Remembrance Conferences

The next decade will see a series of centenaries of key events in the history of modern Ireland, ranging from the Ulster Covenant, through the First World War and the 1916 Rising, to the foundation of the Irish and Northern Irish states.

The Road To War

Universities Ireland sponsored the third in a series of conferences to commemorate the centenary of key events in the history of modern Ireland ranging from the Ulster Covenant, through the First World War and the 1916 Rising, to the foundation of the Irish and Northern Irish States in Belfast City Hall on Saturday 14th June 2014 under the title.

Reflecting on a decade of War and Revolution in Ireland 1912-1923: The Road To War.

The keynote speakers included

  • Professor Thomas Otte, Professor of Diplomatic History, University of East Anglia who delivered an address entitled July 1914: Reflections on an Inadvertent war
  • Professor Keith Jeffery, Professor of British History, Queen’s University Belfast will delivered an address entitled Reflections on Ireland and the First World War.

The Cause of Labour

President Higgins keynote speaker Universities IrelandThe President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, was the keynote speaker at the second in the series of all-island 1912-1923 conferences organised by Universities Ireland in Dublin’s Liberty Hall on 15th June.

The conference was entitled ‘1912-1923: Reflecting on a decade of War and Revolution – The Cause of Labour’ and was attended by 150 people.

Among the other speakers and session chairs were the General Secretary of the TUC, Frances O’Grady; Professor Ralph Darlington of the University of Salford; Professor Karen Hunt of Keele University; the author of Lockout:Dublin 1913, Padraig Yeates; the General Secretary of the ICTU, David Begg; and the general president of SIPTU, Jack O’Connor.

 

Historians and Public History

The next decade will see a series of centenaries of key events in the history of modern Ireland, ranging from the Ulster Covenant, through the First World War and the 1916 Rising, to the foundation of the Irish and Northern Irish states.

To begin the commemoration of these events, Universities Ireland – the network of university presidents on the island of Ireland managed by the Centre for Cross Border Studies – organised a major one-day conference (co-sponsored by The Irish Times)in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin on Saturday 23rd June under the title Reflecting on a decade of War and Revolution in Ireland 1912-1923: Historians and Public History. Over 300 academics, teachers, students, civil servants and interested members of the public attended this event.
The keynote speakers was Professor Jay Winter, Charles J. Stille Professor of History at Yale University, an international authority on the First World War and its impact on the 20th century; Professor  Paul Bew, Professor of Politics at Queen’s University Belfast, a noted authority on Irish and Northern Irish politics and history in the late 19th and 20th centuries; and Professor Diarmaid Ferriter, Professor of Modern History at University College Dublin, one of the country’s outstanding younger historians, noted for his extensive new insights  into 20th century Irish history.
There was also a session on accessing new material from the archives on the 1912-1923 period, with speakers from the Imperial War Museum in London, the National Archives of Ireland and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland; and a panel discussion on ‘The Challenges of Commemoration in Public History’ with inputs from historians from five Irish and Northern Irish universities (and contributions from the audience).