In this month’s ARINS podcast, host Rory Montgomery chat to Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride about their recent ARINS publication: For and Against a United Ireland. The prospect of Irish unification is now stronger than at any point since partition in 1921. Voters on both sides of the Irish border may soon have to confront for themselves what the answer to a referendum question would mean - for themselves, for their neighbours, and for their society. Journalists Fintan O'Toole and Sam McBride examine the strongest arguments for and against a united Ireland. What do the words 'united Ireland' even mean? Would it be better for Northern Ireland? Would it improve lives in the Republic of Ireland? And could it be brought about without bloodshed? O’Toole and McBride each argue the case for and against unity, questioning received wisdom and bringing fresh thinking to one of Ireland’s most intractable questions. With cartoons by Fergus Boylan. The book has been shortlisted for An Post Book Award 2025 - BEST IRISH-PUBLISHED BOOK OF THE YEAR. See shortlist Book tickets to see the authors debate the strongest arguments for and against a united Ireland in The Lyric Theatre, Belfast and The National Concert Hall, Dublin in November 2025! --- This is episode 47 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research. ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at www.arinsproject.com ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

As part of Dublin Festival of History, this lecture was organised to mark the RIA Library exhibition, Collecting Ireland’s History. This lecture was organised in collaboration with the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (VRTI) Library Network and explored the diverse approaches to collecting Irish historical manuscripts of the last 700 years; and the role of libraries in preserving and recovering lost materials. Focusing on materials from the Bodleian Libraries, Cambridge University Library, British Library, National Library Ireland, Trinity College Dublin and the Royal Irish Academy, the talk also addressed the themes presented in the accompanying Collecting Ireland’s History exhibition. It examined the links between private and institutional collecting and how their combined efforts are helping to reconstruct a lost archive: the Public Record Office of Ireland, destroyed on 30 June 1922. About the speaker Dr Sarah Hendriks is an early modern historian specialising in the socio-cultural and architectural history of Ireland and the British Isles. She has studied and worked in universities around the world including The Australian National University, The University of Oxford, The University of Cambridge, and The University of Edinburgh. At the time of recording, Sarah was Archival Discovery Research Fellow and Lead Coordinator of the Library Network for the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland.

The Book of Lecan Conference During this two-day event in October 2025, speakers explored the production of the Book of Lecan or Leabhar Mór Lecain, its scribes and patrons, and the texts contained within the manuscript. The manuscript known as the Book of Lecan (Leabhar Mór Lecain) was created in Co. Sligo in the early fifteenth century. It contains a large amount of genealogical material, especially relating to the families with which the scribes were associated, as well as historical, biblical and hagiographical material. Included are a Dindshenchas, Bansenchas, and versions of Lebor Gabála, Uraicept an nÉces, Cóir Anmann, and Book of Rights. The conference papers shared new insights into how the manuscript was produced, its history of ownership and the significance of the various texts found within the compilation. The event was a collaboration between the Royal Irish Academy, Maynooth University, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Recordings have some of the lectures have been made available, subject to the presenters’ consent. It is hoped that the proceedings of this conference will be published as part of the Codices Hibernenses Eximii series in due course. Thursday 2 October 2025 2.00 pm Making the Book of Lecan - Pádraig Ó Macháin 2.45 pm The Later History of the Book of Lecan - Bernadette Cunningham 3.30 pm Coffee break 4.00 pm Poets and Poetry in the Book of Lecan - Elizabeth Boyle 4.45 pm Lebor Bretnach and the International Perspective of the Book of Lecan - Patrick Wadden Friday 3 October 2025 9.30am A History of the Men of Britain: Text and Context - Alex Woolf 10.15 am Lebor na Cert: a “Grossly Overrated” Text? - Seán Ó Hoireabhárd 11.00 am Coffee break 11.30 am Gilla Íosa Mór: Pseudohistorian - John Carey 12.15 pm Shaping Dindshenchas Érenn: What the Book of Lecan Version Reveals - Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and David McCay 1.00 pm Lunch 2.30pm A Return to Cóir Anmann: its Etymologies, its Date and the Book of Lecan Text - Sharon Arbuthnot 3.15pm The Book of Lecan’s Secular Genealogies (especially those of Connacht) - Nollaig Ó Muraíle 4.00 pm “A Splendid Family Heirloom”: Manuscript Illumination and the School of Lecan - Karen Ralph

The Book of Lecan Conference During this two-day event in October 2025, speakers explored the production of the Book of Lecan or Leabhar Mór Lecain, its scribes and patrons, and the texts contained within the manuscript. The manuscript known as the Book of Lecan (Leabhar Mór Lecain) was created in Co. Sligo in the early fifteenth century. It contains a large amount of genealogical material, especially relating to the families with which the scribes were associated, as well as historical, biblical and hagiographical material. Included are a Dindshenchas, Bansenchas, and versions of Lebor Gabála, Uraicept an nÉces, Cóir Anmann, and Book of Rights. The conference papers shared new insights into how the manuscript was produced, its history of ownership and the significance of the various texts found within the compilation. The event was a collaboration between the Royal Irish Academy, Maynooth University, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Recordings have some of the lectures have been made available, subject to the presenters’ consent. It is hoped that the proceedings of this conference will be published as part of the Codices Hibernenses Eximii series in due course. Thursday 2 October 2025 2.00 pm Making the Book of Lecan - Pádraig Ó Macháin 2.45 pm The Later History of the Book of Lecan - Bernadette Cunningham 3.30 pm Coffee break 4.00 pm Poets and Poetry in the Book of Lecan - Elizabeth Boyle 4.45 pm Lebor Bretnach and the International Perspective of the Book of Lecan - Patrick Wadden Friday 3 October 2025 9.30am A History of the Men of Britain: Text and Context - Alex Woolf 10.15 am Lebor na Cert: a “Grossly Overrated” Text? - Seán Ó Hoireabhárd 11.00 am Coffee break 11.30 am Gilla Íosa Mór: Pseudohistorian - John Carey 12.15 pm Shaping Dindshenchas Érenn: What the Book of Lecan Version Reveals - Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and David McCay 1.00 pm Lunch 2.30pm A Return to Cóir Anmann: its Etymologies, its Date and the Book of Lecan Text - Sharon Arbuthnot 3.15pm The Book of Lecan’s Secular Genealogies (especially those of Connacht) - Nollaig Ó Muraíle 4.00 pm “A Splendid Family Heirloom”: Manuscript Illumination and the School of Lecan - Karen Ralph

The Book of Lecan Conference During this two-day event in October 2025, speakers explored the production of the Book of Lecan or Leabhar Mór Lecain, its scribes and patrons, and the texts contained within the manuscript. The manuscript known as the Book of Lecan (Leabhar Mór Lecain) was created in Co. Sligo in the early fifteenth century. It contains a large amount of genealogical material, especially relating to the families with which the scribes were associated, as well as historical, biblical and hagiographical material. Included are a Dindshenchas, Bansenchas, and versions of Lebor Gabála, Uraicept an nÉces, Cóir Anmann, and Book of Rights. The conference papers shared new insights into how the manuscript was produced, its history of ownership and the significance of the various texts found within the compilation. The event was a collaboration between the Royal Irish Academy, Maynooth University, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Recordings have some of the lectures have been made available, subject to the presenters’ consent. It is hoped that the proceedings of this conference will be published as part of the Codices Hibernenses Eximii series in due course. Thursday 2 October 2025 2.00 pm Making the Book of Lecan - Pádraig Ó Macháin 2.45 pm The Later History of the Book of Lecan - Bernadette Cunningham 3.30 pm Coffee break 4.00 pm Poets and Poetry in the Book of Lecan - Elizabeth Boyle 4.45 pm Lebor Bretnach and the International Perspective of the Book of Lecan - Patrick Wadden Friday 3 October 2025 9.30am A History of the Men of Britain: Text and Context - Alex Woolf 10.15 am Lebor na Cert: a “Grossly Overrated” Text? - Seán Ó Hoireabhárd 11.00 am Coffee break 11.30 am Gilla Íosa Mór: Pseudohistorian - John Carey 12.15 pm Shaping Dindshenchas Érenn: What the Book of Lecan Version Reveals - Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and David McCay 1.00 pm Lunch 2.30pm A Return to Cóir Anmann: its Etymologies, its Date and the Book of Lecan Text - Sharon Arbuthnot 3.15pm The Book of Lecan’s Secular Genealogies (especially those of Connacht) - Nollaig Ó Muraíle 4.00 pm “A Splendid Family Heirloom”: Manuscript Illumination and the School of Lecan - Karen Ralph

The Book of Lecan Conference During this two-day event in October 2025, speakers explored the production of the Book of Lecan or Leabhar Mór Lecain, its scribes and patrons, and the texts contained within the manuscript. The manuscript known as the Book of Lecan (Leabhar Mór Lecain) was created in Co. Sligo in the early fifteenth century. It contains a large amount of genealogical material, especially relating to the families with which the scribes were associated, as well as historical, biblical and hagiographical material. Included are a Dindshenchas, Bansenchas, and versions of Lebor Gabála, Uraicept an nÉces, Cóir Anmann, and Book of Rights. The conference papers shared new insights into how the manuscript was produced, its history of ownership and the significance of the various texts found within the compilation. The event was a collaboration between the Royal Irish Academy, Maynooth University, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Recordings have some of the lectures have been made available, subject to the presenters’ consent. It is hoped that the proceedings of this conference will be published as part of the Codices Hibernenses Eximii series in due course. Thursday 2 October 2025 2.00 pm Making the Book of Lecan - Pádraig Ó Macháin 2.45 pm The Later History of the Book of Lecan - Bernadette Cunningham 3.30 pm Coffee break 4.00 pm Poets and Poetry in the Book of Lecan - Elizabeth Boyle 4.45 pm Lebor Bretnach and the International Perspective of the Book of Lecan - Patrick Wadden Friday 3 October 2025 9.30am A History of the Men of Britain: Text and Context - Alex Woolf 10.15 am Lebor na Cert: a “Grossly Overrated” Text? - Seán Ó Hoireabhárd 11.00 am Coffee break 11.30 am Gilla Íosa Mór: Pseudohistorian - John Carey 12.15 pm Shaping Dindshenchas Érenn: What the Book of Lecan Version Reveals - Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and David McCay 1.00 pm Lunch 2.30pm A Return to Cóir Anmann: its Etymologies, its Date and the Book of Lecan Text - Sharon Arbuthnot 3.15pm The Book of Lecan’s Secular Genealogies (especially those of Connacht) - Nollaig Ó Muraíle 4.00 pm “A Splendid Family Heirloom”: Manuscript Illumination and the School of Lecan - Karen Ralph

The Book of Lecan Conference During this two-day event in October 2025, speakers explored the production of the Book of Lecan or Leabhar Mór Lecain, its scribes and patrons, and the texts contained within the manuscript. The manuscript known as the Book of Lecan (Leabhar Mór Lecain) was created in Co. Sligo in the early fifteenth century. It contains a large amount of genealogical material, especially relating to the families with which the scribes were associated, as well as historical, biblical and hagiographical material. Included are a Dindshenchas, Bansenchas, and versions of Lebor Gabála, Uraicept an nÉces, Cóir Anmann, and Book of Rights. The conference papers shared new insights into how the manuscript was produced, its history of ownership and the significance of the various texts found within the compilation. The event was a collaboration between the Royal Irish Academy, Maynooth University, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Recordings have some of the lectures have been made available, subject to the presenters’ consent. It is hoped that the proceedings of this conference will be published as part of the Codices Hibernenses Eximii series in due course. Thursday 2 October 2025 2.00 pm Making the Book of Lecan - Pádraig Ó Macháin 2.45 pm The Later History of the Book of Lecan - Bernadette Cunningham 3.30 pm Coffee break 4.00 pm Poets and Poetry in the Book of Lecan - Elizabeth Boyle 4.45 pm Lebor Bretnach and the International Perspective of the Book of Lecan - Patrick Wadden Friday 3 October 2025 9.30am A History of the Men of Britain: Text and Context - Alex Woolf 10.15 am Lebor na Cert: a “Grossly Overrated” Text? - Seán Ó Hoireabhárd 11.00 am Coffee break 11.30 am Gilla Íosa Mór: Pseudohistorian - John Carey 12.15 pm Shaping Dindshenchas Érenn: What the Book of Lecan Version Reveals - Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and David McCay 1.00 pm Lunch 2.30pm A Return to Cóir Anmann: its Etymologies, its Date and the Book of Lecan Text - Sharon Arbuthnot 3.15pm The Book of Lecan’s Secular Genealogies (especially those of Connacht) - Nollaig Ó Muraíle 4.00 pm “A Splendid Family Heirloom”: Manuscript Illumination and the School of Lecan - Karen Ralph

The Book of Lecan Conference During this two-day event in October 2025, speakers explored the production of the Book of Lecan or Leabhar Mór Lecain, its scribes and patrons, and the texts contained within the manuscript. The manuscript known as the Book of Lecan (Leabhar Mór Lecain) was created in Co. Sligo in the early fifteenth century. It contains a large amount of genealogical material, especially relating to the families with which the scribes were associated, as well as historical, biblical and hagiographical material. Included are a Dindshenchas, Bansenchas, and versions of Lebor Gabála, Uraicept an nÉces, Cóir Anmann, and Book of Rights. The conference papers shared new insights into how the manuscript was produced, its history of ownership and the significance of the various texts found within the compilation. The event was a collaboration between the Royal Irish Academy, Maynooth University, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Recordings have some of the lectures have been made available, subject to the presenters’ consent. It is hoped that the proceedings of this conference will be published as part of the Codices Hibernenses Eximii series in due course. Thursday 2 October 2025 2.00 pm Making the Book of Lecan - Pádraig Ó Macháin 2.45 pm The Later History of the Book of Lecan - Bernadette Cunningham 3.30 pm Coffee break 4.00 pm Poets and Poetry in the Book of Lecan - Elizabeth Boyle 4.45 pm Lebor Bretnach and the International Perspective of the Book of Lecan - Patrick Wadden Friday 3 October 2025 9.30am A History of the Men of Britain: Text and Context - Alex Woolf 10.15 am Lebor na Cert: a “Grossly Overrated” Text? - Seán Ó Hoireabhárd 11.00 am Coffee break 11.30 am Gilla Íosa Mór: Pseudohistorian - John Carey 12.15 pm Shaping Dindshenchas Érenn: What the Book of Lecan Version Reveals - Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and David McCay 1.00 pm Lunch 2.30pm A Return to Cóir Anmann: its Etymologies, its Date and the Book of Lecan Text - Sharon Arbuthnot 3.15pm The Book of Lecan’s Secular Genealogies (especially those of Connacht) - Nollaig Ó Muraíle 4.00 pm “A Splendid Family Heirloom”: Manuscript Illumination and the School of Lecan - Karen Ralph

The Book of Lecan Conference During this two-day event in October 2025, speakers explored the production of the Book of Lecan or Leabhar Mór Lecain, its scribes and patrons, and the texts contained within the manuscript. The manuscript known as the Book of Lecan (Leabhar Mór Lecain) was created in Co. Sligo in the early fifteenth century. It contains a large amount of genealogical material, especially relating to the families with which the scribes were associated, as well as historical, biblical and hagiographical material. Included are a Dindshenchas, Bansenchas, and versions of Lebor Gabála, Uraicept an nÉces, Cóir Anmann, and Book of Rights. The conference papers shared new insights into how the manuscript was produced, its history of ownership and the significance of the various texts found within the compilation. The event was a collaboration between the Royal Irish Academy, Maynooth University, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Recordings have some of the lectures have been made available, subject to the presenters’ consent. It is hoped that the proceedings of this conference will be published as part of the Codices Hibernenses Eximii series in due course. Thursday 2 October 2025 2.00 pm Making the Book of Lecan - Pádraig Ó Macháin 2.45 pm The Later History of the Book of Lecan - Bernadette Cunningham 3.30 pm Coffee break 4.00 pm Poets and Poetry in the Book of Lecan - Elizabeth Boyle 4.45 pm Lebor Bretnach and the International Perspective of the Book of Lecan - Patrick Wadden Friday 3 October 2025 9.30am A History of the Men of Britain: Text and Context - Alex Woolf 10.15 am Lebor na Cert: a “Grossly Overrated” Text? - Seán Ó Hoireabhárd 11.00 am Coffee break 11.30 am Gilla Íosa Mór: Pseudohistorian - John Carey 12.15 pm Shaping Dindshenchas Érenn: What the Book of Lecan Version Reveals - Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and David McCay 1.00 pm Lunch 2.30pm A Return to Cóir Anmann: its Etymologies, its Date and the Book of Lecan Text - Sharon Arbuthnot 3.15pm The Book of Lecan’s Secular Genealogies (especially those of Connacht) - Nollaig Ó Muraíle 4.00 pm “A Splendid Family Heirloom”: Manuscript Illumination and the School of Lecan - Karen Ralph

The Book of Lecan Conference During this two-day event in October 2025, speakers explored the production of the Book of Lecan or Leabhar Mór Lecain, its scribes and patrons, and the texts contained within the manuscript. The manuscript known as the Book of Lecan (Leabhar Mór Lecain) was created in Co. Sligo in the early fifteenth century. It contains a large amount of genealogical material, especially relating to the families with which the scribes were associated, as well as historical, biblical and hagiographical material. Included are a Dindshenchas, Bansenchas, and versions of Lebor Gabála, Uraicept an nÉces, Cóir Anmann, and Book of Rights. The conference papers shared new insights into how the manuscript was produced, its history of ownership and the significance of the various texts found within the compilation. The event was a collaboration between the Royal Irish Academy, Maynooth University, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Recordings have some of the lectures have been made available, subject to the presenters’ consent. It is hoped that the proceedings of this conference will be published as part of the Codices Hibernenses Eximii series in due course. Thursday 2 October 2025 2.00 pm Making the Book of Lecan - Pádraig Ó Macháin 2.45 pm The Later History of the Book of Lecan - Bernadette Cunningham 3.30 pm Coffee break 4.00 pm Poets and Poetry in the Book of Lecan - Elizabeth Boyle 4.45 pm Lebor Bretnach and the International Perspective of the Book of Lecan - Patrick Wadden Friday 3 October 2025 9.30am A History of the Men of Britain: Text and Context - Alex Woolf 10.15 am Lebor na Cert: a “Grossly Overrated” Text? - Seán Ó Hoireabhárd 11.00 am Coffee break 11.30 am Gilla Íosa Mór: Pseudohistorian - John Carey 12.15 pm Shaping Dindshenchas Érenn: What the Book of Lecan Version Reveals - Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and David McCay 1.00 pm Lunch 2.30pm A Return to Cóir Anmann: its Etymologies, its Date and the Book of Lecan Text - Sharon Arbuthnot 3.15pm The Book of Lecan’s Secular Genealogies (especially those of Connacht) - Nollaig Ó Muraíle 4.00 pm “A Splendid Family Heirloom”: Manuscript Illumination and the School of Lecan - Karen Ralph

The Book of Lecan Conference During this two-day event in October 2025, speakers explored the production of the Book of Lecan or Leabhar Mór Lecain, its scribes and patrons, and the texts contained within the manuscript. The manuscript known as the Book of Lecan (Leabhar Mór Lecain) was created in Co. Sligo in the early fifteenth century. It contains a large amount of genealogical material, especially relating to the families with which the scribes were associated, as well as historical, biblical and hagiographical material. Included are a Dindshenchas, Bansenchas, and versions of Lebor Gabála, Uraicept an nÉces, Cóir Anmann, and Book of Rights. The conference papers shared new insights into how the manuscript was produced, its history of ownership and the significance of the various texts found within the compilation. The event was a collaboration between the Royal Irish Academy, Maynooth University, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Recordings have some of the lectures have been made available, subject to the presenters’ consent. It is hoped that the proceedings of this conference will be published as part of the Codices Hibernenses Eximii series in due course. Thursday 2 October 2025 2.00 pm Making the Book of Lecan - Pádraig Ó Macháin 2.45 pm The Later History of the Book of Lecan - Bernadette Cunningham 3.30 pm Coffee break 4.00 pm Poets and Poetry in the Book of Lecan - Elizabeth Boyle 4.45 pm Lebor Bretnach and the International Perspective of the Book of Lecan - Patrick Wadden Friday 3 October 2025 9.30am A History of the Men of Britain: Text and Context - Alex Woolf 10.15 am Lebor na Cert: a “Grossly Overrated” Text? - Seán Ó Hoireabhárd 11.00 am Coffee break 11.30 am Gilla Íosa Mór: Pseudohistorian - John Carey 12.15 pm Shaping Dindshenchas Érenn: What the Book of Lecan Version Reveals - Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and David McCay 1.00 pm Lunch 2.30pm A Return to Cóir Anmann: its Etymologies, its Date and the Book of Lecan Text - Sharon Arbuthnot 3.15pm The Book of Lecan’s Secular Genealogies (especially those of Connacht) - Nollaig Ó Muraíle 4.00 pm “A Splendid Family Heirloom”: Manuscript Illumination and the School of Lecan - Karen Ralph

In this episode of ‘My Identity’ Professor Colin Graham (Maynooth) is in conversation with Leo Varadkar. Leo Varadkar was Taoiseach of Ireland from 2017 to 2020 and from 2022 to 2024. During the thirteen years he spent in cabinet, he held many positions across the Ministries of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Social Protection, and Health. After stepping down from political life in late 2024, he was appointed as a Hauser Leader at the Center for Public Leadership in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, a Board Member of Brussels based Care4Everybody and writes a column for the Sunday Times Ireland. In this episode he discusses, among other things, national identity, religion, family and his book: Speaking My Mind. About the Series My Identity is hosted by Professor Colin Graham, Maynooth. In this series, Colin is in conversation with a range of people whose ideas, work and life experiences shed light on the topic of identity on the Island of Ireland. My Identity is part of the ARINS project. Colin Graham is Professor English and formerly Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Maynooth University. His books include Northern Ireland: Thirty Years of Photography, Deconstructing Ireland and Ideologies of Epic. He was editor of The Irish Review from 2004 to 2020. During the Brexit negotiations he created the Twitter account @borderirish and wrote the book I am the Border, so I am, published by HarperCollins. ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at www.arinsproject.com ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs. My Identity is hosted by Professor Colin Graham. Podcast management and production by Dr Susie Deedigan.

Listen back to our 2025 Heritage Week lecture by Emma Murphy, curator at the National Museum of Ireland – Natural History. Learn about R. J. Ussher MRIA, 1841-1913, and his connections to the National Museum, including a large collection of archived correspondence from Ussher to the curators and the hundreds of specimen donations that Ussher gave personally, or were given by his associates due to his encouragement. Richard John Ussher MRIA, 1841-1913, was a speleologist, ornithologist, and renowned Irish naturalist. He published lists of Irish birds, showing the species contained in the National Collection. These, alongside “The Birds of Ireland” (1900), co-authored with Warren, were important works in the history of Irish ornithology. He donated his archive collection to the Royal Irish Academy, and many specimens to the National Museum of Ireland - Natural History. Emma Murphy, Curator of Terrestrial Zoology at NMI – Natural History gave this lecture, exploring some of the stories, both funny and tragic, that can be found within Ussher’s collections, and highlighting his enduring scientific legacy. This lecture was part of an programme of events relating to the Ussher Birds Notes collection, held in RIA Library. In 2024, the Library received funding from the Heritage Council as part of the Heritage Stewardship Fund for a project entitled, ‘The Birds of Ireland: Curating the Richard J. Ussher Collection at the Royal Irish Academy’. This project aimed to secure the long-term preservation, access, and discovery of material from the Ussher Bird Notes Collection through a programme of archival cataloguing, digitisation and outreach. The Ussher Bird Notes Digital Archive was launched in May 2025, and included digital images, with accompanying metadata, of 900 selected items from the collection. Detailed cataloguing of over 9000 items from the collection was also completed and researchers can contact library@ria.ie for more information about this listing. Thanks to a second tranche of funding from the Heritage Stewardship Fund, granted in 2025, the remainder of the Ussher Bird Notes Collection will be catalogued and more material will be added to the digital archive in due course.

In this month’s ARINS podcast, host Rory Montgomery discusses the recent Irish Studies in International Affairs article, A Review of Employment Law in Ireland, North and South, with its authors Esther McGuinness (Ulster University), Desmond Ryan (Trinity College Dublin) and Rory O'Connell(Ulster University). The article explores the evolution and current state of employment law across the two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland, a century after the 1920 Government of Ireland Act. It examines how partition and constitutional changes have affected shared legal origins and analyses collective and individual labour law, including health and safety, through the lens of historical and contemporary influences, such as Brexit and the Windsor Framework. The article is available open access, as are all ARINS publications, and can be read here: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/423/article/962917

This is episode 45 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research. ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at www.arinsproject.com ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

As part of Biodiversity Week 2025, Dr Carla Mateus delivered a lunchtime lecture in the Royal Irish Academy on the topic of historical meteorological records held in the Academy Library's archive collections. Historical meteorological observations are crucial to better assess past climate variability and trends and the frequency, intensity, duration, and distribution of extreme weather events, and to put the current climate change into historical context. The records preserved in the archives of the Royal Irish Academy date from the late eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century and are of cultural and scientific importance. Many of the records were sent to the Academy by diligent observers interested in science and the arts, others were collated in response to an Academy initiative to organise a system of meteorological observations in Ireland in the period 1850-52. This lecture highlights the role of the Royal Irish Academy as a curator of historical meteorological records across the Island of Ireland, as a publisher of diverse papers on instrumentation and meteorological observations, and as a learned body which encouraged a standardised approach for reliable weather recording. The meteorological records include observations of air temperature, maximum and minimum air temperatures, wet bulb, sea temperature, rainfall, pressure, wind direction and force, cloud cover and weather remarks. Many well-known historical extreme weather events are covered by instrumental observations and documentary weather remarks, such as storms and air temperature extremes.

In the fifth episode of ‘My Identity’ Professor Colin Graham (Maynooth) is in conversation with Claire Mitchell. Claire Mitchell is a writer and researcher from Belfast. She writes about people and everyday politics in Northern/Ireland, using interviews, memoir, archives and storytelling. Her latest book, The Ghost Limb: Alternative Protestants and the Spirit of 1798, was published in 2022. Clare was formerly a senior lecturer in Sociology at Queen’s University Belfast and holds a BA, PhD & post-doc in Politics from University College Dublin. In this episode, she discusses her identity and her work. This is episode 5 of the My Identity podcast series hosted by Professor Colin Graham, Maynooth. In this series, Colin is in conversation with a range of people whose ideas, work and life experiences shed light on the topic of identity on the Island of Ireland. My Identity is part of the ARINS project. This is episode 5 of the My Identity podcast series hosted by Professor Colin Graham, Maynooth. In this series, Colin is in conversation with a range of people whose ideas, work and life experiences shed light on the topic of identity on the Island of Ireland. My Identity is part of the ARINS project. Colin Graham is Professor English and formerly Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Maynooth University. His books include Northern Ireland: Thirty Years of Photography, Deconstructing Ireland and Ideologies of Epic. He was editor of The Irish Review from 2004 to 2020. During the Brexit negotiations he created the Twitter account @borderirish and wrote the book I am the Border, so I am, published by HarperCollins. ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at www.arinsproject.com ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs. My Identity is hosted by Professor Colin Graham. Podcast management and production by Dr Susie Deedigan (University of Notre Dame). Audio design and editing by Conor Patterson and Morgan Blain-Crehan, The Spinner’s Mill, Belfast.

In this month’s ARINS podcast, host Rory Montgomery discusses the recent UCL Constitution Unit report ‘Reform of Stormont: Options for Discussion’ with its authors, Conor Kelly, Alan Renwick and Alan Whysall. This is episode 44 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research. ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at www.arinsproject.com ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

This is episode 4 of the My Identity podcast series hosted by Professor Colin Graham, Maynooth. In this series, Colin is in conversation with a range of people whose ideas, work and life experiences shed light on the topic of identity on the Island of Ireland. My Identity is part of the ARINS project. Colin Graham is Professor English and formerly Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Maynooth University. His books include Northern Ireland: Thirty Years of Photography, Deconstructing Ireland and Ideologies of Epic. He was editor of The Irish Review from 2004 to 2020. During the Brexit negotiations he created the Twitter account @borderirish and wrote the book I am the Border, so I am, published by HarperCollins. ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at www.arinsproject.com ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs. My Identity is hosted by Professor Colin Graham. Podcast management and production by Dr Susie Deedigan (University of Notre Dame). Audio design and editing by Conor Patterson and Morgan Blain-Crehan, The Spinner’s Mill, Belfast.

In this month’s ARINS podcast, former Deputy First Minister and leader of the SDLP, Mark Durkan discusses his political career with host Rory Montgomery. The conversation focuses on the recent book by Professor Graham Spencer, The SDLP, Politics and Peace: the Mark Durkan interviews which was published in 2024 by Peter Lang. This is episode 43 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. Host Rory Montgomery MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research. ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at www.arinsproject.com ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.