Moore St

The threat of demolition to parts of the Moore St Terrace - that played a central role in the Easter Rising - has increased significantly. Last month the Executive of Dublin City Council rejected a motion by Councillors that Number 18 Moore St should be designated a Protected Structure. The Councillors had previously passed a motion in support of this.

Coffin Ships

Eight years ago the death of two year old Alan Kurdi brought a focus on the refugee tragedy that has turned the Mediterranean into a sea of death for thousands. The photograph of the child lying face down on a Turkish beach as the water washed over him was a distressing and evocative image.

Last week at least 78 refugees are known to have drowned when the packed trawler they were on capsized. Survivors have said that as many as 500 more, including possibly 100 children who were in the hold of the trawler, are thought to have gone down with the ship when it sank off the southern coast of Greece

The Pen Behind The Wire.  

Thousands of republicans were imprisoned during the conflict. They created a commendable body of prison literature, in keeping with prison writings from other phases in the freedom struggle. Former POWs, as well as writing their memoirs, have written short stories, novels, plays and screenplays and, of course, poetry. The writings of Bobby Sands, for example, have never been out of print over the past forty-two years and have been translated into many languages.