Balbriggan & District Historical Society presents a talk by renowned historian Joe Connell – ‘The Treatment of Women During the Rebellion Period and After the Free State.’
Wednesday April 30th 2025 at 8pm Bracken Court Hotel
Admission €5, Members free
During the early 20th Century women became more and more important in the pursuit of Irish independence and political and civil rights for all. Coming from every walk of life, they asserted their righteous claim to be part of the shaping of the nation and its future. This talk will highlight their story and sacrifice.
Speaker profile Joe Connell:
After serving in the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, Joe Connell graduated as a Juris Doctor Cum Laude from Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu, CA in June 1979.
Joe’s interest in Ireland and particularly in its history reflects his Irish heritage, and his interest in Ireland and its people and history has deepened over the years.
In time he came to concentrate his research/ interest on early 20th Century Ireland – with a particular focus on the period prior to the Rising up to the founding and early days of the Irish nation.
Joe is a regular visitor to Ireland. This gives him the opportunity to maintain contact with 21st Century Ireland and also the many Irish friends and colleagues he has come to know through the years.
In 2006 Dublin City Council, in association with Four Courts Press, published Joe’s “Where’s Where in Dublin” as their official commemoration volume for the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising.
His second book, the critically acclaimed “Dublin in Rebellion”, was published by Lilliput Press in 2009, and has become an essential reference source for all who study Dublin 1913-24.
Joe also has written several books for Kilmainham Tales, including the best-selling “Ministering to Republicans,” about the priests, mainly Capuchins, who ministered to the spiritual needs of the rebels during the Easter Rising, War of Independence and the Civil War,“Unequal Patriots,” about some of the women involved in the Irish freedom struggle, “Teaching Rebels,” which looks at the role of education, teachers and pupils in the early revolutionary years of the 20th century, and “Who Killed Michael Collins?”, examining one of the most controversial events in irish history.
Joe is a columnist in History Ireland. His column “Countdown to 2016” appeared in each issue from 2009-2016. Now the column is titled “100 Years ago”, and is a somewhat chronological march throughout the revolutionary period. The column is intended to give the reader a feeling for the continuity of events of the whole period.
Two further books on the Easter Rising were published by Wordwell Books – “Dublin Rising 1916” and “Who’s Who in the Dublin Rising 1916”, and “Michael Collins, Dublin 1916-1923” and was Number 1 on the bestseller list at Hodges and Figgis for four weeks. His latest book is “The Shadow War”, on the Irish War of Independence, and published by Eastwood Books. Eastwood will release his latest book, ‘The Terror War” in November 2021.
Joe has given lectures to many historical societies, the Irish Defence forces, and schools. His talks are on the Rising, the War of Independence, the Civil War, and the guerrilla aspects of the whole period.
See link to interview with Joe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDM0SM_UKRQ
Plans for the year
We are busy planning our activities for the year which we hope will include a day trip and also our pop up museum and guided walk during Summerfest. We will let you know when plans are finalized. Our planned programme of talks for the rest of the year is below (subject to final confirmation)
May 28th, Cora Mc Donagh, ‘Castle, Churches and Cobblestones- the built heritage of Balbriggan.’
August 27th Jim Walsh, ‘The life of John Henry Gaynor- local Republican activist’
September 24th, Caroline Mc Fadden, 150th Anniversary of Balbriggan RFC based on her book ‘From Rope Walk to Bowhill- a history of rugby in Balbriggan’.
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