Kildare historian to take part in local history event in Laois
The series of talks will be held in Portlaoise library
Laois Local Studies and Portlaoise Library have announced their 2026 Summer Series of History Talks.
Anyone interested in history is invited to these fascinating talks which will take place in Portlaoise Library at 7pm on Thursday evenings from July 9 to July 30.
The series will cover a broad range of topics, from the 1926 census and what it reveals about Laois and Ireland in the post-revolutionary period to the incredible story of Portlaoise man Joe Dowling, a member of Casement’s Irish Brigade who was sentenced to death and refused amnesty following the War of Independence and not released until 1924.
People can also learn about conflict and murder in the coal-mining district of south Laois and Kilkenny in the 1830s and conditions for anti-treaty republican internees in County Kildare.
The first talk in the series, ‘Special Powers: Civil War internment in Newbridge Barracks and Tintown Camp 1922-24,’ takes place on Thursday, July 9 at 7pm in Portlaoise Library.
Historian James Durney will look at Civil War Internment in County Kildare. Tintown, Hare Park and Newbridge Barracks held about 5,500 anti-treaty republicans from every county in Ireland, including Laois, and saw scenes of escapes, hunger-strikes and even murder.
James Durney has authored over twenty books on Irish history, specialising in the revolutionary period and Irish military experiences. A respected historian and media consultant, he has contributed to numerous documentaries including TG4’s ‘Mobs Mheiriceá.’ He served as Kildare Historian-in-Residence for County Kildare’s Decade of Commemorations Committee (2015-2017) and works in Kildare County’s Local Studies, Genealogy, and Archives Department.
The second talk in the series, ‘The 1926 Census; the Story of Us,’ takes place on
Thursday, July 16 at 7pm. Historian Ida Milne, who contributed to ‘The Story of Us’ which is a major new publication accompanying the release of the 1926 census, will talk about the significance of the census and the crucial insights it provides into early Free State society on a national and local level.
Dr Ida Milne is visiting research fellow in the School of Histories and Humanities at Trinity College, Dublin and European history lecturer at Carlow College. A social historian, she is author of ‘Stacking the Coffins: Influenza War and Revolution in Ireland, 1918-1919.’
The third talk in the summer series takes place on Thursday, July 23 at 7pm. Historian Terry Dunne will look at the assassination of Thomas Potts, a Castlecomer colliery manager shot dead in the spring of 1832 and the execution of Laois man Red Ned Delaney who was found guilty of the act seven years later.
The talk will examine the intense social conflict in the coal mining area straddling the south-east of Laois and north-east of Kilkenny in the 1820s and 1830s, putting events into the wider context of social change.
Terry Dunne graduated with a PhD from the Sociology Department of Maynooth University in 2015 and has published widely on agrarian agitation and social movements in Irish history. He was Laois Historian-in-Residence during the Decade of Centenaries, and his many articles and podcasts can be accessed on the Laois Local Studies website.
The final talk in the series, ‘Joe Dowling: the Maryborough Man in the U-boat,’ takes place on Thursday, July 30 also at 7pm. Local historian Teddy Fennelly will share the incredible and little-known story of Joe Dowling, the Portlaoise man who landed off the coast of Clare from a German U-Boat in April 1918.
This event led to claims by Dublin Castle of a Sinn Fein conspiracy with the German Empire, better known as The German Plot, resulting in widespread arrests of Sinn Fein leaders and the strengthening of the physical force republicanism that led to the War of Independence.
Teddy Fennelly is a renowned local historian who has published countless books and articles on a broad range of Laois topics from the GAA to aviation. He has been an advocate and enthusiast for local history and heritage in Laois for over 50 years.
In 2022, he was selected by the National Heritage Council as Ireland’s National Heritage Hero in recognition of his enormous contribution in preserving the history and heritage of his native county.