St Odrán, Gerald of Wales and Christian martyrdom in medieval Ireland. By Jesse Harrington In 1186 tensions were high between the English and Irish clergy at the Lent synod convened at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. The English clergy of Wexford had been found to have illicitly taken wives despite stern canonical prohibition. The situation … Read more
Stop the Retention of Records Bill! By Sheila Ahern In the aftermath of the broadcast of the three-part television documentary States of fear in 1999 I naively thought that we had broken through the decades of silence and cover-up about the abuse of children in industrial schools. On the day the third programme was transmitted, … Read more
James Loughlin Liverpool University Press £90 ISBN 9781786941770 Reviewed by Niall Meehan Niall Meehan is Head of the Journalism and Media Faculty in Griffith College, Dublin, and author (with Brian Murphy OSB) of The embers of revisionism (Aubane, 2017). Ardent Empire loyalists considered Britain’s ceding of control over 26 of Ireland’s 32 counties in 1922 … Read more
BY TONY CANAVAN War in a border county Monaghan County Museum has opened a new exhibition on the county’s role in the War of Independence. The museum’s own War of Independence files include more than 500 pages of firsthand accounts from Monaghan IRA veterans, which were gathered in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of … Read more
COLUM KENNY Irish Academic Press €19.95 ISBN 9781785373145 Reviewed by Owen McGee Owen McGee is the author of A history of Ireland in international relations (Irish Academic Press, 2020). Rather than taking the form of a biography, this concise and stylish new assessment of Griffith focuses on particular episodes or themes to assess his significance. … Read more