MINISTER TO OPEN SUMMER SCHOOL
PARNELL SCHOOL WILL REFLECT ON THE ISSUE DEMOCRACY IN IRELAND
THERE will be a 50:50 gender balance among the academics, writers and politicians contributing to this year’s Parnell Summer School, organsiers have revealed.
Josepha Madigan, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, will officially open the 28th annual summer school, which takes place in Rathdrum’s Avondale House, the birthplace and home of Charles Stewart Parnell.
This year’s event will have a theme of ‘Democracy Triumphant?’ and examine issues such as representative democracy, legitimacy, political thought and activism, the role of women and international influences from a range of historical and contemporary perspectives.
On 14 December 1918, women were, for the first time, among an Irish electorate that went to the polls in the aftermath of world war and post-Rising Ireland. As this important centenary approaches, the summer school organisers felt it was a good time to reflect on the history of democracy in Ireland.
The Parnell Summer School will be opened by Miniser Madigan at 4 p.m. on Sunday, August 12, and this will be followed by a keynote address from political academic Prof David Farrell of UCD on the theme ‘Irish party politics: still centrist after all these years?’.
Monday, August 13, will focus on the contribution of women to Irish public life throughout the last century and will include papers from Dr Sonja Tiernan and Prof Yvonne Galligan and a panel discussion featuring contributions from Olwen Dawe, Senator Ivana Bacik, Sinéad McCoole, and Orla O’Connor.
On Tuesday, August 14, the school will turn its attention to the 1918 period, with reflections on ‘Woodrow Wilson, propaganda and Ireland, 1918’ by Prof Bernadette Whelan and ‘The social and economic thought of Thomas Kettle and Mary Sheehy Kettle’ from Prof Niamh Reilly. Later in the day, the Parnell Society will commemorate the centenary of John Redmond’s death with a wreath-laying ceremony and brief oration at his graveside in Wexford town.
The annual Parnell lecture will be delivered on Wednesday, August 15, by Prof Alvin Jackson, who will speak on ‘Redmond and Carson: Bloodshed, borders and the union state’. The afternoon session will reflect and contrast the lives and legacy of Margaret Skinnider in a paper by Dr Mary McAuliffe, and Margaret Thatcher in a paper from Dr Stephen Kelly.
The school will draw to a close on Thursday, August 16, with a panel discussion on ‘21st Century Democracy: Opportunities and Threats’ featuring contributions from Lisa Chambers TD, Tony Connelly (RTE Europe Correspondent) and Jack O’Connor, former President of ICTU and SIPTU and Labour candidate for Wicklow in the General Election.
The daily rate for attending the summer school is €75 (including lunch) while attendance at all lectures and events, including the summer school gala dinner, is €275 (or €270 if paid in full before August 1). For more information, visit parnellsociety.com.