As part of a series of talks to coincide with The Hugh Lane Gallery’ s John Lavery: Passion and Politics exhibition, Tim Pat will be speaking on Sunday 5th September (1.30pm) on ‘Painting Politics‘. Admission free, first come first served.
Read the Irish Times report on Tim Pat’s address at the opening of the Parnell Summer School in Avondale, Co Wicklow yesterday.
“Politics is a noble profession but the ignoble have taken control of it… we didn’t hear enough from the media about the great storm that was approaching. A climate of corruption was allowed to prosper”.
Now in its 20th year and running until 13th August, the 2010 Parnell Summer School is debating ‘The Role of the Media in Politics and Society’.
Mary Robinson, Michael Collins, John Hume, James Connolly and Bono will be profiled in an autumn RTÉ series that will put them in the running as Ireland’s greatest man or woman.
Tim Pat tells the Irish Times why he’s amongst those unimpressed at the key omissions, like Michael Davitt, Daniel O’Connell, James Joyce and Charles Stuart Parnell…
Tim Pat Coogan will preside over the official opening of the 2010 Parnell Summer School – ‘Gotcha! The Role of Media in Politics and Society’.
The six-day event, which is celebrating its 20th year, will take place from August 8th-13th at Avondale House, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow – the birthplace of politician Charles Stewart Parnell.
Sessions include: ‘Press Freedom’, ‘Corruption in Politics’, ‘History of Irish Media’, ‘Parnell and the Origins of Modern Day Press in Ireland’, and ‘Citizen Journalism and Beyond’.
An open letter to Dr Zion Evrony, Israeli ambassador to Ireland, from Tim Pat Coogan
You were kind enough to invite me to the recent reception you gave to celebrate Israel’s 62nd Independence Day, but I did not attend out of a growing sense of outrage at the treatment of the Palestinians which I have hitherto only expressed privately.
The recent acts of piracy on the high seas have, however, prompted me to write you this public letter stating why I did not attend and asking that, unless policies change, that I not be invited again. It’s a small, even you might say, trivial gesture, but, I am buoyed by the fact that boycotting played a useful role in Ireland’s history. More… »
From Tuesday 27th to Thursday 29th April, the Irish Independent will publish a three-part photographic supplement covering the 1916 Rising (introduced by Diarmaid Ferriter), the War of Independence (introduced by Dr Anne Dolan) and the Civil War (introduced by Tim Pat Coogan).
“Adding up to a combined 80 pages, these historic supplements include many rarely seen pictures, printed in large format, making these three magazines particularly memorable,” says series editor John Spain.
Tim Pat reviews ‘Voices From the Grave’ by Ed Moloney for the Irish Independent…
Back in the sixties, when I was starting to research my book on the IRA, Andrew Boyd arranged that I be brought to Belfast’s Linenhall Library where I was sworn to secrecy, brought down to a locked basement wherein a locked steel box was opened and I was given access to the library’s collection of IRA documents — a few handbills and a copy of the booklet Operation Harvest, which was written by a former sub-editor colleague of mine on the Evening Press, Sean Cronin.
Such was the impact of the Special Powers Act and the state of republican documentation at the time. Consequently, as a writer committed to the principles of free speech, I must support the appearance of Ed Moloney’s Voices from the Grave.
But the support has to be accompanied by a health, or rather a provenance, warning.
By abstaining from politics we cannot influence the decisions that affect our lives argues Tim Pat in today’s Sunday Independent…
A SAYING of my mother’s has resonated with me in recent times: “Don’t leave it to them” By this she meant don’t emigrate and leave oneself with no say in how the country was run.
Or if one did not emigrate, don’t dumbly acquiesce in what those in high places decide.
I’m afraid many of us have been guilty of not taking my mother’s advice and must admit to committing a sin of omission which led to the Government’s sin of commission.
For how many of us can say that we participate fully in the political process?
Niall O’Dowd went from being an ordinary Irish emigrant to the US in the late ’70s to playing a key role in the peace process. Now he has written his autobiography, ‘An Irish Voice’.
Read Tim Pat’s review from the Irish Independent:
I have always thought of Niall O’Dowd as the contemporary equivalent of John Boyle O’Reilly, the 19th-century Meath-born Irish nationalist who became both the foremost Irish-American journalist of his day and the leading proponent of a political, non-violent settlement of Ireland’s difficulties.
RTÉ 1 Tuesdays 2nd and 9th March, 10.15-11.15pm
Featuring extensive interviews with Bob Geldof, President Mary McAleese, Tim Pat Coogan, President Peter Pinda of Tanzania and John O’Shea of Goal, ‘On God’s Mission’ examines why the Irish joined the missions in such great numbers, what impact they had on the people to whom they dedicated their lives, and reveals how their work has impacted on Ireland’s international reputation.
