Officers’ Mess, Custume Barracks, on Tuesday, 22 November 2016, at 8pm

– Talk by Maurice Manning, D.Litt MRIA, Chancellor of the National University of Ireland

Eoin O’Duffy in 1922

Summary – The key force in shaping the Garda Siochana, a founder member and first leader of Fine Gael and the youngest army general in Europe at the time, O’Duffy’s achievements were considerable. But today, if one thinks of him at all, it is in connection with his latter-day flirtation with fascism. The man who was one of the most respected figureheads of the fledgling Irish Free State saw his successes being eclipsed by a decade of failures before he died in 1944.

Speaker – Maurice Manning (D.Litt MRIA) is Chancellor of the National University of Ireland and currently chairs the Government’s Expert Advisory Group on the Decade of Centenaries. He has written extensively on modern Irish history and politics.