Wednesday, 8 November at 8.15pm in Custume Barracks, Athlone

Talk by Dr Eoin Kinsella

Speaker Dr Eoin Kinsella is Managing Editor of the Dictionary of Irish Biography, a research programme at the Royal Irish Academy. Earlier this year he published The Irish Defence Forces, 1922-2022: servant of the nation (Four Courts Press, 2023).

Summary Tracing its roots to the foundation of the Irish Volunteers in 1913, the Irish Defence Forces has evolved beyond recognition from the National Army that emerged in tandem with the new state in 1922, and was immediately plunged into a civil war. Drawing on his recently published history of the Defence Forces, Eoin will explore some of the key moments and inflection points in the history of the Defence Forces over the past century. Key moments include its rapid decline in prominence after the Civil War, its close co-operation with the British Army during the Second World War, and the roots of its longstanding involvement in overseas peacekeeping operations.