27 - 30 June 2024
In July 1927, government minister Kevin O'Higgins was assassinated near his home in Booterstown, Dublin. Appointed Minister for Home Affairs in 1922 at the height of the Civil War, he advocated draconian measures to combat anti treaty activities, including agreeing to the executions of 81 men, one of whom, Rory O'Connor, had been his best man at his own wedding. He once famously described the first government of the Irish Free State as 'conservative revolutionaries'. Arthur Mathews, co-creator of a rather more beloved personality, Father Ted Crilly, looks at the world of O'Higgins, and his relationships with his family, friends and bitter enemies.
