(Recorded live on Wednesday 30 July ’25 @ Glasnevin Cemetery visitor centre) Daniel O’Connell was described by his biographer Oliver MacDonagh as ‘perhaps the greatest innovator in modern democratic politics, as well as the originator of almost all the basic strategies of modern Anglo-Irish constitutional relations’. To reassess his legacy 250 years after his birth, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Patrick Geoghegan , Jennifer T. Keating , Christine Kinealy and Davide ...
Aug 06, 2025•1 hr 20 min
From the tenement collapses of the early twentieth century to the spiralling house prices of the early twenty-first, it seems that housing in Ireland has always been in a state of crisis. What were the intended and unintended consequences of twentieth-century housing policy and how has this led to our current housing crisis? To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with housing activist Ashling Hedderman , architectural historian Ellen Rowley...
Jun 13, 2025•58 min
What is the purpose of museums? How have museums in Ireland evolved over the past 30 years or so? Are there too many or too few? North of the border, how do they operate in a divided society? How should they be funded? To address these and related questions, listen to History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Tony Canavan (former History Ireland museums reviewer), Lar Joye (Irish Museum Association) and Heather McGuicken (Northern Ireland Museums Council). This Hedge School is suppo...
May 23, 2025•1 hr 16 min
We broadcast again editor Tommy Graham’s interview (55 mins) with Brian Hanley (TCD) following the February 2020 general election, with an update (28 mins) on the November 2024 general election. What do they tell us about the current shape of Irish party politics?
Dec 31, 2024•1 hr 24 min
(Recorded live on Wed 02 October, @ The Cobblestone, King St N, Smithfield, Dublin, D07 TP22) History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, chats to Irish diplomat, Jim Sharkey, who opened the Irish embassy in Moscow in 1974 and returned to live in the city as Ambassador in 2001. This Hedge School is part of the Dublin Festival of History.
Oct 07, 2024•1 hr 3 min
(Recorded live on Sunday 29 September 2024, @ The Substation, Alexandra Road, Dublin, D01 H4C6) In 1986, the maritime historian, John de Courcey Ireland, wrote: ‘The lives of island peoples like Ireland’s [have] been dominated by the seas encircling them. Yet this fact has been largely ignored by Irish historians’. Is Irish history still ‘sea blind’? To address this question join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham , in discussion with Angela Byrne ( Dictionary of Irish Biography ), Lar Joye (H...
Oct 04, 2024•1 hr 19 min
(Recorded live on Sat 17 Aug ’24 @ the Electric Picnic) Thanks to UCC’s Irish Civil War Fatalities project we now have a definite figure—1,485. But in this discussion, chaired by History Ireland editor Tommy Graham , with John Dorney , Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc , Michael Kennedy and Caitlin White , we find out a lot more—not only who was killed but also when, where, in what circumstances, and how they were commemorated....
Aug 23, 2024•1 hr
(Recorded live on Fri 16 Aug ’24 @ the Electric Picnic) History Ireland editor Tommy Graham chats to former international footballer, administrator, businessman and TV pundit Niall Quinn about his recently completed MA thesis, ‘Oscar Traynor—a re-evaluation of a footballer, rebel, politician and football administrator’. Not only was Traynor an IRA commander in the War of Independence who took the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War and served as minister in several Fianna Fáil administrations but ...
Aug 23, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Born in 1917 in Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare, Brendan O’Regan’s background was in hotel management and catering, working in the family hotel in Ennis, the St Stephen’s Green Club in Dublin and the world’s first duty-free shop in Shannon Airport, where he is credited with inventing Irish coffee. In 1959 he was appointed by Seán Lemass as the first head of the Shannon Airport Development Association (later known as the Shannon Free Airport Development Company), which stimulated the establishment not o...
Apr 19, 2024•1 hr 31 min
Recorded on the 1 Feb 2024, at the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street. Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham , to mark the 1500th anniversary of the passing of St Brigit, Ireland’s most notable female saint. But who was she?—a figure of history or of myth and legend?—a goddess and/or a feminist icon? With Edel Breathnach , Elva Johnston , Bairbre Ní Fhloinn and Niamh Wycherley . This Hedge School is supported by the National Library of Ireland (Image: Saint Bride by John Duncan, 191...
Feb 09, 2024•1 hr 16 min
To what extent did the Irish Free State’s joining the League of Nations a century ago realise Robert Emmet’s ambition? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with John Gibney , Michael Kennedy and Zoë Reid . The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of...
Nov 17, 2023•1 hr 6 min
(Recorded at Maggie’s Tavern, St Johnston, Co. Donegal, on Saturday 28 October ’23) Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, to mark the 421st anniversary of the passing of Red Hugh O’Donnell, the ‘Fighting Prince of Donegal’. But no discussion of Red Hugh would be complete without consideration of the real ‘mover and shaker’ in these events, the power behind the throne, his mother Iníon Dubh—with Billy Kelly , Matthew McGinty , Tomás Ó Brógáin and Éamonn Ó Ciardha . This Hedge School is suppo...
Nov 03, 2023•1 hr 10 min
(Recorded at the Irish Film Institute on Wed 11 Oct ’23 as part of the Dublin Festival of History) Listen to History Ireland editor Tommy Graham for a lively and interactive discussion on how the Irish Civil War was depicted on film, both at the time (newsreels) and subsequently ( Michael Collins , The Wind that Shakes the Barley and other films), and how this has affected our understanding of the period—with Ciara Chambers , Dennis Condon , Brian Hanley and Kevin Rockett . The Hedge School seri...
Oct 13, 2023•1 hr 3 min
This Hedge School, recorded at the Electric Picnic, September 2023, was preceded by a performance of Paddy Cullivan’s The Two Murders of Wolfe Tone , which can be viewed at paddycullivan.com . ‘He landed in France with one hundred guineas in his pocket and had come near to altering the destiny of Europe’—so said Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, of Theobald Wolfe Tone, who died 225 years ago. To discuss Tone’s life and legacy, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Paddy...
Sep 15, 2023•57 min
Belfast: The story of a city and its people is a lively and inviting history of Belfast—exploring the highs and lows of a resilient city. Join Tommy Graham , editor of History Ireland , in conversation with the author, Fergal Cochrane . Belfast: The story of a city and its people is published by Yale University Press. Further details: https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300264449/belfast/ History Ireland podcasts are produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to sub...
Aug 18, 2023•36 min
What were the economic challenges faced by the new state? How did it perform? How did it compare with other newly independent states in Europe? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Frank Barry , Mary Daly , Seán Kenny and Mícheál Ó Fathartaigh . The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, G...
Aug 11, 2023•1 hr 3 min
What do these two elections tell us about Ireland’s political landscape before and after the Civil War? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Elaine Callinan , Mel Farrell , Michael Laffan and Martin O’Donoghue . The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under th...
Jul 21, 2023•1 hr 13 min
Organised labour had played a leading role (strikes, boycotts etc.) in the Irish revolution, and that was reflected in a substantial vote in the June 1922 general election. Yet a year later that vote had almost halved. Why? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Adrian Grant , Brian Hanley , Theresa Moriarty and Emmet O’Connor. The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland...
Jun 09, 2023•1 hr 9 min
(Recorded at the National Photographic Archive, Temple Bar on the 31 May 2023) Are historians visually illiterate? Does colourisation bring old photographs to life or is it just a passing fad? ‘Coffee-table’ history books—good or bad? In conjunction with the ongoing People & Places: Ireland in the 19th & 20th centuries exhibition at the National Photographic Archive, these are some of the questions that will be posed by editor, Tommy Graham , to Donal Fallon (historian, writer and broadc...
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 11 min
How was the Civil War memorialized—by both sides? Who won the ‘memory war’? To address these and other questions listen to History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham , in discussion with Conor Dodd , John Dorney , Mary McAuliffe and Caitlin White . The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media ...
May 19, 2023•1 hr 11 min
John Charles McQuaid, archbishop of Dublin from 1940 to 1972, was a colossus of the Catholic Church in his day, famous (or infamous) for his opposition to health minister Noel Browne’s Mother and Child Scheme. Less well known is his pioneering work on Irish emigrant welfare in Britain and his influence on the architecture and planning of Dublin. Join editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Brian Harvey (social researcher), Mary Kenny ( The way we were: Catholic Ireland since 1922 ), David McCulla...
Apr 07, 2023•1 hr 7 min
History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham , and the Hedge School panel— John Dorney , Brian Hanley , Colum Kenny and Mary McAuliffe —field questions from Leaving Cert students in Coulson Theatre, Gonzaga College, Dublin (recorded on 2 March 2023). The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under...
Mar 10, 2023•1 hr 21 min
The violence and divisions caused by the Irish Civil War were more vicious, bitter and protracted in County Kerry than anywhere else in Ireland. Why? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with John Dorney , Mary McAuliffe , Owen O’Shea and John Regan . The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaelt...
Mar 03, 2023•1 hr 18 min
What is the relationship between commemoration and historical scholarship? How has this worked out in practice in the Decade of Centenaries? What were the opportunities taken? What were missed? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with John Gibney , Brian Hanley , Heather Jones and Fearghal McGarry . The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com This podcast is supported ...
Feb 03, 2023•1 hr 20 min
A century ago, in December 1922, at the height of the Civil War, poet W.B. Yeats was nominated to the Senate of the newly established Irish Free State. In January of that year he had participated in the cultural programme of the Irish Race Congress in Paris. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, a major boost to the prestige of a nation after the trauma of civil war. He was to serve for six years in the Senate. In the 1930s he briefly flirted with Eoin O’Duffy’s Blueshirts. How ...
Dec 09, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Marú in Iarthar Chorcaí (Murder in West Cork) TG4, 9.30pm, Wednesday 7 December 2022 Over two nights in April 1922, thirteen Protestant men were shot dead in West Cork. According to Peter Hart’s 1998 book The IRA and its enemies , they were shot because they were Protestants—sectarian killings carried out by members of the IRA—and ‘the nationalist revolution had also been a sectarian one’. Hart’s controversial conclusions sparked a ‘history war’ that has raged ever since. Join History Ireland ed...
Dec 02, 2022•55 min
While not in the vanguard of the War of Independence, Donegal became the scene of the last stand-up fight between the IRA (pro- and anti-Treaty) and British military (in the ‘Pettigo triangle’), with the latter using heavy artillery for the first time in Ireland since 1916. On the outbreak of the Civil War some of these IRA men, originally mobilised for the now-aborted ‘Northern offensive’, were caught up in the hostilities that followed. Four of them were subsequently executed, the only four ex...
Nov 11, 2022•1 hr 11 min
How have Irish Travellers fared since the foundation of the state a century ago, and in particular since the 1963 Report of the Commission on Itinerancy? What are the challenges facing the current generation of Traveller activists? How can non-Travellers be effective allies? To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham , in discussion with Martin Collins , Rose Marie Maughan , and Patrick Nevin. The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Irela...
Oct 21, 2022•1 hr 18 min
At the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in June 1922 the anti-Treaty IRA numbered some 15,000, holding key positions in Dublin and throughout the country, in particular behind a defensive line running from Limerick to Waterford (the so-called ‘Munster Republic’). Their pro-Treaty opponents in the newly-formed National Army numbered less than half that. Why then did the pro-Treaty side win? To address this and related questions join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham , in discussion with Bill Ki...
Oct 14, 2022•1 hr 16 min
This Hege School was recorded at the Electric Picnic 2022 immediately after Paddy Cullivan's historical entertainment, 'The Murder of Michael Collins'. Details here www.paddycullivan.com . On 22 August 1922, Michael Collins was killed at Béal na Bláth, Co. Cork. But what if he had survived? Would he have become a military dictator? (Was he one already?) Would he have been more or less ruthless than his successors in prosecuting the Civil War? Would he have torn up the Treaty and launched an inva...
Sep 16, 2022•55 min
