"Acts of Union" : The Bicentennial Symposia

Millenium fever may grip the world but January 1, 2001 is the true bicentenary of the Act of Union in Irish Studies - as every slavishly literal historian knows Already conference organisers are rising to the occasion with literary and historical venues planned in Belfast, Gorey (Co. Wexford) and in Monaco. In a tri-corn affair employing the joint resources of Queen's University, Belfast, the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (HMPRO), and the Royal Historical Society, Professor Peter Jupp and Dr. David Lammey are summoning nine speakers on 9th-11th September, 1999, to address such topics as 'The Union in British History (J. G. A. Pocock), 'Britian the Union, 1797-1807' (Peter Jupp), 'The Ascendancy and the Union (L. M. Cullen), 'The Union in a European Context' (William Doyle), 'The Catholics and the Union' (unconfirmed speaker [we think we guess - Ed.], 'The Union and Popular Politics in Ireland' (James Kelly), 'The Irish Peerage and the Union, 1797-1820 (A. P. W. Malcomson), 'The Union and the Military, 1801-1830 (Allan Blackstock), 'Ireland, India and Empire, 1783-1914 (C. A. Bayly), and 'The Union and the Economy, 1801-1830' (Trevor McCavery). Registration forms sound be sought and send to the Exec. Sec., Royal History Society, University College, London, Gower St., London, WC1E 6BT.

Clearly representing the other constituency is the agenda at the Byrne/Perry Summer School in Gorey taking place under the direction of Daire Keogh (Drumcondra) and scheduled for 25th-27th June 1999, where Jim Smyth (Notre Dame), James Kelly (Drumcondra), Willa Murphy (Notre Dame), Julie Costello (Hope Coll., IL), Peter MacDonagh (Cambridge), Terry Eagleton (Oxford), Ronan Fanning (UCD) will divide in panels to address 'The Historical Framework', 'Writing the Union', and-two topics framed as interrogatives-'Breaking the Union?: The Religious Question' and 'How stands the Union Today?' Roseanna Cunningham, the Scottish-Nationalist MP, and Robert McCartney, the UK Unionist Party leader, join Terry Eagleton to address the latter question under Ronan Fanning's chairmanship, while Liam Kenny (Dir. Gen., Council of County Councils), John Gray (Linen Hall, Belfast), and Vivienne Kelly (S. Education & Library Board, NI), will chair the other sessions. During this year's conference Seamus Mallon (SDLP MP & Deputy 1st Minister NI) will give the Gordon Wilson Memorial Lecture. An Taoiseach Mr. Bertie Ahern will open the conference. Information can be sought from V. Rev. W. forde, tel. 053-59769, or Dáire Keogh at tel. 01-8376191, email <dairekeogh@spd.ie>

The Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco) symposium on "Hearts and Minds: Ireland under the Act of Union", planned for 1st-3rd Sept. 2000, will address literary and cultural aspects of the period in Ireland. Those already billed include Anthony Cronin (keynote), Terence Brown (TCD), Declan Kiberd (UCD), Tom Dunne (NUI/Cork), Claire Connolly (Aberysthwyth), Marianne Elliott (Irish Studies/Liverpool), J. W. Foster (British Columbia), A. N. Jeffares (Stirling/emeritus), Joep Leerssen (Amsterdam), Ann McCartney (Ulster), W. J. McCormack (Goldsmith), James Murphy (All Hallows) and Norman Vance (East Anglia). The Symposium is designed to result in a book appearing with perfect aplomb in January 2001 - in keeping with the Library's current reputation for prompt publication of printed outcomes secured with the rapid appearance of the 2-volume Proceedings of a Conference on the Supernatural and Fantastic held in Monaco during May 29th-June 3rd 1998 within three months of that occasion, which was opened by HSH Prince Albert of Monaco and featured Daithí hÓgáin, Christopher Morash, Peter Kuch and Terence Brown as keynote speakers, with Mebdh McGuckian and Harry Clifton acting as conference poets. [See further under Publishing News.] The "Union" conference will coincide with the online delivery of Eirdata 2000, an extensive corpus of Irish literary records, for which an auspicious official launch testifying to both its Irish and its Monegasque connections is planned. Contact Bruce Stewart, Literary Adviser to the Library, at email <bsg.stewart@ulst. Ac.uk> or <pglib@monaco.mc>. There is a web page at http://monaco.mc/pglib where further developments will be announced.