Sir, —In his article ‘Birth pangs of a nation: Senator Thomas Westropp Bennett and the Irish Free State’ (HI 11.4, Winter 2003), Bruce-Andrew Finch presents some interesting information but weakens its historical value by placing it in a partisan context while overlooking obvious questions. An example of the latter is contained in the … Read more
When Eoin O’Mahony died in February 1970 at the age of 65 The Times said that he was the outstanding Irish talker of his time and remarked that if he had had a Boswell he was the stuff of Johnson. Born in Cork on 22 March 1905, he was educated at Clongowes, where he acquired … Read more
BB: Tell us something about your background and about the people who influenced you most in your formative years. TPC: I grew up in impoverished middle-class surroundings in Monkstown, Co. Dublin. My father was a Sinn Féin activist with W.T. Cosgrave, Kevin O’Higgins and Michael Collins, setting up the local government and court system that … Read more
Following the withdrawal of the British from the 26 counties in 1922 and the creation of the Irish Free State, many of those families who had relied on their presence as a guarantee of their safety found themselves in a vulnerable position. One such family were the Phibbses of Doobeg, Bunnanadden, Co. Sligo. The … Read more
As many readers are doubtless aware, attempts to complete a section of the M50 motorway in south County Dublin have been stalled by a heated dispute between the authorities and conservationists over the remains of an important medieval frontier fortress in Carrickmines Valley. Either side of the Christmas holidays the campaign to save Carrickmines Castle … Read more