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Irish public histories as an historiographical problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2015

John M. Regan
John M. Regan*
Affiliation:
School of Humanities, University of Dundee
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Extract

It is now almost impossible to reflect upon the historical reputations of Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins without considering the recent war in Northern Ireland (c. 1969–97) and the challenges to Irish identities it has induced. In the Republic this is evident in the movement away from irredentist nationalism toward official recognition of partition, following a constitutional referendum in 1998. Against a similarly barometric historiography, de Valera and Collins's historical representations have transformed. De Valera, it is clear, long since fell from favour among mainstream nationalists.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 37 , Issue 146 , November 2010 , pp. 265 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2010

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142 Reviewing Fearghal McGarry’s biography, Eoin O’Duffy, Regan commented: ‘the argument that a treatyite dictatorship of some order was in place before Collins’s death, on 22 August 1922, should not be dismissed out of hand. Not, that is, without frst addressing the interpretation, and the supporting evidence’. Responding, McGarry made no refer ence to this. Review no. 583, at: http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/reganJresp.html (accessed 19 May 2009).

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156 For a debate around some of these issues, see the author’s review of Richard English’s Irish freedom (London, 2006)Google Scholar, and English’s response: Reviews in history, http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/regan2.html (accessed 17 July 2009).

157 I wish to acknow ledge the support of the British Academy and Carnegie Trust while researching this article, and also Deirdre McMahon and Sean Kane for their comments on early drafts.