About this blog
The author has a BA in History from Trinity College, Dublin and an MPhil in History from University College, Cork. My thesis was Anti-treaty press and publicity in Ireland, 1922-23.
I grew up in Dublin but my family is from Munster (mostly Tipperary). It is this background that has inspired most of my work.
Please feel welcome to leave a comment below or on any blog post.
(Photo credit: National Library of Ireland on The Commons)
"Tipperary so far away..." 
Hi Claire,
Loved your piece on Ireland before and during the war – especially the info that the SOE was modelled on the IRA. Would love to know more about this, if you can point me in the right direction.
Best wishes,
Ml O’Kelly.
I’ll email you about that, Michael.
Just realised that you’re Irish Claire. My family is of Irish stock through and through and I was wondering if there might be a certain disposition to ME/CFs and/or Aspergers that is inherited.
Yes, I believe that they are thought to be hereditary, and also there have been some surveys that indicate that they both often occur in the same immediate family.
Hi again Clare. It just occurred to me that you might be interested in a piece I wrote last year about two Irishwomen who went to Trinidad in the late 1930s. During the war, they were interned for trade union work (frowned on since they were ‘white’ and expected to behave like colonialists). Their defense of Irish independence and neutrality was very much held against them.
One died, the other survived to be released, but only at the end of the war. Kay Donnellan was from Salthill, Galway; Francis (Frank) Cahill’s place of origin in Ireland was unknown.
I published the article in the Journal of Caribbean History. Perhaps you could put a piece about the two here. Someone might even turn up who knows about the families of these two remarkable brave women. Impressive, esp. for that time, was that Kay Donnellan seems to have had a master’s degree. Their intro. to Trinidad was that they went to teach at the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny convent in Port of Spain.
I’d be very interested, Susan. Could you possibly send me the article? I’m not sure I can get it through any of the databases I have access to right now.
Hi Claire,
I came across your website and was hoping to get in touch with you. I am currently working on a TV series that is connected with the War of Independence period and would like to chat further.
Please drop me an email if you would like to discuss in more detail.
Kind regards,
Karen