In the autumn and winter of 1956 a popular mass movement rose up against the ruling communist dictatorship in Hungary and sought to introduce a multi-party democracy and to take the country out of its military alliance with the Soviet Union. For a few heady days it seemed that this movement would be successful, as … Read more
The apparently imminent closure of the Mountjoy prison complex on Dublin’s North Circular Road has raised a number of well-publicised issues. Do we need another prison? Is the site at Thornton the best site? Was e29m a fair price? I don’t have a vested interest in any of these issues. What I do have a … Read more
The establishment of the Kynoch explosives factory in Arklow was due to the vision and ambition of two men, Arthur Chamberlain and A.T. Cocking. Arthur Chamberlain was a Birmingham industrialist and brother of the famous liberal politician Joseph Chamberlain. In 1888 Chamberlain joined the board of Kynoch and set about reviving the fortunes of … Read more
‘No imagination can conceive —no tongue express—no brush paint—the horrors of the scenes which are daily exhibited in Ireland’, observed Senator Henry Clay in 1847. Calling upon the support of his Creator, he reminded his fellow Americans that ‘the practice of charity’ was the greatest act of humanity. In terms of private efforts, Americans heard … Read more
In August of 1849, in London, a huge property was put up for auction: the former Martin Estate in Connemara. According to the prospectus: It is impossible for the mind of man to conceive anything necessary but capital, and a judicious application of it, for rendering this vast Property fertile beyond a parallel, that this … Read more