Archives | State Papers Secrets of the powers that be The new files clearly reveal that large numbers of Russians applied to enter the Free State, but the granting of a visa to do so was guarded. This was the time when the authorities in the UK and the Free State were concerned about…
Archives | State Papers Echoes of the past from the archives Desmond Fitzgerald, the father of future Taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald, was a minister holding a series of portfolios in the Free State Government. He was involved in many controversial matters, the least of which was his effort to nominate James Joyce for the Nobel…
Archives | State Papers Echoes of the past from the archives In previous centuries, perhaps even down to the 1950s, local traditions and what were called then ‘superstitions’ prevented Irish country people interfering with ancient sites from prehistoric, Celtic and early Christian periods. ‘A fear of the fairies’ went along way to prospering field…
The Post Office in Ireland: An Illustrated History by Stephen Ferguson (Irish Academic Press, €26.99) At this time of the year over Christmas and the New Year we come to appreciate the post, which brings messages of love and peace and presents from relatives and friends all over the world, some not seen in person…
Archives | State Papers Echoes of the past from the archives The ‘Cold War’ that followed World War II, and some of the events connected with it such as the Korean War (1950-1953) and the testing of atom bombs by Soviet scientists convinced the Irish government in the early 1950s that preparation had better…
Archives | State Papers Secrets of the powers that be Early in 1987 the staff of the national Museum in Dublin became aware of an effort by a set of individuals in Ireland and the US to sell on a medieval artefact found in a lake in Roscommon. This was what is now called…
Archives | State Papers Secrets of the powers that be Early in 1966 Seán Lemass signed “a message from the government” to the school managers and teachers of Ireland and to the children under their care. He wrote that it was fitting that the Irish people celebrate the Jubillee, and the government take pride and…
The World of Books The notion that the Apostle of Ireland was also the country’s first archaeologist is not, I should hasten to admit, an aberration of my own. It was the idea of my late friend Glyn Daniel [pictured], Professor of Archaeology at Cambridge. When the very suggestive evidence is laid out the…
‘Old Christmas is still alive…’ Once again Christ-mas, and all its associations, religious and commercial, has passed over and the New Year approaches. But this is only in Western countries, in Europe, the Americas, and parts of Africa. In the Levant, those Asian countries where the sun rises each day among the most ancient Christian…
Anthony Redmond I have no hesitation in saying that the book that made the biggest impression on me, not just this year, but for quite a few years, is Letters from Aleppo by Fr Ibrahim Alsabagh (Columba Press, € 14.99). It is a wonderfully moving and powerful account of a dedicated priest’s daily life in…