20th century finds place in Trinity

Expect an announcement shortly on the world's first chair in contemporary Irish history, about to be established in TCD's department of modern history. It is understood that the chair will relate to the history of the whole of the 20th century. The major strengths of TCD's modern history department are the 17th and 19th centuries. However, some courses do cover 20th-century periods: "Radical politics in the Irish Free State 1923-45" is regarded as a popular choice among third- and fourth-year students, for example. It is understand that, by establishing the new chair, the college hopes to strengthen its research into a period in which there is an abundance of archival material; new areas of research in 20th-century Ireland will also be identified. The possibilities are enormous and include North/South issues, the Irish diaspora and social changes in Ireland during the last 100 years.