At a recent auction in London a set of the insignia of the Order of St Patrick, the British state order for Ireland, was sold for €29,800, well above the estimate. Originally the regalia of Lord Houghton when he was lord lieutenant of Ireland in the 1890s, the set consists of the star and badge … Read more
The Archive Scheme of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland is making a serious effort to encourage an ‘archiving culture’ in the broadcast sector. The Radharc Archive Project is one of the first of the BAI-funded projects to come to fruition. Fifteen Radharc programmes from 1962/3 have now been digitally remastered in high definition, along with … Read more
Daniel Doyle was a quintessential Young Irelander: a young professional of nationalist outlook and literary leanings. Born in Killaloe, Co. Clare, in 1826, he qualified as a solicitor in Limerick in the summer of 1846. It was around this time that he became actively engaged in politics, joining the Young Irelanders, led by the Limerick … Read more
Seán O’Casey was secretary of the Irish Citizen Army and wrote ‘ICA Notes’ in The Worker and the Irish Worker. While James Connolly attacked the British, O’Casey attacked the Volunteers week after week. He continually argued that the workers of Ireland were not served by the intent of the Volunteers, that the Volunteers were in … Read more
GAVIN M. FOSTER Palgrave Macmillan £60 In this latest addition to the historiography of the Civil War, Gavin Foster essentially offers a reconceptualising of class debates. He sets out to explore the social dimensions of the conflict ‘from fresh angles that highlight the rival social outlooks, interests and conflicts that ruptured nationalist solidarity’ at the … Read more