While recent aDNA and other scientific analysis has served to underline the recurrent role of migration in the process of Neolithisation right across Europe, there remains plenty of scope for better integration of archaeogenetic and archaeological interpretations and for detailed narratives of local and regional trajectories. This paper focuses on relations between Britain and Ireland in the early Neolithic, in the first part of the 4th millennium cal BC. I argue that direct connections between Britain and Ireland have been overlooked and underplayed — hidden in plain sight — in the search for perceived common sources in continental Europe. I advance four propositions for debate: that the first Neolithic people in Ireland came mainly from Britain, perhaps from several parts of western Britain; that subsequent connections, long described but curiously not much further interpreted, constitute an intense set of interactions; that such links were probably spread over time through the early Neolithic, coming thick and fast near the beginning and perhaps even intensifying with time; and that such relations were maintained and intensified because of the concentrated circumstances of beginnings. The latter arguably contrast with those of the relationship between the Continent and southern Britain. The maintenance of connections was political, because a remembered past was actively used; lineage founders, concentrated lineages and other emergent social groupings may have developed through time as part of such a process.

Anthony D. Smith, in one of his earlier, less debated, works – Nationalism in the 20th Century (1979) – examines phases of nationalism in the modern era, suggesting that nationalism has taken various forms before and during the 20th century. He argues that nationalism’s adaptability is at the core of its persistence, adapting to changing situations such as fascism and communism. As a result of this adaptability, nationalism still flourishes today. This article applies Smith’s theory to explore the interplay between cultural and material factors in the evolution of nationalism in Ireland. It identifies five ideological phases – revolutionary nationalist, protectionist, liberalising, neoliberal, and ecological – to which nationalism has adapted, and within which nationalism has influenced various aspects of Irish society. These phases are situated within a broader ideological and material context, analysing obliquely the Irish language (a core element of Irish nationalism), and related to changing processes of individualization.

For decades, transnational knowledge circulation in relation to schooling in Ireland has been a neglected area of study among historians. This paper provides new insights through a transnational lens on primary, secondary, and vocational curriculum developments in the first decade following the advent of national independence in the country in 1922. During this period, key policy-makers largely rejected progressive educational ideas circulating internationally and promoted curricula and pedagogy in primary and secondary schools that reflected the new nation’s deeply conservative Catholic nature and nationalist ethos. While initial signs indicated that developments in vocational education might head in a different direction, ultimately, more progressive educational ideas circulating internationally were excluded from that sector as well. At all levels of the education system, the hegemony of the Catholic Church and other contextual factors resulted in traditional and conservative curricula that underpinned policy and practice until the 1960s.

Professor William Ivory (Ivor) Browne, consultant psychiatrist, who died on 24 January 2024, was a remarkable figure in the history of medicine in Ireland and had substantial influence on psychiatric practice and Irish society. Born in Dublin in 1929, Browne trained in England, Ireland, and the US. He was chief psychiatrist at St Brendan’s Hospital, Grangegorman, Dublin from 1965 to 1994 and professor of psychiatry at University College Dublin from 1967 to 1994. Browne pioneered novel and, at times, unorthodox treatments at St Brendan’s. Along with Dr Dermot Walsh, he led the dismantling of the old institution and the development of community mental health services during the 1970s and 1980s. He established the Irish Foundation for Human Development (1968–1979) and, in 1983, was appointed chairman of the group of European experts set up by the European Economic Community for reform of Greek psychiatry. After retirement in 1994, Browne practiced psychotherapy and pursued interests in stress management, living system theory, and how the brain processes trauma. For a doctor with senior positions in healthcare and academia, Browne was remarkably iconoclastic, unorthodox, and unafraid. Browne leaves many legacies. Most of all, Browne is strongly associated with the end of the era of the large ‘mental hospital’ at Grangegorman, a gargantuan task which he and others worked hard to achieve. This is his most profound legacy and, perhaps, the least tangible: the additional liberty enjoyed by thousands of people who avoided institutionalisation as a result of reforms which Browne came to represent.

In this article Renate Ní Uigín, Librarian of the Honorable Society of King's Inns Library in Dublin, gives LIM an overview of the library's fascinating history and its collection, while also outlining the service it offers today.

In this article, Sinéad Curtin, Legal Knowledge Manager in the Chief State Solicitor's Office, provides a guide to the free and subscription sources for researching Irish legislation. She explains how legislation is enacted, how to determine if it's in force and whether it's been amended. She also looks at tracking legislation, the transposition of EU directives and statutory interpretation in general. The article concludes with a list of sources for Irish legislation.