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 …

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,…

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,…

(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…

(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), an…

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, …

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://yalebook…

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 …

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 …

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. T…

(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 Ph…

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…

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. Jo…

History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, and the Hedge School panel—John Dorney, Brian Hanley, Colum Kenny and Mary McAuliffe—field questions from Leaving Cert students in Coulson Theatre, Gonzaga College, Dublin (recorded on 2 March 2023). The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information …

The violence and divisions caused by the Irish Civil War were more vicious, bitter and protracted in County Kerry than anywhere else in Ireland. Why? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with John Dorney, Mary McAuliffe, Owen O’Shea and John Regan. The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell…

What is the relationship between commemoration and historical scholarship? How has this worked out in practice in the Decade of Centenaries? What were the opportunities taken? What were missed? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with John Gibney, Brian Hanley, Heather Jones and Fearghal McGarry. The Hedge School series of podcas…

A century ago, in December 1922, at the height of the Civil War, poet W.B. Yeats was nominated to the Senate of the newly established Irish Free State. In January of that year he had participated in the cultural programme of the Irish Race Congress in Paris. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, a major boost to the prestige of a n…

Marú in Iarthar Chorcaí (Murder in West Cork) TG4, 9.30pm, Wednesday 7 December 2022 Over two nights in April 1922, thirteen Protestant men were shot dead in West Cork. According to Peter Hart’s 1998 book The IRA and its enemies, they were shot because they were Protestants—sectarian killings carried out by members of the IRA—and ‘the nationalist r…

While not in the vanguard of the War of Independence, Donegal became the scene of the last stand-up fight between the IRA (pro- and anti-Treaty) and British military (in the ‘Pettigo triangle’), with the latter using heavy artillery for the first time in Ireland since 1916. On the outbreak of the Civil War some of these IRA men, originally mobilise…

How have Irish Travellers fared since the foundation of the state a century ago, and in particular since the 1963 Report of the Commission on Itinerancy? What are the challenges facing the current generation of Traveller activists? How can non-Travellers be effective allies? To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor, Tommy…

At the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in June 1922 the anti-Treaty IRA numbered some 15,000, holding key positions in Dublin and throughout the country, in particular behind a defensive line running from Limerick to Waterford (the so-called ‘Munster Republic’). Their pro-Treaty opponents in the newly-formed National Army numbered less than half th…

This Hege School was recorded at the Electric Picnic 2022 immediately after Paddy Cullivan's historical entertainment, 'The Murder of Michael Collins'. Details here www.paddycullivan.com. On 22 August 1922, Michael Collins was killed at Béal na Bláth, Co. Cork. But what if he had survived? Would he have become a military dictator? (Was he one alrea…

It is nearly 40 years since Margaret Ward’s pioneering Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women and Irish Nationalism, 1880-1980 (1983) first appeared. How has women’s history, and history written by women, fared in the meantime, particularly in this ‘decade of centenaries’? Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Síobhra Aiken, Le…

Born in West Cork in 1890, Michael Collins joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) as a teenager while working as a clerk in London. He fought in the GPO in 1916, and rose to prominence by the War of Independence, combining the positions of Dáil minister for finance and IRA director of intelligence. How can his meteoric rise be explained? Why…

So said Michael Collins, yet despite his central role in the development of the Irish nationalism from which the Irish State would emerge, Arthur Griffith has had to settle for a side-line role in the national historical memory. How fair or accurate are accusations of anti-Semitism, misogyny or ‘selling the pass’ at the Treaty negotiations? How sta…

One of the most engaging figures of the revolutionary period, Harry Boland, along with his brother Gerry, joined the IRB in 1904 and participated in the 1916 Rising. He was centrally involved in the subsequent reorganization of Sinn Féin and the Volunteers and was uniquely close to the two dominant figures of the period, Eamon de Valera and Michael…

On 22 June 1922 Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson, former Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and Unionist MP for North Down, was assassinated outside his London home in Eaton Square. The anti-Treaty IRA were blamed and six days later, under pressure from the British, Michael Collins ordered the bombardment of the Four Courts, the opening salvos of …

As part of the so-called ‘Northern Offensive’, on 27 May 1922, a combined force of pro-Treaty National Army and anti-Treaty IRA occupied the ‘Belleek/Pettigo triangle’, an enclave of Fermanagh/Northern Ireland only accessible over-land through Free State territory. Less than two weeks later they had been ejected by regular British Army troops; the …

(Recorded @ Phizzfest [Phibsborough Community Arts Festival], Sun 15 May 2022, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum) Given their activism in the revolutionary period, now widely acknowledged by historians, why were Irish women and their organizations on the margins of deliberations on the Treaty? Why were Irish women under 30 denied the vote in the June 1922 …

In this centenary year of its publication, the History Ireland Hedge School considers James Joyce’s Ulysses, set in Dublin on a single day, 16 June 1904. What was the history of the book? What is the history in the book? Join Tommy Graham in discussion with Sylvie Kleinman, Felix Larkin, Katherine McSharry and Dan Mulhall. The Hedge School series o…

Over the course of the Irish War of Independence and Civil War, nearly 300 ‘Big Houses’ (those belonging to aristocrats with in excess of 2,000 acres), 20% of a total of c. 1,500, were burned to the ground. Why? Author Terence Dooley, Professor of History at Maynooth University and Director of the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and E…

The Anglo-Irish Treaty sparked turmoil within the IRA. Some accepted it and joined the ranks of the Provisional Government’s new ‘National Army’; some remained neutral; the majority opposed it, but with the added twist that on the eve of the Civil War there were two anti-Treaty factions of the IRA, not one. Two Army Conventions, on 26 March and 18 …

While an uneasy peace prevailed in the South following the Truce of July 1921, in Northern Ireland communal violence continued to rage, exemplified most notoriously on 24 March 1922 by the killings of a ‘respectable’ Catholic family, the McMahons, by an RIC ‘murder gang’. Was this a ‘one-off’ by a ‘rogue’ element or part of a wider policy of intimi…

So said the long white apron of suffragette and socialist Margaret Buckmaster at a protest in July 1921 organised by the Peace with Ireland Council (PIC). How significant were such anti-colonial solidarity movements in Britain in the revolutionary period? How effective were they? To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor T…

When the Civic Guard—later renamed An Garda Síochána—was founded in February 1922, the force it replaced, the Royal Irish Constabulary, was itself barely a century old. How much of the culture of the latter passed over to the former? What was the law-and-order situation in 1921/22? Why and how was it possible to set up an unarmed police force durin…

Within weeks of the ratification of the Treaty by Dáil Éireann an ‘Irish Race Congress’ assembled in Paris representing Irish organizations from twenty-two countries. Inevitably the Treaty split overshadowed its proceedings. Did global Irish experiences moderate or radicalise expectations of Irish independence? What legacy did Irish sovereignty beq…

Under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, a Provisional Government, led by Michael Collins, was to oversee the transition of power until the Irish Free State formally came into being in December 1922. What was involved in the ‘handover’ that took place on 16 January 1922? Who was involved and what were their roles? To address these and related que…

Of the five plenipotentiaries who signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921 most attention has been focused on the motivations and actions of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith—and on ‘the plenipotentiary who wasn’t’, Eamon de Valera. But what about the other three—Eamon Duggan, George Gavan Duffy and Robert Barton, particularly the latter,…

On 10 July 1917 Eamon de Valera won a by-election in East Clare, one of a series of victories for Sinn Féin in the run-up to their landslide victory in the general election of December 1918. He would continue to represent the county in the Dáil until his election to the presidency in 1959. What was his relationship with the ‘Banner County’ in the e…

As we enter the third year of the Covid crisis, people the world over are now familiar with the concept and the reality of a ‘pandemic’. But how does it compare and with the previous pandemic—the ‘Spanish flu’ of 1918-19? What are the similarities? What are the differences? To address these and other questions join History Ireland editor, Tommy Gra…

Was the Treaty ‘Home Rule for slow learners’? Why was Eamon de Valera not part of the Irish delegation? Was the subsequent Civil War inevitable? Was it a good deal or a bad deal? To address these and other questions join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with John Gibney, Brian Hanley, Mary McAuliffe, and David McCullagh. The Hedg…

Columba or Colmcille was born 1500 years ago in Gartan, Co. Donegal, and claimed descent from the legendary High King of Ireland, Niall of the Nine Hostages. He entered the church, became a missionary evangelist, and is credited with spreading Christianity to Scotland. In particular, he founded the abbey on Iona, which became the dominant religious…

While there were optimistic hopes that the First World War or ‘Great War’ would be ‘the war to end all wars’, post-1918 Europe, including Ireland, instead experienced a ‘Greater War’—a series of civil, border and ethnic conflicts—that lasted at least until 1923. How did Ireland fit into that paradigm? Was it typical or atypical of the period? Join …

One of the unsung successes of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement was the establishment of the all-island body, Waterways Ireland, with responsibility for canals and waterways. But what drove the construction of the former in the first place? How important were they to the Irish economy at their height? How and why did they decline? And what are the pr…

Dáil Éireann sought not only to take back the political control lost in the 1800 Act of Union, but also the fiscal and monetary powers lost with the merger of the Irish and British exchequers in 1817. It also established a parallel legal system, the ‘Dáil Courts’, and, especially after the local elections of 1920, sought to control local government…

On 9 September 1921 over fifty IRA prisoners staged a break-out—one of several during the War of Independence—from Rath internment camp in the Curragh, Co. Kildare. To mark its centenary, and to discuss the wider significance of prisons and prisoners in the revolutionary period, join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with James Du…

Listen to author Colum Kenny in conversation with History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, as he discusses the story of a remarkable man’s efforts to help starving people during the Irish Great Famine. He reveals their terrible experiences inside and outside one of the national ‘workhouses’ and throws new light on the relationship between class, relig…

To what extent did the military tactics of Thomas Ashe's (5th) Fingal battalion of the Irish Volunteers in 1916 prefigure those of the IRA in the War of Independence, 1919-21? To what extent did the sack of Balbriggan in September 1920 provide the template for subsequent reprisals by Crown force? To discuss the role of Fingal (North County Dublin) …

According to British Prime Minister David Lloyd George Irish nationalists were ‘natural propagandists’. How accurate was this description? How did they breach what Arthur Griffith called the ‘paper wall’ of British news coverage? How important was the new medium of film? And what was the role of women as both the disseminators and objects of propag…

Author Bryan MacMahon in conversation with Tommy Graham (editor, History Ireland) In West Kerry between 1825-45, the work of Protestant evangelicals was widely hailed as a model of a successful missionary campaign; however, it evoked a furious response from Catholic priests. The war of words between clergymen of both persuasions was fomented by riv…