Signed on April 10, 1998, the landmark Good Friday Agreement helped to bring to an end the 30 years of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles. Twenty years on, Deaglán de Bréadún looks at how the agreement came about, the American role, and the current state of play. In the early 1990s, the blood-soaked contest between the Irish Republican Army … [Read more...] about Reflections on the Good Friday Agreement
The Troubles
Divided Society Archives Available
In January the Linen Hall Library in Belfast launched a new digital archive dedicated to the Troubles. Founded in 1968, the institution has amassed over 350,000 primary sources and essays relating to the conflict in Northern Ireland, the largest collection of its kind. The archive, called Divided Society, covers the events from 1990-1998 that culminated in the Good … [Read more...] about Divided Society Archives Available
Weekly Comment:
Punk and the Peace Process
By Olivia O'Mahony
September 22, 2017
September 22, 2017
In 1978, Northern Irish punk rock band The Undertones released their debut single, “Teenage Kicks.” The track opened with the punchy and iconic lyric, “Are teenage dreams so hard to beat?” The answer was a resounding yes, and the song became an instant anthem for the followers of Northern Ireland’s punk movement. With a new exhibition at the American Irish Historical Society in … [Read more...] about Weekly Comment:
Punk and the Peace Process
First Soldier Arrested for 1972
Bloody Sunday Deaths
This past November, detectives in County Antrim arrested a former British soldier who was involved in 1972’s Bloody Sunday. The arrest was the first made in connection with the incident, which claimed the lives of 14 civil rights protesters in Derry nearly 44 years ago.
The man was arrested and held and questioned at a police station before being released on bail.
Since the … [Read more...] about First Soldier Arrested for 1972
Bloody Sunday Deaths
The First Word: Hunger and Silence
“People think [the Irish] are such great talkers, but there is so much silence in Ireland about certain issues.” – Fionnula Flanagan The image of Michael Fassbender on our cover is very different to how he was seen in Hunger, the 2008 movie in which he played Bobby Sands, leader of the 1981 hunger strike in Northern Ireland. Fassbender, a Kerry native whose mother is from … [Read more...] about The First Word: Hunger and Silence