PRESIDENT OF IRELAND CENTENARY REFLECTIONS
MACHNAMH 100 The term Machnamh is an ancient Irish concept encompassing reflection, contemplation, meditation and thought. Between December 2020 and November 2022, President Michael D. Higgins hosted a series of seminars that invited reflections on the War of Independence, the Treaty Negotiations, the Civil War and Partition.
In Volume 1 of Machnamh 100 – the first three of a series of six seminars, President Higgins invited reflections from a number of scholars focusing on the War of Independence. These contributions are now captured in Machnamh 100, Centenary Reflections, Volume 1, published in November 2021.
Leading scholars from different backgrounds and with an array of perspectives have shared their insights and thoughts on the context and events of that formative period of a century ago and on the nature of commemoration itself.
In Volume 2 of Machnamh 100 – the final three seminars focused on events including the Civil War and the formation of two new administrations on the Island. These contributions are captured in Machnamh 100, Centenary Reflections, Volume 2, published in November 2023.
Through Machnamh 100, President Higgins facilitated presentations and discussions on specific themes, to explore more fully the various aspects of that period in Ireland’s journey, and its legacy for the societies and jurisdictions that were to emerge subsequently. The themes and speakers were based on recommendations by Professor Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh (who was the President’s Principal Advisor on the Machnamh 100 series) and agreed by the President.
Machnamh 100 is an initiative of President Higgins that builds on his extensive work during Ireland’s Decade of Commemorations that has examined and explored seminal events such as the Lockdown of 1913, the First World War, The Easter Rising, the Flu Pandemic, the election of 1918 and the first Dáil. Machnamh 100 was supported by the Government and by RTÉ.
At the invitation of President Higgins, Dr John Bowman, Historian and Broadcaster, chaired each of the six seminars. The series of seminars were divided into two parts, each of which is captured in a book volume. Volume One:
First seminar – 4 December 2020 - “Challenges of Public Commemoration” The first seminar, titled ‘Challenges of Public Commemoration’, contemplated commemoration itself and the contexts of the national and global events of a century ago.
MACHNAMH 100
President Michael D. Higgins opened the seminar with a reflection entitled ‘Of Centenaries and the Hospitality Necessary in Reflecting on Memory, History and Forgiveness’. The following speakers responded: Professor Ciarán Benson (University College Dublin), Professor Anne Dolan (Trinity College Dublin), Professor Emeritus Michael Laffan (University College Dublin) and Professor Joep Leerssen (University of Amsterdam).
Second seminar - 25 February 2021 – “Empire: Instincts, Interests, Power and Resistance” The second seminar in the series included consideration of European Empires following the First World War, the British Empire in particular and imperial attitudes and responses to occurrences in Ireland. It also included reflections on examples of resistance to Empire in Ireland and resistance to nationalism. The main reflection was given by Professor John Horne (Trinity College Dublin), who delivered an address entitled ‘Ireland at the Crossroad, 1920-1921: Nation, Empire, Partition’. There were responses from President Higgins, Professor Eunan O’Halpin (Trinity College Dublin), Dr Marie Coleman (Queen’s University Belfast), Professor Alvin Jackson (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Niamh Gallagher (St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge).
Third seminar – 27 May 2021 - “Recovering Imagined Futures” The third seminar focused on issues of social class, land and the role of women, subjects that are all tangibly and profoundly interlinked in the context of early 20th-century Ireland, and how particular gradations of violence emerged and became deeply interwoven across these subjects with consequences that would shape the Ireland of today. The principal address was given by Dr Margaret O’Callaghan (Queens University Belfast), entitled ‘Recovering imagined futures in nationalist Ireland, in the summer of 1921’. Responses were given by President Higgins, Dr Caitríona Clear (NUI Galway), Professor Linda Connolly (NUI Maynooth), Archivist Ms Catríona Crowe and Dr John Cunningham (NUI Galway).
Volume Two:
Fourth Seminar – 25 November 2021 - “Settlements, Schisms and Civil Strife” The fourth seminar involved a consideration of the road to the Treaty and its long-term implications. It also examined Ireland in the summer of 1921 and what the Truce meant, what prospects it opened, as well as the international aspect of the halt in hostilities. Professor Diarmaid Ferriter (University College Dublin), provided the principle address, ‘Settlements, Schisms and Civil Strife’. Respondents on this occasion were, President Higgins, Professor Fearghal McGarry (Queens University Belfast), Professor Mary E Daly (University College Dublin), Dr Daithí Ó Corráin (Dublin City University) and Professor Margaret Kelleher (University College Dublin).
Fifth Seminar – 26 May 2022 - “Constitutional, Institutional and Ideological Foundations: Complexity and Contestation” The fifth seminar concentrated on the period following the Civil War and the sources of authority and legitimacy in the new administrations formed both North and South. It included a particular consideration of the issue of ‘institutionalising’ exclusion: the groups marginalized in different ways by the State, the notions of ‘respectability’, ‘status’ and of having ‘a stake in the country’, the importance of land possession and what groups were deemed not to have such a stake, and the issues of class, state and identity. The principal address, ‘Machnamh on Constitutional Trajectories Since 1922’, was given by Professor Brendan O’Leary (University of Pennsylvania). Responses were received from President Higgins, Professor Henry Patterson (Ulster University), Professor Lindsey Earner Byrne (University College Cork) and Dr Theresa Reidy (University College Cork).
The Final Seminar – 17 November 2022 - “Memory, History and Imagination” The sixth and final seminar was titled: “Memory, History and Imagination”. The principal address, ‘Ideas, Memory, Imagination’, was delivered by Professor Declan Kiberd (University of Notre Dame, Dublin). This was followed by responses from cultural theorist and film producer Lelia Doolan; Professor Angela Bourke (University College Dublin); BBC journalist and author, Fergal Keane and a keynote address by President Michael D. Higgins titled ‘1922 – The Most Significant Year?’ Across their contributions, the participants considered the intersections between history, trauma and the cultural memory which has developed of the period.
CENTENARIES AND THE HOSPITALITY NECESSARY IN REFLECTING ON MEMORY, HISTORY AND FORGIVENESS “In this decade of significant centenaries, we are challenged to engage with our shared past in a manner that is honest, authentic and inclusive, and as might assist a healing of conflicts that cannot be forgotten. The complex events we recall during this decade are integral to the story that has shaped our nation in all its diversity. Issues of the fullness of context, in terms of what has been or is being taken into account or being excluded, cannot morally be avoided. Ethical remembering requires us in particular to shine a light on overlooked figures and events in an attempt to have a more comprehensive, balanced and inclusive perspective on, for example, the independence struggle and the response to it. A central dimension of ethical remembering is a refusal of conscious or unconscious amnesia, not only of persons but
events. It requires the inclusion of marginalised voices, the disenfranchised, voices from below in our recollections of the past. It must include the essential part played by women in the period that we commemorate, the role of class, and an openness to stories of ‘the Other’, the stranger, the enemy of yesterday. For the sake of the future we will share, we must be unshackled from the snares of the past. Creating a space for forgiveness is essential. The time has come for an ethics of narrative hospitality with its capacity to replace our past entrenchments, offering an openness to others. In doing so, we may nurture memory and remembrance as a strong foundation of a shared, agreed future.” President Michael D. Higgins
HOW TO ACCESS MACHNAMH 100 This new publication, Machnamh 100, Volumes 1 and 2, brings together the proceedings of the six seminars that took place in Áras an Uachtaráin from December 2020 to November 2022. The book is available in public libraries and in universities across the country, as well as via Scoilnet, the Department of Education’s official portal for Irish education, and to students throughout the network of 749 post primary schools. It is also available free of charge as an ebook on the President’s website - www.president.ie/machnamh. The book is also available on the library app, Borrowbox. All speeches are available on www.president.ie/machnamh Video recordings of each speaker and seminar are available on www.president.ie/machnamh and the RTÉ Player.
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