This event is sold out.
GPO Museum regrets the untimely passing of Martin Mansergh, who was scheduled to speak at this event. Martin’s work during leading up to and including the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in 1998 and his enthusiasm for, and contributions to, historical scholarship will not go unremembered. Martin was enthusiastic about this event and its subject matter, and we will lament his absence.
Fifty years after his death, Éamon de Valera remains one of the most enigmatic figures in modern Irish history and the impact of his role in the formation of the modern Irish state is still visible today. However, his legacy continues to invoke no shortage of differing opinions. As part of the Dublin Festival of History this year, GPO Museum is hosting a series of talks and discussions focusing on particular aspects of Éamon de Valera’s life, legacy, and memory.
Kate Manning, Principal Archivist of University College Dublin (UCD) Archives will be joining the event to discuss what perusing the voluminous Éamon de Valera Papers can reveal about his private life and how this might challenge popular perceptions of de Valera today.
Marking eighty years since the end of the Second World War, Dr. David McCullagh, author of De Valera: Vol I: Rise, 1882-1932 and De Valera: Vol II: Rule, 1932-1975 will present on how de Valera’s handling of Éire’s neutrality during the conflict has influenced the memory of de Valera himself and wider perceptions of Irish neutrality.
Lindsey Earner-Byrne, Professor of Contemporary Irish History at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) will speak on how women and the family were impacted by the social and economic policies of de Valera’s governments, and how this in turn has contributed to his image in popular memory.
Beginning at 12PM, following introductory remarks each talk will last approximately twenty minutes and the remaining time will be devoted to a question-and-answer session. This event will provide an opportunity to reflect on how de Valera’s image in popular memory has developed since his death, and how it might develop in the future.
The event will conclude at approximately 1:30PM. As part of the Dublin Festival of History, this event is free to attend and is only ticketed so as to manage the number of attendees. However, free admission to the museum itself is not included. Visitors attending the event will be directed from the museum’s admissions’ desk to the Commemoration Gallery, where the event will take place.
Image Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland (NLI)