In conversation with Hilary Fennell.

Over the next few years, we will find ourselves in a whirlwind of War of Independence centenary commemorations. It was a nationwide fight for freedom and here the rebel streets of Cork city heaved with revolution.

Still got a pressie to buy or are you expecting some vouchers on Christmas Day? Richard Fitzpatrick picks the best book of the year in 10 different genres

Renegades: Irish Republican Women 1900-1922

WHILE Eamon de Valera was dreaming of comely maidens dancing at the crossroads, young boys were being flogged and buggered by a sordid assortment of perverted clergy and depraved Christian Brothers.