The Royal Irish Academy

Lecture title: Window on the Irish soul: A century of Irish stamps

Speaker: Stephen Ferguson, An Post Archivist and Museum Curator

Chair: Barbara McCormack, Academy Librarian

This lecture was recorded on 17 May 2023 and due to popular demand was held again during Heritage Week on 15 August 2023.

Shortly after independence in 1922, the new Irish government turned its attention to the design of stamps to replace the contemporary British stamps then is use. Over the years since then Irish identity, culture and aspirations have been expressed through the medium of these miniature masterpieces with postage stamps acting as our ambassadors throughout the world. Long before the advent of the postage stamp, however, the idea of a stamp as a form of tax was well-known and the Academy’s library holds a remarkable album of eighteenth century revenue stamps which can, in a sense, be seen as the world’s very first stamp album. Highlighting such connections between the Academy and Irish stamps, Stephen Ferguson traces the changing nature of Ireland’s image from the conservative and inward-looking era of the early Free State to the more confident, socially progressive, and tech-savvy nation of today.

The Market was a significant element of the area in the hinterland of Grangegorman from 1863 when it opened first to 1973 when it was closed down. This talk by Dr Mary Muldowney and Dr Declan O'Brien includes extracts from oral history interviews, with a range of people who shared their memories of working in the Market as well as information about the local and national importance of this very rural enterprise in its busy urban setting. Representing different facets of the life of the Market, the contributors came from various parts of the city and country and shed a fascinating light on what was once such an important workplace.

This talk was delivered on 3 June as part of Revealing Grangegorman, a celebratory event organised by GDA, along with TU Dublin, HSE and Workday.

Grangegorman Histories is a public history programme of research and shared discovery of the Grangegorman site and surrounding communities. Founding partners: Dublin City Council, Grangegorman Development Agency, HSE, Local Communities, National Archives, Royal Irish Academy and TU Dublin.

Visit www.grangegormanhistories.ie.

In this month’s ARINS podcast Mapping the Tapestry: National and International Human Rights Frameworks in Northern Ireland and Ireland authors Profs. Kathryn McNeilly, and Aoife O’Donoghue from Queens University Belfast’s School of Law share their research examining legal equivalence in Human Rights law in Ireland and Northern Ireland with our host Rory Montgomery.

By exploring the convergence and divergence in institutional Human Rights arrangements Professors McNeilly and O’Donoghue share the significance of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement for Human Rights provision in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Particularly the importance of the Human Rights bodies north and south and the joint committee’s collaborative working methods in supporting co-operation across the two jurisdictions.

The authors explain how collaborative legal provision attempts to weather discretionary or “Henry VIII” challenges from domestic governments, such as the Bill of Rights Bill that sought to replace the Human Rights Act of 1998. Drawing on the wider international provisions and European Union (ECHR) Human Rights frameworks we learn how human rights law provisions in Ireland and Northern Ireland evolve and intersect.

McNeilly and O'Donoghue's article 'Mapping the Tapestry:

National and International Human Rights Frameworks in Northern Ireland and Ireland': https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/423/article/883501

This is episode 24 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south.

Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research.

ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at www.arinsproject.com.

ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

In this month’s ARINS podcast, host Rory Montgomery is joined by Dr Philip McGuinness lecturer in the Department of Computing Science and Mathematics at Dundalk Institute of Technology to discuss the results of the local elections in Northern Ireland held on 18 May.

In the elections to eleven councils across Northern Ireland the nationalist bloc gained a majority of the vote in both Belfast and L/Derry for the first time with Sinn Fein winning a larger than expected victory finding itself the largest party in six of the eleven councils with a 39 seat increase to 144 of 462 seats. The DUP retained its 122 council seats, and asserted a mandate to pursue its conditions to return to Stormont. The Alliance Party won 14 seats taking its total to 67 seats promising delivery over drama. The results demonstrate that the local electoral landscape in Northern Ireland is changing. The geographical shorthand of east and west of the river Bann no longer fits. While discussions about demographic changes and a diminishing unionist base go some way to explain the differential turnout between nationalists and unionists, McGuinness can better help us navigate our way through these local election result findings and follow on political puzzles.

Philip McGuinness is a lecturer in the Department of Computing Science and Mathematics at Dundalk Institute of Technology. He studied at Athlone RTC, Trinity College Dublin, and Queen's University Belfast. His commentaries on Irish culture and politics have been published in the Times Literary Supplement, Irish Studies Review, Fortnight and the Irish dailies. He co-edited John Toland's Christianity Not Mysterious: Text, Associated Works and Critical Essays with Alan Harrison and Richard Kearney, see https://www.lilliputpress.ie/product/john-tolands-christianity-not-mysterious-text-associated-works-and-critical-essays. He writes regularly about Northern Ireland politics on Sluggerotoole https://www.sluggerotoole.com/author/philip-mcguinness/

This is episode 23 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south.

Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research.

ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at www.arinsproject.com.

ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

A two-day conference exploring the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac which ran from Thursday 27 April - Friday 28 April 2023 in the Royal Irish Academy.

Royal Irish Academy Library in association with the Maynooth University Department of Early Irish, and the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

The Royal Irish Academy manuscript An Leabhar Breac/The Speckled Book was written in Irish by Murchadh Riabhach Ó Cuindlis (a scribe of the Book of Lecan), at Cluain Lethan in Múscraige Tíre, in north Co. Tipperary and at other locations, between the years 1408 and 1411. In the 16th century the manuscript was held by the Mac Egans of Duniry, the most prominent of the hereditary legal families of late medieval Ireland, whence it also received the title of Leabhar Mór Dúna Doighre/The Book of the MacEgans. It is the largest Irish vellum manuscript created by one scribe and contains religious and biblical material derived from Latin, Irish literature and history, including the lives of St Patrick and St Brigid, the Litany of Our Lady, Félire Óengusso Céli Dé, the humorous saga Aisling Meic Conglinne, and some reworkings of biblical history. This two-day conference will explore the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac, this most impressive example of a predominantly religious manuscript compilation in the Irish vernacular.

A two-day conference exploring the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac which ran from Thursday 27 April - Friday 28 April 2023 in the Royal Irish Academy.

Royal Irish Academy Library in association with the Maynooth University Department of Early Irish, and the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

The Royal Irish Academy manuscript An Leabhar Breac/The Speckled Book was written in Irish by Murchadh Riabhach Ó Cuindlis (a scribe of the Book of Lecan), at Cluain Lethan in Múscraige Tíre, in north Co. Tipperary and at other locations, between the years 1408 and 1411. In the 16th century the manuscript was held by the Mac Egans of Duniry, the most prominent of the hereditary legal families of late medieval Ireland, whence it also received the title of Leabhar Mór Dúna Doighre/The Book of the MacEgans. It is the largest Irish vellum manuscript created by one scribe and contains religious and biblical material derived from Latin, Irish literature and history, including the lives of St Patrick and St Brigid, the Litany of Our Lady, Félire Óengusso Céli Dé, the humorous saga Aisling Meic Conglinne, and some reworkings of biblical history. This two-day conference will explore the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac, this most impressive example of a predominantly religious manuscript compilation in the Irish vernacular.

A two-day conference exploring the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac which ran from Thursday 27 April - Friday 28 April 2023 in the Royal Irish Academy.

Royal Irish Academy Library in association with the Maynooth University Department of Early Irish, and the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

The Royal Irish Academy manuscript An Leabhar Breac/The Speckled Book was written in Irish by Murchadh Riabhach Ó Cuindlis (a scribe of the Book of Lecan), at Cluain Lethan in Múscraige Tíre, in north Co. Tipperary and at other locations, between the years 1408 and 1411. In the 16th century the manuscript was held by the Mac Egans of Duniry, the most prominent of the hereditary legal families of late medieval Ireland, whence it also received the title of Leabhar Mór Dúna Doighre/The Book of the MacEgans. It is the largest Irish vellum manuscript created by one scribe and contains religious and biblical material derived from Latin, Irish literature and history, including the lives of St Patrick and St Brigid, the Litany of Our Lady, Félire Óengusso Céli Dé, the humorous saga Aisling Meic Conglinne, and some reworkings of biblical history. This two-day conference will explore the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac, this most impressive example of a predominantly religious manuscript compilation in the Irish vernacular.

A two-day conference exploring the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac which ran from Thursday 27 April - Friday 28 April 2023 in the Royal Irish Academy.

Royal Irish Academy Library in association with the Maynooth University Department of Early Irish, and the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

The Royal Irish Academy manuscript An Leabhar Breac/The Speckled Book was written in Irish by Murchadh Riabhach Ó Cuindlis (a scribe of the Book of Lecan), at Cluain Lethan in Múscraige Tíre, in north Co. Tipperary and at other locations, between the years 1408 and 1411. In the 16th century the manuscript was held by the Mac Egans of Duniry, the most prominent of the hereditary legal families of late medieval Ireland, whence it also received the title of Leabhar Mór Dúna Doighre/The Book of the MacEgans. It is the largest Irish vellum manuscript created by one scribe and contains religious and biblical material derived from Latin, Irish literature and history, including the lives of St Patrick and St Brigid, the Litany of Our Lady, Félire Óengusso Céli Dé, the humorous saga Aisling Meic Conglinne, and some reworkings of biblical history. This two-day conference will explore the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac, this most impressive example of a predominantly religious manuscript compilation in the Irish vernacular.

A two-day conference exploring the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac which ran from Thursday 27 April - Friday 28 April 2023 in the Royal Irish Academy.

Royal Irish Academy Library in association with the Maynooth University Department of Early Irish, and the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

The Royal Irish Academy manuscript An Leabhar Breac/The Speckled Book was written in Irish by Murchadh Riabhach Ó Cuindlis (a scribe of the Book of Lecan), at Cluain Lethan in Múscraige Tíre, in north Co. Tipperary and at other locations, between the years 1408 and 1411. In the 16th century the manuscript was held by the Mac Egans of Duniry, the most prominent of the hereditary legal families of late medieval Ireland, whence it also received the title of Leabhar Mór Dúna Doighre/The Book of the MacEgans. It is the largest Irish vellum manuscript created by one scribe and contains religious and biblical material derived from Latin, Irish literature and history, including the lives of St Patrick and St Brigid, the Litany of Our Lady, Félire Óengusso Céli Dé, the humorous saga Aisling Meic Conglinne, and some reworkings of biblical history. This two-day conference will explore the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac, this most impressive example of a predominantly religious manuscript compilation in the Irish vernacular.

A two-day conference exploring the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac which ran from Thursday 27 April - Friday 28 April 2023 in the Royal Irish Academy.

Royal Irish Academy Library in association with the Maynooth University Department of Early Irish, and the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

The Royal Irish Academy manuscript An Leabhar Breac/The Speckled Book was written in Irish by Murchadh Riabhach Ó Cuindlis (a scribe of the Book of Lecan), at Cluain Lethan in Múscraige Tíre, in north Co. Tipperary and at other locations, between the years 1408 and 1411. In the 16th century the manuscript was held by the Mac Egans of Duniry, the most prominent of the hereditary legal families of late medieval Ireland, whence it also received the title of Leabhar Mór Dúna Doighre/The Book of the MacEgans. It is the largest Irish vellum manuscript created by one scribe and contains religious and biblical material derived from Latin, Irish literature and history, including the lives of St Patrick and St Brigid, the Litany of Our Lady, Félire Óengusso Céli Dé, the humorous saga Aisling Meic Conglinne, and some reworkings of biblical history. This two-day conference will explore the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac, this most impressive example of a predominantly religious manuscript compilation in the Irish vernacular.