Diarmaid Ferriter

Career

Ferriter is Professor of Modern Irish History at University College Dublin. He was formerly a senior lecturer in history at St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin City University. He is also the host of What If, a radio programme that broadcasts weekly on RTÉ 1.

In 2007, Ferriter wrote the critically acclaimed biography, Judging Dev. This was an insight into one of Ireland's most influential leaders, Éamon de Valera. It won in three categories of the 2008 Irish Book Awards. He was Burns Scholar at Boston College from 2008 to 2009.

In 2004, his book The Transformation of Ireland 1900–2000, at 900 pages and containing many new perspectives on modern Irish history, was considered a landmark publication. His book Occasions of Sin: Sex and Society in Modern Ireland (2009), considered the definitive history of sexuality in twentieth century Ireland, was met with widespread praise from reviewers at home and abroad.

In June 2010, he presented a three-part television series The Limits of Liberty, about how the senior politicians of the Irish Republic and Irish Free State were more concerned about holding on to power than changing policy for the benefit of the people.

It was reported in July 2012 that Tim Lyons of Athenry, Co Galway, "claimed a photo of him with two pints of stout on the cover of Prof Ferriter's A Nation of Extremes – The Pioneers in Twentieth Century Ireland depicts him as an alcoholic... [Ennis Circuit] Judge Keys reserved the issue of costs pending the outcome of the full hearing".

Ferriter's book, Ambiguous Republic: Ireland in the 1970s, published in November 2012, considers the widespread social, cultural, economic and political upheavals of the decade, a time when the Northern Irish Troubles profoundly affected the governance of the Republic, when Ireland joined the EEC, when for the first time a majority of the population lived in urban areas, and when economic challenges abounded. The 1970s in Ireland also witnessed an increasingly visible feminist movement, and the political and legal establishments and other powerful institutions including the Church began to be subjected to a new criticism.

In 2013, in response to the release of tape recordings from Anglo Irish Bank, Ferriter discussed his thoughts on what future historians would ask about contemporary Ireland, questions such as "Was there nothing that would bring the Irish to the barricades during the financial meltdown? Why did a country that fought a war of independence in the early 20th Century become so compliant and docile in the face of the exposure of systemic corruption and the destruction of that independence nearly a century later? And why were those responsible not made accountable and punished?" In 2013, Ferriter played a leading role in the Democracy Matters group that successfully campaigned against the government's proposal to abolish the Irish Senate; the proposal was defeated in a referendum in October 2013. In 2014 he became a weekly columnist with The Irish Times.

In 2015, Ferriter published his account of the revolutionary years of the early twentieth century in 'A Nation and Not a Rabble: The Irish Revolution 1913-1923'. Based on new sources and perspectives, it was acclaimed by the Irish Independent as "magisterial", and "Giving Voice to history's silent souls" . (Irish Independent, 14 March 2015)