Conference Programme
Kerry Civil War Conference
History, Memory and Legacy
Civil War in Kerry and Beyond: A Centenary Conference
Siamsa Tíre Theatre, Tralee, County Kerry
23/24/25 February 2023
Thursday, 23 February
7.00pm: Official Opening
Cllr John Francis Flynn, Cathaoirleach, Kerry County Council
Moira Murrell, Chief Executive, Kerry County Council
Martin Mansergh, Vice-Chair, Expert Advisory Group on Centenary Commemorations
Opening keynote address, ‘Faith, Reason and Betrayal: The Irish Civil War’,
Professor Diarmaid Ferriter, University College Dublin
Friday, 24 February
9.45am: Opening of Day Two of Conference
10am: Panel 1 – The Civil War in Ireland
Liz Gillis – historian and author
Easter Week Repeats Itself: The Battle for Dublin June – July 1922
John Dorney – historian and editor of the Irish Story website
‘They treated Kerry as a hostile country’: National Army Reprisals in Cork and Kerry during the Civil War
Dr Thomas Earls Fitzgerald – historian and author
‘From Bandits to Government’: The Move from Insurrection to Constitutionality by anti-Treaty Republicans in the post-Civil War Period
11.30am: Break
12.00pm: Panel 2 – The Civil War in Kerry
Dr Daithí Ó Corráin – Dublin City University
‘Bullocks, Provisions and Motor Cars’: Compensation Claims for Commandeered Property during the Civil War in Kerry
Orson McMahon – PhD candidate and researcher, University of Leiden
Civil War Violence in Kerry: Targeted Killings and the Dynamics of Escalation and Revenge
Dr Richard McElligott – Dundalk Institute of Technology
‘The last cry of Aero Lyons echoed in the ears of Kerrymen for long years after’: Kilflynn – a Community Case Study of the Irish Civil War
1.30pm: Lunch
2.30pm: Keynote address, ‘The Geography of the Civil War: Kerry and Beyond’, Dr Bill Kissane, London School of Economics
3.30pm: Break
3.45pm: Panel 3 – Memory and the Civil War
Professor Laura McAtackney – University College Cork and Aarhus University, Denmark
(Re)remembering the Civil War during the Decade of Commemorations: Issues of Gender,
Geography, Class and International Relations
Dr Héléne O’Keeffe – University College Cork
A Troubling Inheritance: The Civil War in Kerry in Oral History and Memory
Cécile Chemin – project manager, Military Service Pensions Collection
The Ripples of Kerry’s Civil War – Military Service Pensions Collection Dependency Claims
5.15pm: Conclusion of Day Two of Conference Papers
Saturday, 25 February
9.00am: Opening of Day Three of Conference
9.15am: Panel 4 – Civilian and Socio-Economic Impacts of the Civil War
Dr Fionnuala Walsh – University College Dublin
‘A gallant fight’: Violence, Trauma and Loss at Clashmealcon Caves
Kieran McNulty – historian and author
Class, Gender, Labour and Civil War in Kerry, 1921-23
Helen O’Carroll – curator, Kerry County Museum
‘Decade’: Ten Objects which Portray the Lived Experience of People in Kerry during the Turbulent Period of 1918 – 28
10.45am: Break
11.15am: Panel 5 – Gender and Violence in Ireland’s Civil War
Dr Mary McAuliffe – University College Dublin
‘Unmitigated Blackguardism’: The Treatment of Militant anti-Treaty Women in Kerry by the National Army during the Irish Civil War
Dr Margaret Ward – Queen’s University Belfast
‘Keeping our Heads Down’ – Northern Women and the Impact of the Civil War
Dr Gemma Clark – University of Exeter
A new State Forged by Fire?: The Role of Arson in the Irish Civil War
12.45pm: Lunch
1.45pm: Keynote address, Constructing the Civil War: Dorothy Macardle’s Tragedies of Kerry, Dr Leeann Lane, Dublin City University
2.45pm: Break
3.00pm: Panel 6 – Trauma and its Enduring Legacy
Owen O’Shea – historian and author
‘What in God’s Holy Name am I to do?’: The Traumatic Legacy of the Civil War for the Families of Combatants in Kerry
Tomás Mac Conmara – historian and author
‘The Wish to Forget It’ – The Drumboe Martyrs and its Landscape of Memory
Dr Síobhra Aiken – Queen’s University Belfast
Understanding the ‘Spiritual Wounds’ of the Irish Civil War from 1922 to 2023
4.30pm: Break
4.45pm: Roundtable Discussion – 100 Years on: The Legacy of the Civil War
Chairperson: Dr David McCullagh – historian and author
Dr Mel Farrell – Carlow College
Dr Leeann Lane – Dublin City University
Owen O’Shea – historian and author
Dr Mary McAuliffe – University College Dublin
Dr Martin Mansergh – vice-chair, Expert Advisory Group, Decade of Centenaries
5.45pm: Conclusion of Day Three of Conference Papers
8.00pm: Their Memory Will Endure: The Civil War in Kerry – an Evening of Poetry, Music and Song Marking the Centenary of the Civil War in Kerry
Venue: Siamsa Tíre Theatre
Admission: €16/€14
Thursday, 16 February to Wednesday, 1 March
Exhibition: Mise, le Meas opens at Siamsa Tíre on Friday 17 February and runs until Wednesday 1 March 2023. MTU Kerry students and learners from Kerry College Clash Campus have created inspiring visual responses to Civil War narratives, focusing on original documentation and poignant letters sent and received during this tumultuous and formative period in Irish history.
The exhibition, which is an innovative visual media project, is a collaboration between the Animation, Visual Effects and Motion Design students at MTU Kerry Campus and learners on the Digital Design and Visual Communication Programme at Kerry College.
The project has been funded by Student Transitions Fund at MTU Kerry Campus. Exhibition entry is free.
Venue: Siamsa Tíre
Admission: Free
