The Irish in Europe

To coincide with Ireland holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from July to December of this year, Professor Thomas O’Connor will speak on the centuries-long influence of the Irish on European society and culture. His talk explores the activities and achievements of the considerable number of Irish men and women who divided their lives between their homeland and its European neighbours.

The talk will present aspects of the Irish emigration to Europe in the early modern period and will contextualise its significance within the overall panorama of the evolution of Ireland as part of the European system. It will be of interest to those concerned with the history of the formation of Ireland and its relationship with its European neighbours.

Professor Thomas O’Connor is the director of the Maynooth University Arts & Humanities Institute. He is editor of The Irish in Europe, 1580–1815 (2006), and is co-editor, with Professor Mary Ann Lyons, of Irish Migrants in Europe after Kinsale, 1602–1820 (2003); Irish Communities in Early Modern Europe (2006); and The Ulster Earls and Baroque Europe (2010), all published by the Four Courts Press. He also co-authored with Professor Lyons a guide to the Strangers to Citizens : the Irish in Europe, 1600-1800 exhibition catalogue in 2008 at the National Library Ireland.

Professor O'Connor has published several monographs on early modern European history, including on the Iberian Inquisition, and has edited a collection of essays on abroad colleges in early modern Europe. He has also co-edited an essay collection presenting new archival research on individual Catholic colleges in seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe.

This illustrated lecture is presented by the OPW as part of the 2026 Cultural Programme at Rathfarnham Castle. Doors open at 3pm and the presentation runs from 3.30pm to 4.30pm. Tickets are €5 including booking fee.