As part of the Dublin Festival of History 2022, the National Archives invited Diarmaid Ferriter to meet with Michael Collins biographers William Murphy and Anne Dolan in the Royal Irish Academy. As this was recorded with a live audience there is some background noise and the sound quality is not perfect, nevertheless, we hope you enjoy the discussion. From 1918 to 1922 Michael Collins kept working diaries of his busy revolutionary life. They are a collection of hurried notes, necessary lists, na...
Oct 21, 2022•50 min
The first talk of this second series held on 17 August 2022 and delivered by Dr Ann-Maria Walsh, Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow at Queen’s University Belfast. She explores the lives of the seventeenth-century Boyle sisters writing family and voicing the female through their letters. Sisters II, hosted by the Royal Irish Academy Library, continues the celebration of sisterhood. The first talk of this second series will be delivered by Dr Ann-Maria Walsh, School of English, Drama &...
Oct 18, 2022•53 min
The second lunchtime lecture of this series held on 28 September 2022 and delivered by Gerardine Meaney MRIA, Professor of Cultural Theory in the School of English, Drama & Film at University College Dublin, on Kate O'Brien and her sisters. Gerardine Meaney is Professor of Cultural Theory in the School of English, Drama and Film. Her current research interests are in gender, ethnic and national identities in literature and culture and the application of new digital methodologies to humanitie...
Oct 18, 2022•52 min
‘Instituting Grangegorman’ is the second in the Grangegorman Histories podcast series exploring the histories of the Grangegorman area of north, inner-city Dublin. Over the past 250 years, Grangegorman has been the site of a workhouse, a prison and a large psychiatric hospital and now this site is being redeveloped as a health and education campus for the HSE, TU Dublin and the local community. This podcast explores the history of the Richmond Lunatic Asylum, now the recently restored TU Dublin ...
Oct 10, 2022•38 min
The ARINS podcast theme this month considers the benefits of cross-border cooperation in the Arts. Drawing on a report commissioned by ARINS, produced by the Audience Agency and co-funded by Department of Foreign Affairs, the lead author of the report Dr. Steven Hadley Research Fellow Trinity College Dublin, and Darren Ferguson, CEO of Belfast based organization, Beyond Skin that harnesses the arts as a mechanism for dialogue to develop a society free from racism and sectarianism, join our host ...
Oct 06, 2022•52 min
In this month’s episode, host Rory Montgomery and Brendan O’Leary, Lauder Professor of Political Science, at the University of Pennsylvania, discuss Brendan’s latest book Making Sense of a United Ireland, Should it Happen, How Might it Happen? (https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/448578/making-sense-of-a-united-ireland-by-oleary-brendan/9781844886050) published today. O’Leary makes sense of it all from government ministries to ideological mindsets. The discussion explores demographic, electoral, and...
Sep 01, 2022•54 min
What happens when you merge two distinct legal, administrative and judicial systems with legacy concerns? The reunification of Germany is arguably the closest and most recent example of the systemic complexities faced should referenda on both sides of the Irish border allow for the processes of Irish unification to begin. In this ARINS podcast Tobias Lock and Aoife O’Donoghue discuss the lessons learned from German Unification and how we might best apply them. You can read the article by Tobias ...
Jul 07, 2022•49 min
In this month's episode of the ARINS podcast, Joanne McEvoy and Fidelma Ashe explore the ways in which including and encouraging popular engagement can not only enrich constitutional discussion but critically can shape constitutional change. You can read the article by Joanne McEvoy, Jennifer Todd and Dawn Walsh, as it appears in Irish Studies in International Affairs, at doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0008 Joanne McEvoy is Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Science at the University of Aberdeen...
Jun 02, 2022•46 min
In this month's episode, Katie Liston, Joseph Maguire and Bruce Kidd explore the role of sports in crafting identities and shaping politics on the island of Ireland. You can read Katie Liston and Joseph Maguire's paper, as it appears in Irish Studies in International Affairs, at doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0005. Bruce Kidd's response is available at doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0007. Katie Liston is Senior Lecturer School of Sport, University of Ulster. Joseph Maguire is Professor Emeritus of Sociolo...
May 05, 2022•45 min
Policing has been complicated and contentious on both sides of the island of Ireland. The prospect of a united Ireland raises profound and even jarring questions with regards to policing, questions which will require a depth of consideration, analysis and consultation if the issue is ever to be addressed effectively. In this episode, Vicky Conway and Roger Mac Ginty examine how policing in a united Ireland might coordinate questions of governance, oversight and accountability. You can read Vicky...
Apr 07, 2022•42 min
The Good Friday Agreement and the Dayton Peace Agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina have often been compared as the two best-known and longest-lasting power-sharing or consociational agreements from the 1990s. The post-Brexit debate on possible referenda on a united Ireland has added a new dimension to this comparison. If referenda lead to the creation of a united Ireland, what does the experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina offer to the debate on the political structures of a united Ireland? In th...
Mar 03, 2022•37 min
Ireland's Ambassador to the United States, Daniel Mulhall, invites you to the American launch of 'Irish Lives in America' (Royal Irish Academy, 2021), a St Brigid’s Day celebration of the lives and achievements of Irish women who made America their home over the last 300 years. We'll meet characters such as Margaret Maher, one of the multitude of 'Bridgets' in America (a collective name given to Irish domestic servants) who is credited with preserving the poetry of Emily Dickinson; Belinda Mulro...
Feb 14, 2022•57 min
One of the many perspectives from which the pros and cons of a united Ireland can be weighed is that of human rights protection. In a united Ireland how differently, if at all, would the human rights of people living in Northern Ireland or in Ireland be protected? In this month's episode of the ARINS podcast, Brice Dickson and Rory Montgomery look at the implications for the protection of human rights in a united Ireland. You can read Brice Dickson's paper, as it appears in Irish Studies in Inte...
Feb 03, 2022•36 min
Join us on Brigid's Day to commemorate the Women of 1922, in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs. From the handover of Dublin Castle, to the dawning of a new border across the island, to the fateful divisions of the civil war, a new book 'Ireland 1922' provides a snapshot of a year of turmoil, tragedy and, amidst it all, state-building as the Irish revolution drew to a close. Join Fionnuala Walsh, Lindsey Earner-Byrne and Mary McAuliffe chaired by Darragh Gannon to explore a turni...
Feb 01, 2022•1 hr 6 min
In this special episode of Shelfmarks for St Brigid’s Day, in association with the Department of Foreign Affairs, podcaster-in Residence Zoë Comyns explores the figure of Brigid. She imagines her origins in Irish folktale and story and delves into the Royal Irish Academy collection for traces of Brigid in the recordings of the Doegen archive. In 1926 the Irish government asked Dr Wilheim Doegen (Director of the Sound Department at the Prussian State Library in Berlin) to make recordings of Irish...
Jan 31, 2022•38 min
The Brexit referendum precipitated an era of tension and distrust between the British and Irish governments. In this month's episode of the ARINS podcast, Etain Tannam and Rory Montgomery reflect on the British-Irish Relationship and the Centrality of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. You can read Etain Tannam's paper, as it appears in Irish Studies in International Affairs, at https://doi.org/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.29 Rory Montgomery's response can be found at https://doi.org/10.33...
Jan 06, 2022•39 min
The sixth and final podcast in the series of the History of Emotions Podcasts 'From grief to wonder: Exploring emotions in Irish History' by Ciarán Wallace takes a surprisingly positive look at a cultural tragedy - the destruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland at the outbreak of the Irish Civil War. Peering behind the cloud of smoke which billowed up on 30 June 1922, he describes the sense of wonder associated with the establishment of the PROI in 1867 and its fifty-five years preservin...
Dec 21, 2021•15 min
In this new series of four podcasts host Gill Plunkett explores the long view of climate change by interviewing the authors of 'Climate and Society in Ireland'. We talk about hunter gatherers, disease, poetry, weather events and consider our future vulnerabilities. In this final episode, Graeme Warren (UCD)reviews evidence for the potential impact of climate change on the earliest human settlement of Ireland. Graeme Warren is a Professor in the School of Archaeology, University College Dublin. '...
Dec 15, 2021•40 min
In this new series of four podcasts host Gill Plunkett explores the long view of climate change by interviewing the authors of 'Climate and Society in Ireland'. We talk about hunter gatherers, disease, poetry, weather events and consider our future vulnerabilities. In epidode 3, Bruce Campbell (QUB) and Francis Ludlow (TCD) consider the effects that climate had on the lives and livelihoods of ordinary people in late medieval Ireland. Bruce Campbell is Emeritus Professor of Medieval Economic Hist...
Dec 08, 2021•59 min
In this final episode of Shelfmarks, Zoë explores the life and work of chemist Richard Kirwan (President of the RIA 1790-1812). Richard Kirwan is often remembered for his peculiar habits but should be remembered as the first person to record accurate meteorological records taken in his garden in Dublin in the 1790/1800s. His study of the weather paved the way for more scientific studies of climate and the weather. He had grave personal concern about the weather and an overwhelming fear of the co...
Dec 03, 2021•34 min
In this episode, Colin Harvey and Jennifer Kavanagh pick through the political uncertainties surrounding the anticipated referendums, north and south. How will the referendums work? How do we formulate the appropriate question to capture what the people should decide on? In episode 6 of the ARINS podcast, Colin Harvey and Jennifer Kavanagh discuss the intensifying conversation about constitutional change on the island of Ireland. You can read Colin Harvey's paper, as it appears in Irish Studies ...
Dec 02, 2021•47 min
In this new series of four podcasts host Gill Plunkett explores the long view of climate change by interviewing the authors of 'Climate and Society in Ireland'. We talk about hunter gatherers, disease, poetry, weather events and consider our future vulnerabilities. In episode 2, Lucy Collins explores the changing representation of weather in poetry written in Ireland between 1600 and 1820 and examines the relationship between literary convention and political and intellectual transformation in t...
Nov 30, 2021•46 min
'Irish Lives in America', edited by Liz Evers and Niav Gallagher, documents fifty Irish people featured in the Dictionary of Irish Biography who made an indelible mark on American society, politics and culture. The book was launched by Neville Isdell on 24 November at 6.30 p.m. at EPIC the Irish Emigration Museum. The launch is followed by a panel discussion 'Irish Lives in America: underdogs or overlords?' chaired by Patrick Geoghegan and featuring Miriam Nyhan Grey, Diane Negra, Neville Isdell...
Nov 29, 2021•1 hr 7 min
In this new series of four podcasts host Gill Plunkett explores the long view of climate change by interviewing the authors of 'Climate and Society in Ireland'. We talk about hunter gatherers, disease, poetry, weather events and consider our future vulnerabilities. In episode 1, John Sweeney considers the challenging interaction between climate and society from the nineteenth century to the present, arguing that while throughout most of its history, Irish society was a prisoner of climate as med...
Nov 24, 2021•45 min
In episode 5 of Shelfmarks Zoë explores the myth of Cessair and Fintan mac Bochra from the Leabhar Gabhála (The Book of Invasions / The Book of the Taking of Ireland). In the myth Cessair is the grand-daughter of Noah and daughter of Bith. Bith is refused passage on The Ark and so Cessair builds three ships to seek out a new land. Each ship is crewed by fifty women. During the seven year journey two of the ships sink but the third containing Cessair, fifty women, her husband Fintan, her father B...
Nov 19, 2021•37 min
Host Gill Plunkett introduces a new series of four podcasts exploring the long view of climate change by interviewing the authors of 'Climate and Society in Ireland', a collection of essays commissioned by the Royal Irish Academy. 'Climate and Society in Ireland' provides a multi-period, interdisciplinary perspective on one of the most important challenges currently facing humanity. Combining syntheses of existing knowledge with new insights and approaches, contributors explore the varied enviro...
Nov 15, 2021•46 sec
This week on Shelfmarks imaginary islands, real books and Manchán Magan on the magical in betweenness of Irish. The Royal Irish Academy holds the most important collection of Irish language manuscripts in the country and more specifically it holds medical manuscripts - 6000 thousand pages across 30 different textbooks. One of these medical books is called the Book of O’Lees or Book of Hybrasil. This week Zoë relays the origin of the book of O’Less and Manchán Magan reads two specially commission...
Nov 05, 2021•34 min
In this episode, Gladys Ganiel and Philip McDonagh discuss church leaders' contributions to public debates about a post-Brexit island. You can read Gladys Ganiel's paper, as it appears in Irish Studies in International Affairs, at https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.47 Philip McDonagh's response can be found at https://doi.org/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.52 Gladys Ganiel is reader in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen's University Belfast. Philip McDonagh ...
Nov 04, 2021•38 min
In this bonus episode of Shelfmarks, guest writer Conor W. O'Brien reads a short piece on the wolf in Ireland. Shelfmarks is a podcast by the Royal Irish Academy podcaster-in-residence Zoë Comyns. Every other week Zoë will sift through the Academy collection for Shelfmarks (biographies, manuscripts, books and reference from the collection) and invite a guest writer to discuss their own relationship with the natural world. Each writer has been specially commissioned to write pieces exploring thei...
Oct 29, 2021•5 min
This week on Shelfmarks Zoë Comyns tries to get a sense of the immense work done by Robert Lloyd Praeger. From his early days in Co. Down, tramping through the Mourne Mountains to the thousands of miles he walked across Ireland studying botanics, to his contribution to 800 publications and his 24 books RL Praeger is probably considered Ireland’s most influential naturalist. Zoë’s guest this week on Shelfmarks is poet Jane Clarke. Jane grew up in Co Roscommon and came to writing after a career in...
Oct 22, 2021•35 min
