Following the speech by British Prime Minister Teresa May on 17 January, 2017, Brendan Halligan gives an update and analysis as part of the IIEA’s Status Report event the following day.
To hear Brendan’s speech only, click here
To see and listen to the full event (55 mins), click on the IIEA video:
A new version of Capital City Dublin 1974-75, a film by Brendan Halligan and Jim Mulkerns, was launched last Saturday, 5 November at the Irish Film Institute, and will be screened weekly as part of the Institute’s “Archive at Lunchtime” showings throughout the month of November, 2016.
The previously unreleased short film was made just over forty years ago, when Dublin looked more like a post-war European city in 1946 than a nineteen-seventies European capital. As Secretary of the Irish Labour Party in 1969, Brendan Halligan had originally commissioned independent film maker Jim Mulkerns to film the city as part of footage to be used for party political broadcasts. After filming more material for another party political broadcast in 1973, following which Labour came into power in the National Coalition Government, they worked together to produce a documentary, to show various public authorities with the idea of letting the images speak for themselves and prompt action.
For many years the film existed in silent celluloid only, under the preservation care of the IFI Irish Film Archive. Then, on the film’s fortieth Anniversary, Sunniva O’Flynn and Raelene Casey of the IFI Irish Film Archive facilitated conversion of a digital copy of Capital City Dublin 1974-75 for Scáthán, Halligan’s own publications and media imprint. Design and technical production on a new DVD edition was undertaken by Jim Mulkerns’s daughter Helena, whose company Cyberscribe created the 2016 titles and look.
Next came a new original soundtrack from musician Josh Johnston, who had previously worked with the IFI Irish Film Archive as a live accompanist for screenings of his Grandfather Denis’s film, Guests of the Nation. His score lends a haunting new aspect to the film.
The film with its new score will be screened alongside two other short films by Jim Mulkerns – An tOileánach a d’Fhill (1970) and Ireland Invites You (1966), as part of the Lunchtime Archive Screenings at the IFI throughout the month of November 2016.
The film can be purchased direct from Cyberscribe or at the film shop on the premises of the Irish Film Institute, Temple Bar, Dublin (01-679-5727). To watch the film exclusively on this website, click here.
Brendan Halligan saluted a new book written by IIEA Senior Fellow Tony Brown yesterday at the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin. The launch of Vision and Reality – A History of 25 Years of the Institute of International and European Affairs was launched to coincide with the Annual General Meeting of the Institute, and was received with huge enthusiasm by Institute members and attendees at the event.
Halligan praised the book itself for its broad vision: that of capturing the history and development of the Institute in one comprehensive tome. Its seven chapters take us from the origins of the organisation through its actual founding, the nuts and bolts of its development and implementation, the progression of its concept of scholarship, dialogue and activism, the exploration of the many issues it has addressed, and its embracing of the new issues like Climate Change and the digital world.
He noted that “Vision and Reality” is commendable not only for its meticulous attention to detail, but its fine writing style, which allows the reader to enjoy and fully appreciate the depth and breadth of its subject. (more…)
Marian Finucane: … but first … a political story of particular importance to women. This week, for the first time, an elected representative of one of the three main political parties went on record as supporting the introduction of abortion into this country. The politician is Labour Euro MP Brendan Halligan, and he took the step when he voted in the European Parliament’s Debate on Women in Strasbourg on Tuesday. His action is likely to cause him 
problems within his own party and is something bound to come up at the Euro elections in June. But this was only one amendment in a debate on women that was far-ranging and in the main constructive. Brendan Halligan, you are hot off the plane from Strasbourg having been at the Debate on Women of the European Parliament. How would you describe what took place there?
Brendan Halligan: Well, I described it in a speech as a very historic day for the European Parliament, it was the first time that I think any parliament anywhere in Europe has given an entire day – it was a very special session – to a debate on the situation of women. What the Parliament was debating was in fact a 550-page report that I have here on the table in front of me, which literally examined the situation of women in every aspect of life, within every country. It is to the credit of the European Parliament that it has done something that all the other parliaments have lacked the courage to do an do. I would suggest that the 550-page report exceeds anything that has been done by any research institute, sociological university or whatever. The debate itself is really saying that women are discriminated against in a whole variety of ways in this society, and that this must be ended, and it called on the ten member states to act in unison to take corrective measures. (more…)
A new version of Capital City Dublin 1974-75, a film by Brendan Halligan and Jim Mulkerns, will have a special advance-launch screening as part of Ireland’s Culture Night, on 16 September, 2016.
For many years the film existed in silent celluloid only, under the preservation care of the Irish Film Archive. Then, on the film’s fortieth Anniversary, the idea of a creating a new version of the film came about. Sunniva O’Flynn and Raelene Casey of the Irish Film Archive facilitated conversion of a digital copy of Capital City Dublin 1974-75 for Scáthán, Brendan Halligan’s own publications and media imprint. Design and technical production on the project came from Jim Mulkerns’s daughter Helena, whose company Cyberscribe created the 2016 titles and look.
Next came a new original soundtrack from Dublin musician Josh Johnston. Johnston, who had previously worked with the Irish Film Archive as a live accompanist for screenings of his Grandfather Denis’s film, Guests of the Nation. With a launch and select distribution of the DVD to take place in the coming months, this special screening for Culture Night, 16 September 2016, will take place at Dublin’s Unitarian Church on Stephen’s Green at 10pm.
