History Ireland

Dublin Festival of Books presents one of a series of presentations on this year's One City One Book—John Banville’s Christine Falls . While most of the action takes place in the gloomy streets of 1950s Dublin, it intersects with a parallel storyline set in Boston. What does that tell us about the post-war Irish-American experience? What were Irish-American perceptions of the ‘old country’—and vice...

Ballyshannon may or may not be the ‘oldest town in Ireland’ but it has certainly been the site of human settlement and activity for thousands of years and has been mapped since the late sixteenth century. Now it is the subject of the latest (No. 32) in the Royal Irish Academy’s Irish Historic Towns Atlas series. Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with its editor, Angela Byrne ,...

Recorded live on Saturday 30 August ’25 @ the Electric Picnic Admired and reviled in equal measure, Éamon de Valera was Ireland’s longest-serving taoiseach and a two-term president. Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham for a lively round-table discussion to assess his legacy 50 years after his death, with Deirdre Foley (TCD & Women’s History Association of Ireland), Michael Kennedy (Docume...

Recorded live on Friday 29 August ’25 @ the Electric Picnic History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in conversation with Dan Mulhall , Irish ambassador in Washington during President Trump’s first administration.  What was Trump like? How can his success be explained? Is his legacy now permanently entrenched in the US political system? What are the implications for the wider world—and Ireland?

(Recorded live on Wednesday 30 July ’25 @ Glasnevin Cemetery visitor centre) Daniel O’Connell was described by his biographer Oliver MacDonagh as ‘perhaps the greatest innovator in modern democratic politics, as well as the originator of almost all the basic strategies of modern Anglo-Irish constitutional relations’. To reassess his legacy 250 years after his birth, join History Ireland editor Tom...

From the tenement collapses of the early twentieth century to the spiralling house prices of the early twenty-first, it seems that housing in Ireland has always been in a state of crisis. What were the intended and unintended consequences of twentieth-century housing policy and how has this led to our current housing crisis? To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor Tommy...

What is the purpose of museums? How have museums in Ireland evolved over the past 30 years or so? Are there too many or too few? North of the border, how do they operate in a divided society? How should they be funded? To address these and related questions, listen to History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Tony Canavan (former History Ireland museums reviewer), Lar Joye (Irish Muse...

We broadcast again editor Tommy Graham’s interview (55 mins) with Brian Hanley (TCD) following the February 2020 general election, with an update (28 mins) on the November 2024 general election. What do they tell us about the current shape of Irish party politics?

(Recorded live on Wed 02 October, @ The Cobblestone, King St N, Smithfield, Dublin, D07 TP22) History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, chats to Irish diplomat, Jim Sharkey, who opened the Irish embassy in Moscow in 1974 and returned to live in the city as Ambassador in 2001. This Hedge School is part of the Dublin Festival of History.

(Recorded live on Sunday 29 September 2024, @ The Substation, Alexandra Road, Dublin, D01 H4C6) In 1986, the maritime historian, John de Courcey Ireland, wrote: ‘The lives of island peoples like Ireland’s [have] been dominated by the seas encircling them. Yet this fact has been largely ignored by Irish historians’. Is Irish history still ‘sea blind’? To address this question join History Ireland e...

(Recorded live on Sat 17 Aug ’24 @ the Electric Picnic) Thanks to UCC’s Irish Civil War Fatalities project we now have a definite figure—1,485. But in this discussion, chaired by History Ireland editor Tommy Graham , with John Dorney , Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc , Michael Kennedy and Caitlin White , we find out a lot more—not only who was killed but also when, where, in what circumstances, and how they w...

(Recorded live on Fri 16 Aug ’24 @ the Electric Picnic) History Ireland editor Tommy Graham chats to former international footballer, administrator, businessman and TV pundit Niall Quinn about his recently completed MA thesis, ‘Oscar Traynor—a re-evaluation of a footballer, rebel, politician and football administrator’. Not only was Traynor an IRA commander in the War of Independence who took the...

Born in 1917 in Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare, Brendan O’Regan’s background was in hotel management and catering, working in the family hotel in Ennis, the St Stephen’s Green Club in Dublin and the world’s first duty-free shop in Shannon Airport, where he is credited with inventing Irish coffee. In 1959 he was appointed by Seán Lemass as the first head of the Shannon Airport Development Association (la...

Recorded on the  1 Feb  2024, at the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street. Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham , to mark the 1500th anniversary of the passing of St Brigit, Ireland’s most notable female saint. But who was she?—a figure of history or of myth and legend?—a goddess and/or a feminist icon? With Edel Breathnach , Elva Johnston , Bairbre Ní Fhloinn and Niamh Wycherley . Thi...

To what extent did the Irish Free State’s joining the League of Nations a century ago realise Robert Emmet’s ambition? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with John Gibney , Michael Kennedy and Zoë Reid . The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com This Hedge School is s...

(Recorded at Maggie’s Tavern, St Johnston, Co. Donegal, on Saturday 28 October ’23) Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, to mark the 421st anniversary of the passing of Red Hugh O’Donnell, the ‘Fighting Prince of Donegal’. But no discussion of Red Hugh would be complete without consideration of the real ‘mover and shaker’ in these events, the power behind the throne, his mother Iníon Dubh—wi...

(Recorded at the Irish Film Institute on Wed 11 Oct ’23 as part of the Dublin Festival of History) Listen to History Ireland editor Tommy Graham for a lively and interactive discussion on how the Irish Civil War was depicted on film, both at the time (newsreels) and subsequently ( Michael Collins , The Wind that Shakes the Barley and other films), and how this has affected our understanding of the...

This Hedge School, recorded at the Electric Picnic, September 2023, was preceded by a performance of Paddy Cullivan’s The Two Murders of Wolfe Tone , which can be viewed at paddycullivan.com . ‘He landed in France with one hundred guineas in his pocket and had come near to altering the destiny of Europe’—so said Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, of Theobald Wolfe Tone, who died 225 years ago....

Belfast: The story of a city and its people is a lively and inviting history of Belfast—exploring the highs and lows of a resilient city. Join Tommy Graham , editor of History Ireland , in conversation with the author, Fergal Cochrane . Belfast: The story of a city and its people is published by Yale University Press. Further details: https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300264449/belfast/ History Ire...

What were the economic challenges faced by the new state? How did it perform? How did it compare with other newly independent states in Europe? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Frank Barry , Mary Daly , Seán Kenny and Mícheál Ó Fathartaigh . The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, vi...

What do these two elections tell us about Ireland’s political landscape before and after the Civil War? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Elaine Callinan , Mel Farrell , Michael Laffan and Martin O’Donoghue .     The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com This He...

Organised labour had played a leading role (strikes, boycotts etc.) in the Irish revolution, and that was reflected in a substantial vote in the June 1922 general election. Yet a year later that vote had almost halved. Why? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Adrian Grant , Brian Hanley , Theresa Moriarty and Emmet O’Connor. The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced b...

(Recorded at the National Photographic Archive, Temple Bar on the 31 May 2023) Are historians visually illiterate? Does colourisation bring old photographs to life or is it just a passing fad? ‘Coffee-table’ history books—good or bad? In conjunction with the ongoing People & Places: Ireland in the 19th & 20th centuries exhibition at the National Photographic Archive, these are some of the...

How was the Civil War memorialized—by both sides? Who won the ‘memory war’? To address these and other questions listen to History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham , in discussion with Conor Dodd , John Dorney , Mary McAuliffe and Caitlin White . The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com Thi...

John Charles McQuaid, archbishop of Dublin from 1940 to 1972, was a colossus of the Catholic Church in his day, famous (or infamous) for his opposition to health minister Noel Browne’s Mother and Child Scheme. Less well known is his pioneering work on Irish emigrant welfare in Britain and his influence on the architecture and planning of Dublin. Join editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Brian Ha...