Following the success of the first 'Machnamh 100' event in December, President Michael D. Higgins is set to address the second seminar in the series at Áras an Uachtaráin tonight at 7pm on the RTÉ Player.

In the seminar, President Higgins will focus on the relationship between culture and empire, and how British cultural hegemony at the time attempted to shape and influence general cultural values in Ireland.

The seminar, which will be chaired by broadcaster, author and historian Dr. John Bowman, will recall significant events in Ireland a century ago, in the context of changes taking place within the British Empire.

Professor John Horne will provide the lead contribution in the seminar, which will be responded to by Dr Niamh Gallagher (St. Catharine's College, Cambridge), Professor Eunan O’Halpin (Trinity College Dublin), Professor Alvin Jackson (University of Edinburgh), Dr. Marie Coleman (Queen’s University Belfast), and President Higgins.

'Machnamh 100' is an initiative of President Higgins that builds on his extensive work to date during Ireland’s Decade of Commemorations, in which the President examined and explored the context and enduring relevance of seminal events such as the Lockout of 1913, the First World War, The Easter Rising, the Flu Pandemic, the election of 1918 and the first Dáil.

The third ‘Machnamh 100’ seminar is scheduled to take place in May this year, and will focus on hope, class and gender in the Irish independence struggle and its historiography.

The series is being supported by the Government and by RTÉ, and will also be available on the Áras an Uachtaráin YouTube channel here.