Episodes
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(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. -
(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 (Heritage Officer, Dublin Port) and Captain Michael McKenna (Dublin Port Harbour Master).
This Hedge School is supported by Dublin Port in association with the Dublin Festival of History -
Missing episodes?
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(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. -
(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 he was also an advocate of the ‘garrison game’, a vocal opponent of the GAA’s ban on ‘foreign games’ and the FAI’s longest-serving president (1948–63). -
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 only of an industrial base in rural County Clare but also of a whole new town, Shannon. Retiring in 1977, he remained active, founding Co-operation North.
Despite these achievements, since his death in 2008 he has remained a somewhat obscure figure. To rectify this lacuna, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Frank Barry, Úna Ní Bhroiméil, Seán Donlon, Brian O’Connell and Brendan’s son, Andrew O’Regan.
(Recorded live on Sat 13 April ’24, @ Shannon College of Hotel Management, Co. Clare)
This Hedge School is supported by Sixmilebridge Historical Society. -
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, 1913. (National Galleries of Scotland) -
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 Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative. -
(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 supported by the Red Hugh O’Donnell Society and Donegal County Council. -
(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 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 Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative. -
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 Cullivan, Sylvie Kleinman, Tim Murtagh and Fergus Whelan.
The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group.
For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com -
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 subscribe, visit historyireland.com -
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, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative.
Image: The Shannon Scheme under construction at Ardnacrusha in the late 1920s. -
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 the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative. -
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.com
This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative. -
(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 broadcaster), Emily Mark Fitzgerald (UCD), and Sara Smyth (exhibition curator, National Library of Ireland).
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 National Library of Ireland -
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 under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 initiative and by Phibsborough Community Arts Festival (Phizzfest). -
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 McCullagh (biographer of Eamon de Valera) and Ellen Rowley (architectural historian).
This Hedge School is supported by the National Library of Ireland -
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 the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative. -
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, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative. -
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 by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative. - Show more
