History Ireland

No other woman who never set foot on the island—with the possible exception of Queen Elizabeth I—has had a greater effect on the history of Ireland. But who was Katharine O’Shea (née Wood)? And what if she and Charles Stewart Parnell never met? Listen to History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham , discuss this contrafactual with Mary Kenny , Patrick Maume , Daniel Mulhall , and Margaret O’Callaghan .  ...

One of the most important—and controversial—aspects of the War of Independence was the ‘intelligence war’.  Given the role of spies and informers in defeating previous insurrections, it is not surprising that Michael Collins, the IRA’s Director of Intelligence, was keen to insure that history did not repeat itself.  How successful was he? To shed light on this ‘shadow war’ listen to History Irelan...

While not in the vanguard of armed activity during the War of Independence, Kildare was central to the ‘revolutionary decade’ as whole, not only for its strategic importance and proximity to Dublin but in particular as the site of the largest British military establishment at the Curragh and elsewhere. It also has the dubious distinction of being the county worst affected by the flu pandemic of 19...

While not in the vanguard of armed activity in the revolutionary decade, Wicklow was, nevertheless, active in other respects. Moreover, its unique characteristics—proximity to Dublin, pioneering development of tourism, and one of the highest Protestant populations outside Ulster—make it worthy of study. Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham in discussion with Sheila Clarke (Ashford), Brendan F...

While not in the vanguard of armed activity in the revolutionary decade, Wicklow was, nevertheless, active in other respects. Moreover, its unique characteristics—proximity to Dublin, pioneering development of tourism, and one of the highest Protestant populations outside Ulster—make it worthy of study. Listen to History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham in discussion with Rosemary Raughter (Greystones...

Originally conceived as a ‘temporary’ amendment to the Third Home Rule Act, on the statute book since 1914, the 1920 Government of Ireland Act was presciently derided by the Freeman’s Journal as ‘the Dismemberment of Ireland Bill’—partition was the only element of it to endure.  How did it come about and what were its effects over the following century?  Listen to History Ireland editor, Tommy Gra...

The events of Sunday 21 November 1920 are well named. Within fifteen hours on that fateful day, 32 people died: in the morning, eleven British intelligence officers killed by Michael Collins’s ‘squad’ (plus two Auxiliaries and two civilians); in the afternoon, fourteen civilians killed by British forces at Croke Park (including player Michael Hogan of Tipperary); and that evening, in murky circums...

As the War of Independence raged in southern Ireland a different type and more deadly form of conflict erupted in the northeast, and in Belfast in particular. Should this be considered part of the overall Irish revolution? Or a separate and distinct conflict with its roots in the sectarian geography of city? What was the long-term effect on community relations and on the formation of Northern Irel...

Founded in Thurles in 1884, the GAA has had a long association with Tipperary, an association intensified by the events of Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920, when Crown forces attacked a Dublin vs Tipperary football match at Croke Park. Three of the fourteen victims were from Tipperary, including, famously, the only player killed on the day, Michael Hogan. Listen to History Ireland editor, Tommy Gra...

In the early morning of Sunday 21 November 1920 units of Dublin’s IRA assassinated 11 suspected British intelligence agents; two Auxiliaries and two civilians were also killed. That afternoon Crown forces opened fire on the crowd at a Dublin vs Tipperary football match in Croke Park, killing 14 people. Later that evening senior IRA officers Peadar Clancy and Dick McKee, and civilian Conor Clune, w...

Roscommon was one of the first counties to reflect the ‘utter change’ of the post-1916 period, with the election of the first Sinn Féin-backed MP in February 1917; in less than two years that party would win a landslide victory in the general election of 1918. But that mandate for independence was ignored by the British, resulting in the War of Independence. How typical of that transformation was...

Kevin Barry is one of the most popular, and certainly one of the most sung, of Irish ballads. But who was Kevin Barry? Why was he immortalized in song? And what has been the significance of the ballad tradition generally in the Irish Revolution and, indeed, of the Irish Revolution in the ballad tradition? Listen to History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham , in discussion with Liz Gillis , Eunan O’Halp...

Seat of Crown administration since the twelfth century, and still bearing the physical scars of the 1916 Rising, during the War of Independence Dublin was also GHQ of the IRA and the location of the underground Dáil administration.   To find out how the conflict played out between the two sides join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham , in discussion with Donal Fallon , John Gibney , Liz Gillis a...

'Better a state without public records than public records without a state’?— state formation, archives and commemoration So said Winston Churchill in reference to the Irish Free State on hearing news of the destruction of the Public Records Office in the Four Courts in June 1922 at the outbreak of the Civil War. But in many respects, this also applies to Northern Ireland whose Public Records Offi...

Having considered the ‘global’ impact of the Irish revolution in the last podcast ( The Irish Republic abroad in 1920—Dev in America ), this Hedge School zooms in on the ‘local’—the market town of Nenagh and the surrounding North Tipperary area during the revolutionary decade—but also sets events in the wider national context.   Listen to Tommy Graham , editor of History Ireland , in discussion wi...

While the War of Independence raged in Ireland, a parallel international diplomatic campaign for recognition and funding for the underground Irish Republic was being waged. Central to this was the tour of Éamon de Valera, ‘President of the Irish Republic’, to the United States from June 1919 to December 1920.    To assess its success or otherwise listen to Tommy Graham , editor of History Ireland...

The great voyages of discovery (Columbus, de Gama, etc.) shifted the centre of gravity of European maritime trade from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Over the same period the conquest of Ireland was completed. By the eighteenth century, Ireland, for centuries on the periphery of Europe, found itself at the centre of this newly formed ‘Atlantic world’ as part of the British Empire.   Listen to...

This podcast is part of the History Ireland Hedge School programme supported by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative.   Terence MacSwiney—martyrdom, civil resistance & the Irish Revolution   On 25 October 1920, after 74 days on hunger strike, Terence MacSwiney, lord mayor of Cork, died in Brixton Prison. His death not only e...

Why was it that Cork (county and city), which accounted for c. 10% of the country’s population, produced nearly 25% of those killed in the War of Independence? What role did its substantial ( c. 10%) non-Catholic (mainly loyalist) population play? Did individual IRA commanders like Tom Barry make a difference and what was the significance of the engagements he led at Kilmichael and Crossbarry?    ...

Historians have long contrasted the more nakedly sectarian conflict in Belfast ( c. 500 deaths in 1920–2) with the conduct of the War of Independence elsewhere. With disturbances costing twenty lives in June 1920, Derry seemed to be heading the same way but never reached the same level of intensity. Why not? What was the relationship between the city and its rural hinterland, including Donegal? Wh...

On 28 June 1920, five men from C Company of the 1st Battalion of the Connaught Rangers led a mutiny in Jalandhar, Punjab, in protest against martial law in Ireland. Following their surrender a few days later, 88 mutineers were court-martialled, of whom 77 were imprisoned; the leader, James Daly, was executed. The imprisoned mutineers were released in 1923; they returned to Ireland, and in 1936 wer...

Born in Dublin’s Fishamble Street in 1746, but resident for most of his life in Tinnehinch, near Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, Henry Grattan was the most noted, and certainly the most eloquent, of the eighteenth-century opposition ‘patriots’ in the Irish Parliament.  To mark the bicentenary of his passing and to reassess his often misunderstood legacy, listen to History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in d...

This Podcast is part of the  History Ireland  Hedge School programme supported by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative. In the midst of the War of Independence a parallel class war raged, with strikes, land-seizures and even the establishment of soviets. What was its relationship to the national struggle? And why did it seem to...

The general election of 8 February 2020 marked a seismic shift in Irish politics. The Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael duopoly, which had dominated for nearly a century, was shattered by a resurgent Sinn Féin, creating a novel tripartite division. To make sense of it all, and in particular to address any historical precedents,  History Ireland  editor,  Tommy Graham , spoke with  Brian Hanley , author of  Th...

(organised by The History Teachers Association of Ireland (as part of the Dublin Branch Spring Seminar) in conjunction with the National Library of Ireland and  History Ireland )  Recorded @ the National Library of Ireland on 7 March 2020 Tommy Graham: Editor of  History Ireland  was joined by Jim Herlihy, Historical and Reconciliation Police (Harp) Society; Dr Mary McAuliffe, Assistant Professor...