Peter Costello reports from the National Archives on the release under the 30-year rule of confidential state files from 1985

The Vatican: Ireland’s diplomatic listening post In recent years the justification of Ireland maintaining an embassy in both the Vatican and Italy has been the subject of much controversy, with the Vatican legation being abolished and then re-established.  The Government seems to have taken little cognisance of the fact that the Italian State does not…

Garrett FitzGerald meets the Pope  On March 28/29, 1977 Dr Garret FitzGerald, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, in Italy for an EEC Summit, paid a visit to the Vatican, during which he had the opportunity of an audience with Pope Paul VI. So much at least was known to the press, who seem to have…

Resettling refugees not a new issue Currently the whole of Europe is greatly concerned about migrants arriving from the Middle East and from Africa. But this is not for Ireland a new problem. In between the wars and just after, small numbers of individual refugees from Germany, and later from Brittany, some with dubious political…

Most people think they are aware of the size of Ireland and its boundaries. But a series of files now released, dealing with different aspects of policy, suggest we may all be unaware of just how large the national territory actually is. One file, for instance, deals with the boundaries of Dublin. A special order…

In 1969, the poet Richard Murphy purchased High Island, now called Ardoileán, a small island rich with early Christian remains in the vicinity of Inishbofin off Galway, a place with which he had been associated since 1954. “I got excited at the thought of buying this inaccessible holy island, restoring the beehive cells and oratory…

In 1966, when the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, in which he had fought, was being marked, Joe McGrath, revolutionary, politician and founder of the Irish Sweep among many other businesses, died in his Co. Dublin home, Cabinteely House.  His family did not want to live in the 18th Century mansion, swathed in Virginia…

Mags Gargan visits a choir for people suffering from memory loss

Pope Francis exhibits forgiveness in a very profound way, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor tells Cathal Barry

Mags Gargan speaks to Elysha Brennan about her ‘incredible journey’ as the new Rose of Tralee