Join us at Queen’s University Belfast for a one-day symposium exploring the history and legacy of the Irish land question. Bringing together historians and researchers from across Ireland and beyond, the event will examine how land shaped politics, society, and everyday life - and why it still matters today. The day will offer an opportunity to engage with new research on one of the most important themes in modern Irish history. Speakers include Marc Mulholland (Oxford), Breandán Mac Suibhne (Galway) and Sean Connolly (QUB). This event is supported by the Irish Committee of Historical Sciences (https://www.historians.ie/)

Speakers:
Rowan Bianchi (Boston College), ‘Agrarian violence and popular protest: The Rockite insurgency in County Limerick in the 1820s'

Sean Connolly (QUB), ‘Was there really and “Irish Land Question”?’

Terry Dunne (Indep.), ‘The Special Infantry Corps and agrarian agitation in Clare, 1923’

Aidan Gilsenan (Maynooth), ‘The wounded soldiers of the Land war: the reinstatement of evicted tenants, 1891-1914’

Peter Gray (QUB), ‘What happened at Holycross? The origins of the Irish Tenant League in Munster, 1847-50’

Breandan Mac Suibhne (Galway), ‘What happened to this house? Brian Friel and his mother’s people, c.1660-1960’

Marc Mulholland (Oxford), 'The Rising of the Moon - an interpretation of peasant resistance'.

Constantin Torve (QUB), ‘“We can no longer exist under the yoke of our landlords or employers”: Agrarian protest and wage labour in the pre-Famine period’

Concluding remarks: Dr Sophie Cooper (QUB)

All welcome in-person or online via Teams
This event is supported by the Irish Committee for Historical Sciences