The All for Ireland League was a small political party that existed between 1910-1918 mostly based in Cork where it took eight of the nine parliamentary seats in the general election of December 1910 and took control of local government the following year. It represented the only organised split in the nationalist movement prior to the Easter Rising of 1916, and sparked widespread rioting between supporters of the League and John Redmond’s Home Rule movement. The central aim of the All for Ireland League was a reconciliation between the two traditions in Ireland, Catholic nationalists and Protestant unionists, and it exposed a central weakness in Irish nationalism – the failure to build an inclusive vision of nationhood. The founder of the League, William O’Brien, warned that this would result in a perpetual cycle of violence and instability, what he called the Banshee’s Kiss.

Dr Patrick Murphy, from the Nottingham Irish Studies Group, is the author of The All for Ireland League: Conflict, Conciliation and the Banshee’s Kiss, the first detailed research into this forgotten piece of Irish history; an echo from the past with an urgent relevance for today.

Ticket money redeemable against any Irish-interest book bought on the night

This event forms part of the St Patrick’s Day festival in the city

Refreshments provided