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Where to start with 1982? A cursory glance would show that Garret FitzGerald was Taoiseach on January 1st that year, and held the same office on December 31st. But what an abundance of incident in between! Two general elections; a government falling unexpectedly on a budget vote, and another losing a vote of confidence; two separate heaves against the leader of the country’s largest party; political scandals involving personation and interference with the Gardaí; alleged ‘collusion’ with police in another state to falsely imprison a witness; the arrest of a murderer in the Attorney-General’s flat; a post-election deal that worked, a by-election stroke that did not; and a general feeling that political life was being ‘scripted by a satirist of genius.’ In this lecture Dr. Séan Ó Duibhir will outline the background, and address a number of the key features, of what has been described as the ‘most dysfunctional government in Ireland’s history’.  Available to view on YouTube: https://youtu.be/F3gdGcd5j-0… Read the rest

I measc scéalta béaloidis na Gaillimhe, tá cáil ar leith ar scéalta stairiúla a bhaineann leis na Loingsigh. Ba theaghlach iad a raibh an-tábhacht ag baint leo mar cheannaithe agus mar cheannairí na cathrach sa 15ú agus sa 16ú haois. Ceann de na scéalta sin ná eachtra inar shábháil moncaí, a bhí mar pheata ag an teaghlach, leanbh ó thine a réab trí Chaisleán na Loingseach ar Shráid na Siopaí. Insíodh an scéal céanna, a bheag nó a mhór, faoi oidhrí de chuid Iarlaí Chill Dara agus Iarlaí Dheasmhumhan, an dá phríomhchraobh de mhuintir Mhic Gearailt, a bhí ar na mórtheaghlaigh shean-Ghallda ba chumhachtaí in Éirinn sna meánaoiseanna. Baineann na leaganacha sin den scéal leis an 13ú agus an 14ú haois. Fiosrófar leaganacha éagsúla agus bunús an scéil sin, mar aon leis na cúiseanna go bhfuil sé le cloisteáil sa Ghaillimh, i bhfad ó thailte na nGearaltach. Is as Corcaigh ó dhúchas do An Dr. Dónal Ó Catháin. Tá BA sa Ghearmáinis agus sa Ghaeilge aige ó Ollscoil na Gaillimhe, MA sa Nua-Ghaeilge ó Choláiste na hOllscoile, Corcaigh, agus PhD sa Nua-Ghaeilge ó Ollscoil na Gaillimhe. An tráchtas a bhí aige ná ‘Gearaltaigh Dheasmhumhan mar phátrúin agus mar údair i… Read the rest

Rural Ireland was transformed across the twentieth century. Moving from an agricultural backwater in Western European terms to playing host to one of the world’s leading agri-food sectors. This transformation necessitated concerted efforts and interventions, chiefly on the part of progressive farmersthemselves. They were abetted largely in turn, however, by the public agricultural advisory service (operated today by Teagasc). This joint approach to the development of rural Ireland was pursued for most of the twentieth century at a county level. For the first time, this paper will bring tolight the formative endeavours in agricultural development that were conducted in County Galway. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Dr. Ó Fathartaigh is a lecturer and historian based in the Social Sciences Research Centre, University of Galway; the Archives of Rural History, Bern; and Dublin Business School. He is the author of Developing Rural Ireland and Irish Agriculture Nationalised, co-author of Birth of a State: The Anglo-Irish Treaty and co-editor of The Treaty: Debating and Establishing the Irish State. His broad-ranging research and commentary on the origins of the Irish state and the development of rural Ireland has been published and broadcast widely. County Galway is one of twelve county case studies that feature in… Read the rest

In the middle of the nineteenth century thousands of Irish children were imprisoned or transported to penal colonies. In Galway, children as young as two years old were arrested for begging, and sent to jail. In 1858, a new law was passed which facilitated the opening of reformatory schools for the incarceration of young offenders. The only reformatory to open in Connacht was at Ballinasloe, and was managed by the Sisters of Mercy. In this lecture, Dr. Geraldine Curtin outlined the background to the Ballinasloe reformatory’s establishment, discussed the circumstances of the children detained there and of the staff who ran it. Considered in its time to be the best reformatory in Ireland, the day-to-day lives of its residents were examined. A graduate of the University of Galway, Dr. Curtin holds a Ph.D in Modern Irish History, with a particular focus on juvenile crime in Connacht in the nineteenth century. In 2001 she published The Women of Galway Jail. Dr. Curtin works in the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room at the University of Galway.… Read the rest