Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Almost as old as the state whose history he helped to write, John A Murphy’s work received permanent acknowledgment as University College Cork helped him mark his 90th birthday last night.

WHEN Britain’s Queen Elizabeth came to Cork, in 2011, as part of her official visit to Ireland, she was shown a statue of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, a locally made sculpture that once graced the highest gable of Queen’s University Cork, now University College Cork.

THE title of Pat Talbot’s new play, A Great Arrangement, is a reference to what the director describes as “almost a fantasy” that Michael Collins and Kitty Kiernan had. 

John A Murphy suggests there is far less to the Proclamation of the Republic than is often

John Bruton is concerned about the appropriateness of army officers speaking in our primary schools about the 1916 Proclamation (Irish Examiner, January 23, 2016).

Your article (Irish Examiner, July 3) on the passing of the late Val Doonican rightly notes the widespread regret at the departure of such a popular and unassuming entertainer.

John A Murphy is not quite correct in his letter (Irish Examiner, June 26) about Thomas Kent.

The archaeological ‘dig’ to locate the remains of executed 1916 man Thomas Kent in Collins Barracks Cork, with a view to a subsequent pomp-and-circumstance reburial, is surely an ill-conceived and undignified project.

You’ve read our reports and editorials on tomorrow’s same-sex marriage referendum. Now it’s time for your voice to be heard

The centenary of the 1916 Rising would best be marked with the drafting of a new Constitution, not a new Proclamation, writes TP O’Mahony            

According to Fiachra O Cionnaith’s report (Irish Examiner, April 14), former president Mary McAleese insists we must support the ‘Yes’ side in the May 22 referendum, if we want to finally live up to the ‘constitutional promise to cherish all children equally.’

Lord of the Dance star Michael Flatley and his wife Niamh, are to be made honorary Corkonians.

Professor John A Murphy is ignoring a lot of historical evidence to the contrary when he says the prospects for the Home Rule Act of 1914 was just a world of ‘genteel order envisaged by well-off elite’ and a world away from ‘an independent Ireland’ (Irish Examiner, September 23).

To mark the bicentenary of the birth of Thomas Davis (1814-1845), UCC Emeritus Professor John A Murphy , assessed the patriot’s significance in a lecture on March 11, 2014 in Mallow, Davis’s birthplace. Here is the full text of his address.

In previous letters I have been pointing out how wildly inaccurate the predictions of weather “guru” Ken Ring have turned out to be. Now that we’re in early spring, let us consider how his forecasts over the last few months have stood up.

Close links between University College Cork and Kerry dating to the mid-19th century were recalled yesterday when the board of governors held its first meeting in the county.

It is astonishing that Lynne Kelleher has blithely announced (Irish Examiner, Jan 2) more prophecies from weather ‘guru’ Ken Ring, considering his wild inaccuracy. Does Ms Kelleher check Mr Ring’s forecasts against the outcomes?

THE news that two major films may begin production here in the near future has again focused an international gaze on Ireland’s film industry and the possibility of big-budget blockbusters returning to these shores once more.

Michael Collins was vain, conspiratorial, and probably died a virgin, a UCC professor said on unveiling a plaque in honour of the former rebel leader in Bandon last night.

The arguments used in the Seanad referendum campaign seem to me to be increasingly irrelevant.

In a letter to the Irish Examiner on Jul 13 last, I pointed out that weather guru Ken Ring’s forecasting for the early summer months of the year turned out to be erroneous in numerous respects.

Professor John A Murphy has called on the Government to honour Daniel O’Connell, whom he deems the father of democracy in Ireland, with a national holiday.

An eminent historian has called on the State to declare a Daniel O’Connell national memorial day to honour “the father of Irish democracy”.

The Daniel O’Connell School, discontinued for a number of years in his native Co Kerry, is to be revived this week.

In your article (Jul 9) on the present fine spell, you report on the further forecasts of New Zealand weather “guru” Ken Ring.

A bright light went out yesterday in Irish sport and news journalism with the death after a brief illness of one of its best known practitioners — John A Murphy.

As strong as the Catholic Church may have seemed, one of the reasons for the Pope’s 1979 visit was worry over its decline, writes Diarmaid Ferriter

THE past is rising up to meet us, and already the brickbats are flying as commemorations galore are just around the corner.

John A Murphy, emeritus professor of Irish history at UCC, claims that the proponents of the 1916 Rising had no mandate from the general public to take up arms on their behalf.

Michael Collins’s vision of Ireland as a centre of economic excellence has been compared by many commentators both to our Celtic Tiger excess and our current woes, writes John Daly

THE annual Michael Collins commemoration will come in for particular attention this year because it’s the 90th anniversary, and the Taoiseach will be the orator.

Hundreds of fans are set to throng a well-known Cork pub from Friday for a weekend of leprechaun tales, ballads and sean nós singing.

I was born in Macroom, the youngest of four.

HE may not have been much of a sportsman but noted historian John A Murphy has evoked many of memories of athletic prowess by bringing to life University College Cork’s sporting heritage in his latest book.

THERE are occasions when even a monarch has to bow to the inevitable but it couldn’t have happened in a nicer way.

IN his review (November 5) of Gerard Murphy’s new book, The Year of Disappearances: Political Killings in Cork, 1921-1922, Eoghan Harris refers to a comment (not a “jibe”) I made several years ago (now quoted in the book) that “there was no ethnic cleansing on the South Mall”.

SOME of Cork’s best- known figures have spoken of their sense of place and belonging as part of a new book.

SOME of Cork’s best- known figures have opened their hearts to speak of their sense of place and belonging for a new book.

CORK City libraries have, once again, performed a noteworthy public service, principally through the efforts of librarian Liam Ronayne and Kitty Buckley of the music library.