President Michael D Higgins launces two-volume book collection on Irish history seminars

President Michael D. Higgins has launched a two-volume book collection, bringing together each of the six Machnamh 100 seminars held in Áras an Uachtaráin between December 2020 and November 2022.

The six seminars brought together leading scholars from a range of different backgrounds to consider the formative events of a century ago.

The events were chaired by Dr John Bowman and focused on the War of Independence, the Treaty negotiations, the Civil War, and the establishment of two new administrations on the island.

Running through the seminars, an emphasis was placed on those voices which may have been neglected, marginalised or ignored in the past, including the role of women, social class and land, as well as how certain exclusions became institutionalised.

President Higgins has launched a two-volume book collection bringing together each of the six Machnamh 100 seminars held in Áras an Uachtaráin between December 2020 and November 2022. The book was launched at an event yesterday evening at Áras an Uachtaráin pic.twitter.com/0k6zetqTLd

— President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) December 1, 2023

The two-volume book collection (Volume 1 of which was previously released in November 2021 but is now brought together with the newly published Volume 2 in the collection) is now available to members of the public in public libraries and universities and third-level institutions across the country.

It is also available to view or download free of charge as an ebook at president.ie/machnamh as well as via the library app Borrowbox and to all post-primary schools including via the Scoilnet platform.

In addition to the book collection, the six seminars can also be watched in full on the RTÉ Player under the title ‘Machnamh 100’ with videos and audio recordings of each individual speaker across the series also available at president.ie/machnamh.