Archives | State Papers Secrets of the powers that be   In the decades after the Great War Europe and North America were awash with bogus princes and aristocrats of all kinds. But in the Free State they received short shrift. In late October 1924 “Monsieur le Commisaire de L’Emigration Dublin” received a letter (in…

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…

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…

Sole providers for families in developing countries face terrifying prospects if they become blind, writes Chai Brady   For a mother who does readings at Church, runs her own business and loves to see the faces of her children and grandchildren, the prospect of slowly going blind is terrifying. Hannah, who is in her 60s,…

On a visit to Mountjoy, Chai Brady investigates the good works of techy inmates   The magic happens on level 5 where old keyboards and monitors lie in green baskets on the floor of what looks like an average computer lab at first glance. Except this room has bars on every window. The old pieces…

Pope Francis’ missionary approach echoes that of St Vincent de Paul, Greg Daly learns   NUI Galway’s Dr Alison Forrestal hadn’t planned on writing a book to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Vincentian charism’s birth when she started work on St Vincent de Paul. She was simply, she says, “working as a scholar…