Michael Collins and the Irish war of Indpendence In the first of a series of articles, Colm McInerney details events surrounding the Irish War of indpendence. For an brief introduction to the period click here Introduction &ldquoOur only way to carry on the fight was by organised and bold guerilla warfare. But this in itself […]
The Treaty It is hard to understand how any young Irishman of sensibility could remain unmoved in [January] 1922 at the sight of a British regiment of soldiers marching out under the great arch of Dublin Castle as our own bedraggled lads marched in, heads high, to take over that fortress of imperial rule- Dermot […]
Those who might think that student pranks are of recent origin should consider the following tale of events in the eighteenth century that followed the erection of an equestrian statue to commemorate the famous William, Prince of Orange. The victory of the Protestant King William of Orange (King 'Billy') over the Jacobite army of the […]
Censorship is not limited to totalitarian States. It can be a subtle thing, when disconcerting ideas are not banned, but, through various means, marginalised. Dr. Mary Condren’s groundbreaking work The Serpent and the Goddess, a study on women, religion and power in Celtic Ireland, was never placed on an index of banned books, and yet […]
Ever since, as James Joyce remarked, we have become “Jung and easily Freudened” it has become necessary, when dealing with a writer, to refer not only to his work but to his private life as well. This is particularly true in the case of Seán O'Casey, one of Ireland's great literary icons. In fact, O'Casey […]
“One of the interesting things about biography is its limits. You can make educated guesses but you can never really know people’s motivations and desires. People aren’t necessarily conscious of the motives which drive them. It’s very easy to rationalise anything we want or that is in our interest, no matter how it appears to […]
What is Halloween? Why do we celebrate Halloween on October 31st? Why do we wear costumes, or carve pumpkins on Halloween? What are the origins of trick or treat? Halloween, often tainted with comercialism, is a deep rooted festival with origins in the Celtic festival of Samhain. “We had no pumpkins for Halloween when I […]
Nations are not such new phenomena. The concept of Irish and Norwegian Nations dates back to medieval times. What is relatively new however, is an acknowledgement on the part of the general population of their membership of the Nation. Humans are social animals and have since earliest times tended to define themselves as X, son […]
Geoffrey Beattie is a Professor at the Department of Psychology in the University of Manchester. A native of north Belfast, he was later educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He has written a memoir of his life growing up during the Troubles of the 1960s and '70s, called Protestant Boy (Granta). Mark Harkin met Geoffrey during […]
