Ireland's two twentieth century Patriarchs Irish politics and historiography have been (and continue to be) highly patriarchal, in both the ancient and modern senses. A wealth exists of striking and memorable stories of women, from Maebh through St Brigid to the womens’ peace movement in the North and the transformative presidencies of Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese. Despite this, the remembered figures marking the way-points of modern Irish history have tended to be men. This feature has been reinforced by the way in which the casual and repressed violence of Irish society has tended to make the understanding and management of male behaviour a priority of all. It has been a constant of Irish history for millennia. The earliest tales of the druids and Queens, if somewhat balanced by those of ancient Irish deities, for instance, would not cover the island in woke glory. Things are arguably worse when one turns to the remembered history of the past two hundred and fifty year...
This is a collection of personal and largely unedited observations covering the years from 2006 to now; I assert my copyright but am fine with links and footnotes. Some posts are obviously much more researched than others, and any errors are wholly mine except where I have innocently disseminated or linked to other bloggers or commentators.