@ 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 … Continue reading ‘Poet of the blackbirds’ — the life and death of Francis Ledwidge →

@ 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

@ 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’ … Continue reading Ireland and the United States from 1917 to Trump →

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 … Continue reading Ireland, the United States and the war at sea, 1917 →

@ 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 … Continue reading ‘Now you see them…now you don’t’: women in the Irish Revolution →

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, … Continue reading Reflecting on the Reformation →

@ 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, … Continue reading ‘Coming and going’ — Ireland and migration today →

@ 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 … Continue reading Ireland & the UK from 1916 to Brexit →

@ 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 … Continue reading The Battle of the Somme on film →

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. … Continue reading ‘All changed, changed utterly…’? Ireland 1916-18 →