BUCHANAN: Dublin Time Machine

On this day in 1974, the Dublin City Women’s Invasion Force violated one of Irelands most sacred male spaces, the Forty Foot in Sandycove! For over two centuries, this beloved bathing spot had been a bastion of men-only skinny dipping ( naked swimming). But the 1970s were a time…

Launching a very special charity today. Cabhair, a youth mental health initiative, is run 100% by volunteers with ZERO costs. We fundraise - and then just pay for private mental health services for those who need them. Simple - with the potential to up end big wage charities.

So happy to announce The Dublin Pub: A Social and Cultural History is now available to preorder. The beautiful cover is from photographer Colm Keating, showing Miss Cooney in the Brazen Head. Colm's shots of Frank Harte, Liam Weldon and more are in book. dubraybooks.ie/product/the-du…

In the long photo gallery of forgotten scientific pioneers, John Joly (1857–1933) deserves a larger colour portrait. Born in County Offaly and educated at Trinity College Dublin, he was genius polymath. A physicist, geologist, inventor, and reluctant celebrity of Victorian…

Did Michael Collins really have a secret tunnel under Parnell Square? The once glorious quadrangle of Georgian Dublin’s elegant past can often seem like an open air asylum meets living musuem to the Irish governments failings. But is there something shocking literally beneath the…

Deadly to see Blindboy Boatclub @bbboatclub longlisted for a Grierson British Documentary Award @Griersontrust as Best Documentary Presenter for his RTÉ documentary The Lands of Slaves and Scholars. It should've gotten nominated for Best Documentary too. It should've been…

Dublin has a long forgotten memorial to George Washington! Tucked away behind Balgriffin Cemetery is the Washington Memorial Tower. Built in 1778 by Sir Edward Newenham, a fiery Member of Parliament and one of George Washington’s most enthusiastic supporters across the Atlantic.…

BREAKING: BBC pay tribute to centuries of cultural erasure by removing Irish Language from CMAT's new single

Few Civil War horrors were more haunting to our national psyche than the Ballyseedy Massacre. On the bitterly cold night of the 6th of March 1923 near Tralee, 9 Anti-Treaty IRA prisoners were taken from Ballymullen Gaol by members of the Free State Army’s Dublin Guard. They were…

Today in 1803, Emmets infamous, poorly planned, doomed rebellion took place. A hopelessly outnumbered band of insurgents led by Robert Emmet target Dublin Castle, seat of King George's power. Their plan was to penetrate the fortress via the main gate, camouflaged inside…

Stranded on Essex Quay is a sculpture called Báite, meaning “sunken” or “drowned” as Gaeilge. Designed by sculptor Betty Newman-Maguire in 1988, it was commissioned as part of the Dublin Millennium celebrations, and it seems to get an unfair mixture of apathy and insult. This…

Irelands "Witness Security Programme" is our version of the often misrepresented Witness Protection in the USA. The WSP is linked to the Garda response following the 1996 murder of journalist Veronica Guerin. The resultant trial in 2000 was the program’s first major test. It…

On this day in 1822, an Irishman was responsible for world’s first Animal Welfare Law when the British Parliament passed the Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act. Its architect was Richard Martin, a flamboyant MP for Galway known to history affectionately as ‘Humanity Dick’. Born in…

On this day in 1976, a brutal assassination took place. Just twelve days into his posting, the new British Ambassador to Ireland, 54 year old Christopher Ewart-Biggs, was assassinated when a landmine exploded beneath his car in Sandyford. He had been on his way from Glencairn…

Sunlight Chambers on the corner of Parliament Street and Essex Quay is an overlooked masterpiece. It wouldn't be out of place in Renaissance Rome. But the beautiful artwork is 20th century and actually represents the history of hygiene! It was the Irish HQ of Lever Brothers,…

Lets visit the oldest gaff in Dublin! At first glance 130 Thomas Street looks like a modest brick building wedged between shopfronts. A leftover from the 19th century, maybe early 20th if you're being generous. But behind that ordinary exterior lies one of the most extraordinary…

The remains of hypocritical paedo Bishop Eamonn Casey have been quietly disinterred from beneath Galway Cathedral without ceremony and handed over to his family for private burial. The decision comes in the wake of harrowing revelations from the 2024 RTÉ documentary Bishop…

A Kerryman, who works for Healy‑Rae Plant Hire, has pleaded guilty to electoral fraud. This individual voted in the June 2024 local and European elections in Kenmare using a polling card not in his name, which was allegedly retrieved from a vehicle. He was caught on CCTV.…