@ Railway Heritage Festival, Eclipse Cinema, Bundoran, Co. Donegal 8pm Sat 30 Sept

2017 marks 60 years since the closure of the Great Northern Railway and the last train to leave Bundoran station. Tommy Graham, Editor of History Ireland magazine, led a Hedge School discussion panel that included Marc Geagan, Peter Rigney, Jonathan Bardon and Hugh Dougherty. They discussed the genesis, ramifications and consequences of the closure of the railway.

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3pm Sun 3 Sept

The Bolshevik Revolution — in the dustbin of history?

In the face of claims of the total triumph of neo-liberal capitalism and a generation after the collapse of the Soviet Union, how should we mark the century of the Bolshevik Revolution? Should it be consigned to the ‘dustbin of history’ — or can it be recycled? History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, was joined for a no-holds-barred discussion with John Horne (historian, TCD), Oliver Eagleton (playwright & activist), Brian Hanley (historian, Uni. of Edinburgh) and Frank Barry (economist, TCD).

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@ Richmond Barracks gymnasium, Inchicore, Dublin 8. 7pm Thurs 27 July

‘[I was] astonished by the brilliance of that eye and that had looked at the fields of Meath and seen there all the simple birds and flowers, with a vividness which made those pages like a magnifying glass, through which one looked at familiar things for the first time.’

So wrote Lord Dunsany, patron of the poet, Francis Ledwidge. How had this self-educated labourer, the eighth of nine children, who left school at 13, emerged as one of Ireland’s most notable war poets? What were the contradictions in the life of this trade unionist, Gaelic Leaguer and Irish Volunteer, who ended up joining the Royal Enniskilling Fusiliers and dying in the Third Battle of Ypres on 31 July 1917. To discuss these and related matters History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, was joined for a lively round table discussion with Michael O’Flanagan, Eunan O’Halpin, Miriam O’Gara-Kilmurray, and Liam O’Meara.

Three of Ledwidge’s poems set to music were performed by Mezzo soprano Miram O’Gara-Kilmurry, accompanied by Irish composer and pianist Michael Holohan and Rebecca Draisey-Collishaw on the cor anglais (English Horn).

Supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs

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@ Micheál Ó Clérigh Summer School, Franciscan Friary, Rossnowlagh, Co. Donegal

3.45pm Sat 13 May

Declán de Breadún (Irish Times), Alan Titley (UCC), John McCafferty (UCD), Mark Empey (NUIG) joined Hedge School master Tommy Graham of History Ireland to debate this topic

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@ the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street
recorded at 7pm Tuesday 23 May

The centenary of the entry of the United States into the WWI provides a timely opportunity to review the ‘unique relationship’ with Ireland. But it was not always close or cordial. The 1916 Rising had cast Ireland’s ‘exiled children in America’ in the role of potential subversives, in league with Imperial Germany. After the war, to their great disappointment, Irish nationalists discovered that President Woodrow Wilson’s advocacy of self-determination did not apply to the subject nations of the victorious Allied powers. Relations reached their nadir with US ambassador David Gray’s ‘American note’ of February 1944, implicitly threatening violation of Ireland’s neutrality unless Dublin’s Axis missions were expelled. Things only improved in the wake of JFK’s 1963 visit, and, notwithstanding continuing popular opposition to US foreign policy, particularly during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bushe, reached their high-point with the ‘shamrock diplomacy’ of the Clinton era. But where stands the ‘unique relationship’ in the wake of the election of the xenophobic and protectionist Donald Trump? To discuss these and related matters join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, fwas joined by Michael Kennedy (RIA’s Documents on Irish Foreign Policy), Bernadette Whelan (UL), Patrick Geoghegan (TCD) and John Borgonovo (UCC).

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1917 was the pivotal year of the First World War. At its outset German U-boats were inflicting huge damage on Allied shipping, while in the land war the loss of one ally, Russia, was not compensated by the gain of another, the United States. How did the Allies swing the balance in their favour by the year’s end, particularly at sea? How central was Ireland (and Cork in particular) in this conflict? To address these and related questions History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham was joined by John Borgonovo (UCC), Michael Kennedy ( RIA’s Documents on Irish Foreign Policy), Jennifer Wellington (UCD) and Michael Martin (Titanic Trail).

Recorded @ CAFE Readers’ and Writers’ Festival, Cobh Library, Co. Cork
7.30pm Thur 4 May
(100th anniversary of the arrival of the US navy into Cork)
This History Ireland Hedge School was supported by the Commemorations Unit, DAHRRG

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@ Mechanics Institute, Middle Street, Galway
(in association with the Women’s History Association of Ireland)
Recorded on Friday 21 April at 8pm

One of the features of last year’s 1916 centenary commemorations was the extent to which the role of women in the national movement was acknowledged. Their role intensified in the immediate aftermath of the Rising, particularly since hundreds of male activists were in jail. Why then were women subsequently marginalized? Did they voluntarily step back into the shadows or were they elbowed aside? To discuss these and related matters History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham was joined by Mary McAuliffe (UCD), Linda Connolly (NUI Maynooth), Elaine Sisson (IADT, Dún Laoghaire), and Conor McNamara (NUIG).

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A History Ireland Hedge School recorded at at Belfast Fest. of Ideas & Politics, Conor Hall, Belfast Campus, Ulster University, York Street

Sun 26 March

It is 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of his Wittenberg church, attacking the Catholic Church’s corrupt practice of selling ‘indulgences’ to absolve sin, setting in train the Protestant Reformation. But was that really about religion — or a cynical power-grab by some of the princes of Europe? Or was it an early manifestation of Brexit — disillusionment of the periphery with the perceived corruption of the cosmopolitan centre? What is its relevance today? Discussing these and related matters moderated by History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, were Hiram Morgan (UCC), Bronagh McShane (NUI Galway), Pat Coyle (Irish Jesuit Communications), and Revd Brian Kennaway (Irish Association, Former President).

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@ National Library, Kildare Street
7pm Tues 21 Feb

(In conjunction with Beyond Leaving at the National Photographic Archive, Temple Bar)

In the c. 120 years after the Great Hunger, half of the people born in Ireland ended up somewhere else. In previous centuries there had been waves of inward migration — Vikings, Normans, English, Scots, Huguenots, etc. But Ireland is not unique — the history of humanity has been a history of migration, of coming and going. The Celtic Tiger years witnessed a net inflow of people to Ireland for the first time in centuries, whilst its collapse has seen a revival of emigration, the subject of David Monahan’s current photographic exhibition. Ffor this round table discussion, History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, was joined by Mary Corcoran (Prof. of Sociology, Maynooth University), Susan McKeown (Grammy Award-winning singer & migrants’ rights activist), Joanna Siewierska (PolsksaEire festival).

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@ the London Irish Centre, Camden.
7pm Wed 25 January 2017 .

At the heart of the past year’s commemoration of the 1916 Rising has been consideration of Ireland’s evolving relationship with the United Kingdom — from being an integral part of it, to Home Rule devolution (realised in the North but not in the South), to Commonwealth dominion, sovereign republic (albeit partitioned), and finally co-members of the European Union. An implicit assumption in this exercise has been the contrast between an Irish state of flux and the apparent stability of the UK. Brexit has now turned this assumption on its head, with major implications for the European Union, the Northern Ireland peace process and the UK itself.

To discuss these and related matters History Ireland editor Tommy Graham was joined for a lively round table discussion by Dan Mulhall (Irish ambassador to the UK), Mary Kenny (writer & journalist), Michael Kennedy (Royal Irish Academy’s Documents on Irish Foreign Policy), and Martin Mansergh (vice-chair of the Advisory Group on Centenary Commemorations).

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@ The Kevin Barry Room, The National Concert Hall, Dublin. 6 pm, Saturday 19 November.

Tommy Graham with Dr Kevin Rocket (TCD), Jennifer Wellington (UCD), Lar Joye (National Museum) and Tom Burke (Royal Dublin Fusiliers Assoc. and UCD) discuss The Battle of the Somme film (1916) that was shown in the National Concert hall after this Hedge School. For more details see: http://www.somme100film.com/somme100film/

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7pm on Tuesday 8 November 2016 @ the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street

The contrast between the apparent indifference (hostility even) of the public response to the Rising of Easter 1916 with the landslide victory of Sinn Féin in the general election of December 1918 seems to bear out the famous lines of W.B. Yeats. But was the change as dramatic as it seemed or the result of ‘a long gestation’? And if there was a change what were the developments that led to it? To discuss these and related matters History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, is joined for a lively round table discussion by Mary McAuliffe (UCD Womens’ Studies), Brian Hanley (contributor, Atlas of the Irish Revolution), Fearghal McGarry (Queen’s University, Belfast), Padraig Yeates (A City in Civil War).

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Saturday 5 November at the Allingham Festival, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal

Tommy Graham returns to his native Ballyshannon once again with the History Ireland Hedge School. This year’s topic has a particular resonance in a border town like Ballyshannon. He is joined by Brian Hanley, Jonathan Barden and Niall Meehan to discuss this difficult and contentious issue. Due to technical difficulties the recording ends just before the end of the discussion on 46 minutes.

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A History Ireland Hedge School in conjunction with the National Library of Ireland

Fought between 1 July and 1 November 1916 the Somme Offensive was one of the bloodiest battles in history, costing the lives of more than 1.5 million men. On the first day alone the British Army suffered c. 60,000 casualties, many of them members of the 36th (Ulster) Division, and later soldiers of the 16th (Irish) Division were involved. While the involvement of the former continues to be extensively commemorated (especially in the North), Southern nationalist involvement has left a more ambiguous legacy. To explore the latter and related matters History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, Tom Burke (Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association), Lar Joye (National Museum), David Murphy (Maynooth) and Jennifer Wellington (UCD) joined a large audience at the National Library of Ireland on 19 July 2016 at 7pm.

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A History Ireland Hedge Achool @ Northern Ireland War Memorial Museum, 21 Talbot Street, Belfast BT1 2LD, Thursday 5 May at 7pm

History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, was joined for a Hedge School on the bombing of Belfast during WW II by Brian Barton (The Blitz: Belfast in the War Years), Ciaran Elizabeth Doran (Curator Northern Ireland War Memorial), Michael Kennedy (RIA’s Documents on Irish Foreign Policy), and Peter Collins (St. Marys College).

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@ English Market, Cork. 6pm Thur 12 May

Tommy Graham, editor of History Ireland chaired a lively discussion with Linda Connolly, John Borgonovo, Mary McAuliffe and Claire McGing addressing a number of themes relating to Irish women’s activism. These included: Suffrage, Cumann na mBan in Munster, The historical importance of socialist feminism in Ireland, The conflict between nationalist feminists and suffrage, The historical significance of Mary McSwiney and other forgotten activists in Cork and Why were women /Irish feminists so profoundly marginalised in the post independence period?

‘Women of the South’: Radicals and Revolutionaries is a collaboration between Farmgate Café and a group of scholars/writers with expertise in Irish women’s history and writing. There are two interacting elements: (1) an exhibition of photographs and political imagery; a historical timeline; and a ‘roll of honour’ listing of all Cork Cumann na mBan members in the café/the English Market; and (2) a series of associated public engagement and cultural events, supported by an interactive website with digitised images, historical material and texts.

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@ Lissadell House, Lissadell, Co Sligo. 15 May 2016, 3pm

In the early twentieth century thousands of Irishwomen participated in the Irish nationalist, labour and cultural movements of the day. However, except for a few notable exceptions, much of their work and activities were subsequently forgotten or overlooked in the historical record.

History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, chaired a lively discussion on the contributions of these heretofore forgotten women with particular reference to Countess Markievicz. He was joined by Mary McAuliffe (UCD, Richmond Barracks 1916 ‘We were there’ – 77 women of the Easter Rising), Margaret Ward (Queen’s University Belfast, Unmanageable Revolutionaries’: women and Irish Nationalism), Lauren Arrington (University of Liverpool, W. B. Yeats, The Abbey Theatre, Censorship and the Irish State: adding the half-pence to the pence) and Laura McAtackney (Aarhus University, Gender, incarceration and power relations during the Irish Civil War 1922–23).

This History Ireland Hedge School was part of the 1916-2016 Commemoration Ireland’s Women: revolution and remembrance weekend organised by the Sligo Field Club. 13 – 15 May, Lissadell House, Lissadell, Co Sligo.

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@ Trinity College, Thomas Davis Theatre, 28 March 2016

Introduced by Tommie Gorman, Northern Editor, RTÉ Tommy Graham (Editor, History Ireland) with Dr John Gibney (TCD/Glasnevin Trust), Prof. Lucy McDiarmid (Montclair University, New Jersey, former President of the American Conference for Irish Studies), Dr Mary McAuliffe (School of Social Justice/Women’s Studies UCD), and Joseph E.A. Connell Jr (Who’s Who in the Dublin Rising 1916) discussed what Dublin was like at the time of the Easter Rising.

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@ National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street
Mon 14 March 2016 @ 7pm

Who was Horatio Nelson and why did his naval victory over the French at Trafalgar in 1805 provoke a craze for building monuments throughout Britain and Ireland? The first, a ‘Nelson arch’, was erected at Castletownshend, Co. Cork, within days of the victory, and by 1808 ‘Nelson’s Pillar’ was erected in Dublin’s Sackville (now O’Connell) Street. From the start it was a controversial and polarizing monument and eventually fell foul of a republican bomb in March 1966, shortly before the official commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Discussing Nelson, the Pillar and the atmosphere of 1966 Ireland, were History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, with Donal Fallon, Fergus Whelan, Dennis Kennedy and Carole Holohan.

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@ Glasnevin Museum, 2pm Sunday 10 April 2016

Over the course of the Easter 1916 Rising in Dublin nearly 500 people were killed, half of them civilians. Most of them were buried in Glasnevin, the city’s largest cemetery. What were the practicalities involved in coping with the extra intake? Who ended up being buried there and how were they subsequently commemorated (or not in some cases)? To discuss these and related questions join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, for a lively round table discussion with Conor Dodd (Glasnevin Trust), Joe Duffy (Children of the Rising: the untold story of the young lives lost during Easter 1916), John Gibney (Glasnevin Trust/TCD), and Liz Gillis (Women of the Irish Revolution).

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A History Ireland Hedge School in association with Fingal Libraries, at Ardgillan Castle,            Skerries, Co. Dublin

On Saturday 5 March

Hedge School master Tommy Graham discussed Women  of the Irish Revolution with Mary McAulliffe, Fearghal McGarry, Margaret Ward and Ailbhe Rogers.

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16 January 2016 at the Bundoran Cineplex, Donegal

Tommy Graham (editor of History Ireland) chaired a discussion on the Irish diaspora with:
Liam Kennedy Director, Clinton Institute for American Studies, University College Dublin
Micheál Ó hÉanaigh Stiúrthóir Fiontraíochta, Fostaíochta agus Maoine, Údarás na Gaeltachta
Mary Hickman, Professor of Irish Studies and Sociology, St Mary’s University, London
Barbara Franz, Professor of Political Science, Rider University New Jersey USA
Kevin Cullen, Boston Globe Journalist and Author

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@ Parish Centre, Roundwood, Co. Wicklow

4pm Saturday 27 February

Hedge School master Tommy Graham discussed The 1916 Proclamation: then & now, with Liam Kennedy, Padraig Yeates, Robert Ballagh and  Linda Connolly.

Part of a 1916 seminar run by The Roundwood and District Historical and Folklore Society.

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@ Ulster Canal Stores, Clones, Co. Monaghan

7pm Fri 5 Feb 2016

Hedge School master Tommy Graham discussed The Somme: what actually happened?, with Lar Joye (National Museum), Jason Burke (Queen’s, Belfast), and George Knight (Clogher Historical Society).

Hedge School funded by the Commemorations Unit, Department of Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

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@ National Library, Kildare Street, Dublin 2

7pm Tues 1 Dec.

Maurice Walsh, John Horne, Angus Mitchell and Jennifer Wellington

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@ Mechanics Institute, Middle Street, Galway

8pm Tues 17 Nov

Tommy Graham with Conor McNamara, Una Newell, John Cunningham, Jackie Ui Chionna

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@ Red Line Book Festival, Civic Theatre, Tallaght

8pm Thur 15 Oct

Joost Augusteijn, Roisin Higgins, John Gibney, Ruth Dudley Edwards

This podcast was recorded at The Red Line Book Festival 2015 at The Civic Theatre, Tallaght by South Dublin Libraries & Arts.’

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Allingham Festival, Ballyshannon, 7 November 2015

Tommy Graham, with Jonathan Bardon, Marc Geagan, John Gibney and Conor McNamara.

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@Glasnevin Cemetery Visitor Centre,
7 pm, Thursday, 17 September 2015
Hedge School master Tommy Graham with historians Judith Campbell, Gabriel Doherty, Shane Kenna and Conor McNamara.

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