State-funded schools insisting on baptism certificates should be confronted by Enda KennyNext week, the Humanist Association of Ireland meets the Taoiseach to discuss the continued lack of choice in the education system and the implications for those ‘indifferent of sect’Sun Jan 25 2015 - 12:02
No shame in laughing at famine satireRush to condemn a proposed Channel 4 comedy has unleashed avalanche of outrageSun Jan 11 2015 - 12:01
Lady Gregory’s political dilemmas offer lessons for todayAbbey Theatre co-founder championed ‘fearless and imaginative opposition’ to conventional parliamentariansSat Dec 27 2014 - 07:25
Why Leo Varadkar should push for another abortion referendum‘Minister for Health kicked the matter to touch while at the same time asserted piously that he is not happy with the status quo’Sat Dec 20 2014 - 00:02
It seems like my wife is having a very 21st-century affair‘I’m sure I can be accused of being a less than fully committed Gael with all this carping, but that is nothing new’Sat Dec 13 2014 - 00:03
‘Hooded men’ torture case a reminder of the double-standards of the 1970s‘The irony was that on the government’s own doorstep, human rights abuses and torture were a reality at the same time’Sat Dec 06 2014 - 13:22
Can Irish political anger convert into effective governance?Diarmaid Ferriter: ‘Challenges of late 1940s/early 1950s are still relevant to those talking of building on protest and creating new political alliances or parties’Sun Nov 30 2014 - 13:03
Relative rows over Rising commemorations echo 1966 war of wordsOpinion: Capital projects offer a chance to redress cultural neglectSat Nov 22 2014 - 01:56
Brian Farrell’s political legacy is as relevant as everOpinion: ‘Over a quarter of a century later, Farrell’s words concerning the imbalance of power and inappropriate reliance on the judiciary still resonate, not least for those caught in a limbo over surrogacy’Sat Nov 15 2014 - 00:01
Waves of emigration leave a legacy of love and loss behindBehind 200 years of emigration statistics, despite modern technology, certain things remain constantSun Nov 09 2014 - 12:01
A gifted leader of the opposition: Turner’s Taoisigh: My Brush With Kildare StreetReview: Diarmaid Ferriter hails a broad sweep of the farce and fierceness of Irish politics by a uniquely brilliant caricaturist and a witty, biting satiristSat Nov 08 2014 - 00:37
Reading between the lines of ECB letter to Brian LenihanOpinion: ‘Was the notion of collective responsibility used to conveniently distract from the failures of leadership and oversight?’Sun Nov 02 2014 - 12:01
A missed opportunity: Conduct UnbecomingReview: Des O’Malley’s impact on public life deserves a far better book than his own rambling accountSat Nov 01 2014 - 00:54
Trading history: auction houses trumpet Irish ‘independence sales’Opinion: Why don’t philanthropists buy our historical artefacts and donate them to the State?Sun Oct 26 2014 - 12:01
Canny and in control: TK Whitaker – Portrait of a PatriotReview: Whitaker’s service to Ireland is well painted but author Anne Chambers’s treatment of her subject is a bit cosySat Oct 25 2014 - 01:19
First World War through prism of political allegianceThe new republic cold-shouldered the Irish soldiers who fought in the first World War, while Ulster mythologised them for its own endsWed Oct 22 2014 - 00:00
Mystery of €4 million Budget allocation to 1916 commemorationsOpinion: Plan for the year may be a bigger secret than plan for the RisingSat Oct 18 2014 - 07:44
Why Martin O’Neill should dump Roy KeaneOpinion: ‘Does his rise to the top of English soccer and his various meltdowns somehow echo the Celtic Tiger and the subsequent crash?’Sat Oct 11 2014 - 12:56
Military service pension files reveal complicated afterlife of Irish revolutionOpinion: Enda Kenny went from a disgraceful performance in the Dáil over the McNulty affair to laud TK Whitaker’s ‘deeply principled morality’Sun Oct 05 2014 - 12:01
The liberal intellectuals behind Irish independence: Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890-1923Review: the military male perspective of the Rising is well-documented but there is another storySat Oct 04 2014 - 01:00
How military pensions archive throws light on silent stateRelease of files from the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War a salve for bitterness of the periodFri Oct 03 2014 - 08:35
Diplomacy and death in the sun: Ireland, the United Nations and the CongoReview: This landmark book examines Ireland’s violent entanglement in the UN Congo missionSat Sept 27 2014 - 16:00
Pouring water on the flames of ‘what if’ historyOpinion: ‘You do not need to be a historian to know that John Bruton’s assertion that “Ireland was given a similar opportunity 100 years ago” as Scotland was given in its recent referendum is patently falseSat Sept 27 2014 - 00:01
Despite defeat Salmond deserves credit on campaignScottish nationalists performed better than most had predicted until recentlySat Sept 20 2014 - 18:44
Irish politicians need to respond to issues that Scottish referendum raisesOpinion: The Republic’s experience has been cited by both Scottish sidesSun Sept 14 2014 - 12:01
Hayes Hotel where Cusack founded GAA needs savingOpinion: Thurles property has fallen on bad times and should become a monumentSat Sept 06 2014 - 00:01
Reimagining the Irish revolutionary decadeOpinion: We need to focus on those Redmond viewed as unthinking blackguardsSat Aug 30 2014 - 00:01
The Irish abortion question has always been linked to class, secrecy and moral judgmentOpinion: ‘A contributor to The Bell in 1941 suggested women from well-off backgrounds were hustled off, normally to London, Paris, Biarritz, come back without the baby, and nobody is any the wiser’Sat Aug 23 2014 - 00:01
The FitzGeralds of Carton House – a deeply dysfunctional family: The Decline and Fall of the Dukes of LeinsterTerence Dooley’s account of the lives of the later dukes adds up to a fascinating sagaSat Jun 21 2014 - 01:00
My knee was banjaxed, so I went for a runOpinion: Many Irish now embrace the religion of running and refuse to be moderate with itFri Jun 06 2014 - 12:01
Labour’s sound bites and put-downs took the place of serious debate on contentious issuesOpinion: The old guard chose to ignore Michael D Higgins’s warningFri May 30 2014 - 12:01
How long should personal letters and State papers be kept under wraps?Opinion: Kennedy letters and Boston tapes raise questions about privacy and public right to knowFri May 23 2014 - 12:01
Architects of Independence cast a long shadowOpinion: What is striking about the events of recent years is that we are constantly reminded how deep rooted and historical these problems areFri May 16 2014 - 12:01
Many are annoyed at idea of a royal presence in Dublin 2016 in context of a ‘shared history’Opinion: Commemorating our revolutionary decade has been problematic since the State’s foundationFri May 09 2014 - 10:04
Picking a fight over the rights and wrongs of our historyJohn Regan’s essays are marred by questionable sources, repetition, pretension and invectiveSat Apr 05 2014 - 01:00
Remembering the Curragh Mutiny, March 1914A commanding officer’s panic had far-reaching consequences for the army and for home ruleSat Mar 15 2014 - 01:00
What drove those who ruled Ireland after the founding of the Free State?And what was it like to be in the government? Unfortunately, this study fails to enlighten usSat Feb 01 2014 - 01:00
A window into the soul of IrelandThe Military Service Pensions Collection is monumental in scope and will transform our understanding of the pastFri Jan 17 2014 - 01:44
The State we are and the State we can becomeThe humiliation of losing our sovereignty was palpable in 2010. Now is our best opportunity to inaugurate a new phase of Irish statehoodFri Dec 13 2013 - 01:00
The men who began the revolutionThe Irish Volunteers formed a century ago to support Home Rule in the face of UVF opposition. But what, precisely, they achieved before the disastrous treaty split that led to civil war is a contentious questionSat Nov 23 2013 - 01:00
The legacy of Eoin MacNeill, the man who tried to call off the RisingThe actions of the Irish Volunteers founder must be seen in the context of his turbulent timesFri Nov 01 2013 - 00:01
A mission statement for IrelandWhat sort of country do we want? It’s hard to say, because from 1916 to the present day the general public has had little input into our national mission statements. Maybe it’s time for a new oneSat Oct 26 2013 - 01:00
Referendum defeat does not necessarily have to spell trouble for governmentOpinion: History will be kinder to Taoiseach if he learns a lesson and goes for reformSat Oct 12 2013 - 00:01
Dubs are both hosts and participants, building on a proud historyThe media hype, Hill 16 mania and all the fanfare that surrounds the Dublin Gaelic football team began in earnest in the 1950sSat Sept 21 2013 - 01:00
Fianna Fail, Partition and Northern Ireland, 1926-1971 by Stephen KellyReviewed by Diarmaid FerriterSat Sept 14 2013 - 01:00
Cables prove there is no such thing as a free St Patrick’s Day lunch in the White HouseRelationships between Ireland and the US were not all plain sailingTue Aug 13 2013 - 01:15
Denigrating neutrality during second World War has become fashionableHistorical understanding of the Emergency has diminishedSat May 11 2013 - 01:00
For God and Ireland: The Fight for Moral Superiority in Ireland 1922-1932, by MP McCabeUncertainty about the historian’s craft is evident in this account of the fight for the Free State’s soulSat Apr 27 2013 - 06:00
Frosty powersharing in the North is a far cry from thaw in Anglo-Irish relationsFifteen years on from the Belfast Agreement, there is still much division and sectarian hatred in Northern IrelandWed Apr 10 2013 - 06:00
