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), left Boulogne early on the morning of 9 January 1918. On board was a small party of Royal Flying Corps (RFC) officers. All four were hung over, battle weary, and badly in need of rest and recuperation. These were veteran fighter—or scout—pilots, blooded in the … Read more
‘Crown jewels’ generally refer to royal ornaments used in the ceremony of consecration, and the formal ensigns of monarchy worn or carried on occasions of state. The term may also be used to describe those collections of rich personal jewellery brought together by various European sovereigns as valuable assets not of their individual estates but … Read more