Well, Holy God - Life as an Irish, Catholic Agnostic Correspondent’

Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent, The Irish Times

📅Monday, November 18, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Patsy has been the faithful and trusted ‘eyes and ears’ of Irish society throughout a prolonged era of great trauma and recurring scandal in religious affairs in Ireland and elsewhere.

The authoritarian rigorous culture of Catholic Ireland was not allowed to become detached from the dark days of history as the underlying painful truth was exposed in forensic State reports and insightful and skilled media narrative. We consequently did not turn our back on the past.

Patsy is the author of:

‘Well, Holy God: My Life as an Irish Catholic Agnostic’ (2024)

‘Christianity, While Justice Slept: The True Story of Nicky Kelly and the Sallins Train Robbery’ (2006)

First Citizen: Mary McAleese and the Irish Presidency’ (2008)

'The Artist Citizen: A Revolution of the Heart within the Arts'

Professor Deborah Kelleher, Director Royal Irish Academy of Music

📅Monday, November 11, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Deborah was appointed Director of the RIAM in October 2010 and has played an integral role in the development of the institution’s profile, outreach, estate, and academic courses.

The RIAM has been an associate college of Trinity College since 2013 and the number of students entering RIAM’s third-level programmes has tripled.

Deborah has overseen a significant increase in professional development courses for private music teachers throughout Ireland and internationally who enter over 35,000 students for RIAM Examinations.

The RIAM reopened its transformed campus on Westland Row involving an investment of €27 million., an initiative that was underway during the tenure of Dennis Jennings as Chairman of RIAM (2017-2022).

‘Finding the DNA of an Architectural Design’

Yvonne Farrell, Founding Partner Grafton Architects

📅Monday, November 4, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara started Grafton Architects 46 years ago in a studio on Grafton Street by. It began with their contribution to the fabric of Dublin.

Today, the firm has a global footprint and a portfolio of widely acclaimed prestigious buildings across the world characterized by Genius Loci – the unique spirit of place; the inherent tension between sky and ground and the ethical obligation that a building ought to respond to its context.

Yvonne and Shelley were awarded the Pritzker Prize 2020, considered the highest accolade in architecture

They are also laureates of the Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Gold Medal 2020; the Gandon Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Architecture as well as the RIAI Gold Medal for Bocconi University Milan in 2019. Their Milan project was also awarded World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival.

Yvonne and Shelley acted as curators for the Venice Biennale 2018, the largest architecture festival in the world

Both are professors in the Accademia d’Archittura, Mendrisio Switzerland, an academy recognized for its indisputable excellence that seeks to significantly influence the architecture of the future. They previously held the Kenzo Tange Chair at Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Louis Kahn at Yale University.

Grafton Architects is located at the junction of College Green and Trinity Street in a classical building erected between 1899 and 1901.

No Meeting - October Public Holiday

📅Monday, October 28, 2024
🕥00:00 - 00:00

‘Luxeuil Abbey France 1950: Ireland and the foundation of the European Union’

Dr Jean-Michel Picard, Professor Emeritus UCD School of Languages and Literature

📅Monday, October 21, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

St Columbanus (543-615), a native of Myshall Co Carlow, was one of the first to voice the concept of a united Europe, a perspective reflected in the founding of the EU 1,400 years later.

He and 12 Irish monks established Luxeuil Abbey in Luxeuil-les-Bains, Franche-Comté in 590. They fostered Celtic monastic traditions. Luxeuil Abbey was one of the oldest and became one of the best-known monasteries in France.

Columbanus inspired Robert Schuman (1886-1963), former French Foreign Minister and devout Catholic, who with Jean Monnet (1888-1979) jointly published the ‘Schuman Plan’ on 9 May 1950 to place French and German coal and steel under a single authority.

Schuman held that ‘Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity’.

Josephine McNeill (1895-1969), the first Irish woman to lead a diplomatic mission, reported from The Hague that ‘the speed of French thinking left the Dutch slightly stunned’ because ‘France’s insistence on Big Power status had been proving a seriously obstructive factor to European co-operation’.

Pope Francis placed Schuman on the road to sainthood in 2021 by declaring him ‘Venerable’. Archbishop Noël Treanor, Apostolic Nuncio to the EU unveiled a plaque to Schuman at Luxeuil Abbey on 15 June this year – less than two months before Treanor died unexpectedly last month.

‘What Did We Learn from the Decade of Centenaries?’

Dr Maurice Manning Chairman Decade of Centenaries Expert Advisory Group (2011-2023)

📅Monday, October 14, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The non-partisan Expert Advisory Group was established under the auspices of the Department of An Taoiseach with a mandate to advise the Government on historical matters relating to the Decade of Centenaries and to consult widely with academic, community and voluntary groups and members of the public to ensure that significant events are commemorated accurately, proportionately and appropriately in tone.

'The Path to The White House, 2024'

Professor Scott Lucas, Professor of International Politics, UCD Clinton Institute; media commentator - IE, UK and elsewhere

📅Monday, October 7, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The two leading candidates in the 2020 US Presidential elections. attracted over 155 million votes. President Biden’s victory of 74 Electoral College votes is attributable to a majority of less than 173,000 votes (0.11% of the total votes cast nationwide) in six swing states + an electoral district in Nevada.

Donald Trump won the 2016 election with 62.9 million votes, 2.8 million votes fewer than the total popular vote won by Hillary Clinton. Despite winning 13 million more votes in 2020 than in 2016 Trump was defeated.

Biden’s 81.2 million votes in 2020 was the highest number of votes ever won by a US presidential candidate.

'Ireland's Forgotten Laws from Brehon Laws to Common Law - a bridge too far, or Dancing at Lughnasa?

Mr. Justice Esmond Smyth Probus Member; Chairman, Residential Institutions Redress Board (2008+)

📅Monday, September 30, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

In theory, common law arrived in Ireland in 1169 but became widespread in the 17th Century. The spread of English common law to Ireland has been described as 'the first adventure of the common law.'

Prior to English rule, Ireland had its own indigenous system of law dating from the Celtic era. Brehon Law developed from customs that had been passed, in the first instance, orally, from one generation to the next.

Brehon Law was written from the 7th Century and evolved as a system that was highly complex and sophisticated.

‘Dialogue in the time of omni-crisis’

Turlough O’Donnell SC

📅Monday, September 23, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'If you talk to a man or woman in a language that he, or she understands, that goes to their head.

If you talk to him, or her, in their own language that goes to their heart'

Nelson Mandela

‘A View from China’

Declan Kelleher Ambassador to the Peoples' Republic of China (2014-2013) Permanent Representative of Ireland to the EU (2013-2020)

📅Monday, September 16, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Ireland and China established diplomatic relations in July 1979.

Ireland does not have a unique ‘China Strategy’ but presents the China-Ireland axis as a strategic partnership shaped by EU and UN Security Council membership, economic opportunity and neutrality. The number of ethnic Chinese in Ireland is estimated at 60,000.

When he was Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2018, Simon Coveney stated: ‘Ireland is ready to step into the gap created by Brexit and wishes to replace Britain as China’s new trusted friend’.

Ireland is the only EU member state with a trade surplus with China. Over 75% of Ireland’s integrated circuit exports are destined for China. Oruna (known until 2015 as The Irish Dairy Board), Kerry Group, Glanbia and CRH have set up factories and R&D centres in China.

There are more than 40 Chinese companies employing 3,000 staff in Ireland, concentrated mainly in IT, finance and aviation leasing – the most notable being Huawei Technologies, Tiktok, and Wuxi Biologics, Dundalk.

Ursula von der Leyen warned in March 2023 that growing ties between Moscow and Beijing presented a need for a ‘new vision’ for Europe’s relationship with China with the framing of a de-risking, not decoupling approach. 18 months later this continues as a ‘work-in-progress’ without a uniform EU response - impacted by China’s centrality in the green transition

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, the second highest ranking official in the political system, made a two-day visit to Dublin last January reflecting a Chinese desire to 'work more closely and build on what has already been achieved' on many issues. The Taoiseach indicated that the two countries 'will not agree on everything but expressed a commitment to deeper economic ties based on transparency and fair competition'.

An economics graduate of Oxford, Declan was Ireland’s 7th Ambassador to China serving for a period of 9 years.

‘Politics and Change’ A personal reflection on retiring from a 42-year career in politics

Richard Bruton TD

📅Monday, September 9, 2024
🕥10:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Upon graduating from Oxford, Richard Bruton’s career began as a research economist at ERSI, PJ Carroll & Co Ltd and CRH Plc

His national political career began in 1981 when he was elected to Seanad Éireann from the Agricultural Panel.

Richard announced on 5 September 2023 that he will not contest the next general election which will elect the membership of the 34th Dáil

‘Gael Linn – Entrepreneurs for Irish since 1953; 70 bliain ag fás’

Pádhraic Ó’Ciardha Cathaoirleach Gael Linn (2018-2024) Deputy Chief Executive TG4 (1996-2018)

📅Monday, September 2, 2024
🕥10:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Pádhraic joined Raidió na Gaeltachta in 1979. Having been heavily involved in the policy development and the evaluation that led to the Government decision to establish TG4, he joined the station in 1996 and was the longest serving employee when he retired from TG4 in 2018.

Gael Linn was founded in May 1953 by Dónall Ó’Móráin (1923-2001) with a mission to introduce a modern age of Irish language and culture that would also be a catalyst to embarrass the Government into action.

During the 1950’s Gael Linn supported the promotion of short films and newsreels. In 1955 Gael Linn established the Damer Theatre in the basement of the Unitarian Church, St Stephen’s Green to stage amateur productions and operated until 1976. The 1959 feature-length documentary film Mise Éire included an acclaimed score by composer Seán Ó’Riada (1931-1971)

‘This New Ocean: Sailing the Cosmic Sea’

Leo Enright, Broadcaster and science communicator

📅Monday, August 26, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Leo Enright’s interest in space began as a schoolboy in the 1960’s. He has broadcast live commentaries on every major space event since the first Moon landing and as a foreign correspondent with RTÉ and BBC. He is the co-author of ‘The Encyclopaedia of Space Travel and Astronomy’ with the American astronomer, and planetary scientist Professor Carl Sagan; Sir Bernard Lovell (1913-2012) first director of Jodrell Bank Observatory from 1945 to 1980.

Leo is a former Chairman of the Government’s science awareness programme, Discover Science and Engineering and was a member of the Board of Governors of the School of Cosmic Physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

‘Serendipity: Benign providence or dumb flukes in Anglo-Irish relations and elsewhere.'

Michael Lillis, Former diplomat in Washington; first Head Anglo-Irish Secretariat, Maryfield Belfast; Ambassador to UN Vienna.

📅Monday, August 19, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

‘The Rainbow Café - Reminiscences of Troubled Times'

Mark Leslie, Narrative Architect (Cambridge and Harvard)

📅Monday, August 12, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Reflections on The Troubles by a border resident.

Mark’s formative years were spent in Castle Leslie, the 1,000-acre estate at Glaslough, Co Monaghan, of which he is a trustee and which was the wedding venue in 2002 of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.

Mark's ancestor, John Leslie (1571- 1671) was chaplain to King James I (1566-1625) of Scotland before being appointed Bishop of Raphoe in 1633, then a stronghold of Presbyterianism since the Plantation.

Leslie was known as ‘the fighting bishop’ for his resistance during the Rising of 1641 and his resistance to Cromwell’s New Model Army a decade later.

Following the Restoration the new king Charles II, Leslie’s former pupil, appointed John Leslie Bishop of Clogher and he purchased Castle Leslie. The bishop married for the first time at the age of 69. He and his 18-year old bride, Catherine Cunningham, subsequently had a family of ten children. The Leslie's were never absentee landlords throughout the three centuries of their presence in Ireland.

Mark is a first cousin, twice remove, of Winston Churchill who persuaded Mark’s grandfather, Sir Shane Leslie (1885-1971) a 1905 convert to Catholicism and a supporter of Home Rule, to stand as the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate for the Londonderry City constituency in the January 1910 general election, losing by just 57 votes to James Hamilton (1869-1953), 3rd Duke of Abercorn, who was first Governor of Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1945.

No Meeting - Public Holiday

📅Monday, August 5, 2024
🕥00:00 - 00:00

'Climate Action - is it all over bar the shouting?'

Alex White SC Director-General (Jan 2023+) Institute of International and European Affairs

📅Monday, July 29, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

TD (2011-2016)

Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources (2014-2016)

Chair, Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform (2011-2012)

Member Seanad Éireann (2007-2011)

Radio Producer RTÉ (1984-1994)

This talk will address the yawning gap between what needs to be done, on the one hand - and what is politically achievable (here and internationally) on the other

‘Show & Tell”

Members and Probus Guests

📅Monday, July 22, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Reminiscent of the BBC Antiques Roadshow, members and Probus guests are invited to present memorabilia about which they can tell a brief underlying story.

‘A Wine Obsession’

Ciaran Gallagher, Probus Member

📅Monday, July 15, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Ciaran enjoys excellent wine but imbibes sparingly

Stirred by passion and curiosity, he built a wine cellar at his home in Castleknock where he accumulated a collection of 2,000+ exotic vintages over the years.

30th Birthday Celebration of Probus Dun Laoghaire Marine

Guest-of-Honour: Norma Foley TD, Minister for Education

📅Wednesday, July 10, 2024
🕥12:30 - 15:30
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the inauguration in 1994 of Probus Dun Laoghaire Marine by the late Canon Robin Armstrong, President Dun Laoghaire Rotary Club and Rector, Christ Church Dun Laoghaire and Chief Superintendent Bill Herlihy.

‘Ireland in World Aviation, a personal perspective’

Donal Lamont Former Air Corp pilot Former captain, Aer Lingus; Former Operations Inspector Irish Aviation Authority

📅Monday, July 8, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

‘The Life and Music of Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)’

Raymond Burke, Probus Member

📅Monday, July 1, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Prokofiev, an only child, was born in Donetsk Oblast, now Ukraine’s most populous province with 4.1 million residents. Donetsk was then part of the Russian Empire and since 30 September 2022 was annexed by Russia, despite a UN resolution upholding Ukraine's right to territorial integrity.

Prokofiev's father was an agronomist (crop scientist) from a mercantile family who managed a village estate. His mother came from a family of former serfs in St Petersburg who had been owned by the Sheremetev family, an old noble family which derived its prestige and wealth from Emperor Peter the Great (1672-1725) in long wars against the Ottoman and Swedish Empires.

Well educated, she was a talented pianist who nurtured her son’s potential. He became the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th Century.

He died in Moscow on 5 March 1953. Joseph Stalin also died in Moscow that day.

'The Story of Kilmallock'

Kevin Carroll, Probus Member; Native of Kilmallock; IDA Ireland (1978-2018)

📅Monday, June 24, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire (map)

From being an early monastic centre, Kilmallock Co Limerick grew to be one of the most important and prosperous inland towns of Munster with strong commercial links to the ports of Cork and Limerick.

Kevin will capture the story of the people who influenced it’s rise and demise since the establishment of a church or place of worship by St Mocheallog in the early 7th century on a hill about 4km to the west of the town.

‘Outcome of the 2024 Elections to the European Parliament’

Professor Brigid Laffan MRIA, Probus Member; Chancellor, University of Limerick; 2024 Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal in Social Sciences; Council Member ERSI

📅Monday, June 17, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

‘Making Waves: Sonnets about Dr Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961), Nobel Laureate, Dublin Institute for

Professor Iggy McGovern, Award winning poet; Physicist; 57th Pro-Chancellor of Trinity College

📅Monday, June 10, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Professor Iggy McGovern recognises that science and poetry are connected by rhythm and that the sonnet can be deployed as a memory genre to depict involuntary memories. Iggy published ‘Making Waves’, a 2021 book of sonnets dedicated to Dr Erwin Schrödinger, joint Nobel Laureate in Physics in 1933.

Emulating the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, which recruited Albert Einstein (1879-1955) as a Faculty member, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) was established as a statutory independent research institute in 1940 on the initiative of An Taoiseach, Éamon deValera (1882-1975).

Facilitated by the Irish Embassy in Rome deValera recruited Dr Schrödinger as Director of the School of Theoretical Physics. Schrödinger while in Geneva in 1939 during his presidency of the League of Nations.

Dr Schrödinger delivered a set of three public lectures in Trinity College in 1944 on how concepts in physics can be applied to living things. These were reported in Time magazine and this resulted in his seminal book ‘What is Life?’

Dr Schrödinger’s research in Dublin over the next 18 years focused on quantum theory – the fundamental laws that govern the smallest building blocks of nature. From computers, MRI machines and phones to GPS and fibre optic cables, many vital contemporary technologies are based on an understanding of quantum theory. But Schrödinger was also troubled by the philosophical implications of quantum physics and highlighted the absurdity of certain interpretations of quantum theory, a sentiment shared by his eminent contemporary Albert Einstein (1879-1955), the 1921 Nobel Laureate for Physics.

He resided at 26 Kincora Road Clontarf with his wife Anny (1896-1965) and mistress Hilde March. Each lady in the ménage ā trois bore a daughter. He also had at least two mistresses in Dublin who also bore a daughter – actress Sheila May and a Red Cross volunteer. deValera conferred Irish citizenship on Schrödinger before leaving government in 1948.

When The Irish Times revealed in December 2021 that he groomed and sexually abused young girls the Schrödinger Lecture Theatre in Trinity was renamed, as was the Schrödinger Building at the University of Limerick.

Probus member Dr John Hegarty is current Chairman of DIAS.

Public Holiday - No Meeting

📅Monday, June 3, 2024
🕥00:00 - 00:00

‘The School of Athens Fresco and the mystery surrounding it’

Michael A. Ryan, Probus Member; philosophy scholar; musician and former hotelier

📅Monday, May 27, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The School of Athens is a fresco in the Apostolic Palace created in 1509 by the Italian Renaissance artist, Rapheal (1483-1520) when he was 25 years old. Commissioned by Pope Julius II (1443-1513) six years into his pontificate it depicts a congregation of ancient philosophers, mathematicians and scientists with Plato and Aristotle featured in the centre but the identity of most figures are ambiguous or discernable only through subtle details or allusions.

‘The Negotiation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions’

Dáithí Ó'Ceallaigh, Ambassador to UN Geneva (2007-2009)

📅Monday, May 20, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)
🔗https://www.clusterconvention.org

The successful conclusion of the UN Convention on Cluster Munitions between 112 parties on 30 May 2008 under the leadership of Dáithí Ó’Ceallaigh established a binding international instrument that prohibits all use, transfer, production and stockpiling of cluster munitions – a type of explosive that scatters ‘bomblets’ over a wide area that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

The Convention also secures adequate provision of care and rehabilitation to survivors and clearance of contaminated areas.

'From Tip to Top'

Peter Murtagh, Author, Biker, Intrepid Advernturer

📅Monday, May 13, 2024
🕥11:00 - 11:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The motorbike journey of a lifetime from Chile to Alaska, beyond the Arctic Circle

No Meeting - Public Holiday

📅Monday, May 6, 2024
🕥00:00 - 00:00

‘The Coming Revolution in Irish Energy Independence’

Ossian Smyth TD, Minister of State,Communications, Department of Environment, Climate and Communications

📅Monday, April 29, 2024
🕥00:00 - 12:00

‘Representing Ireland in Brexit Britain and in Trump’s America’

Dan Mulhall 18th Ambassador to United States (2017-2022) 16th Ambassador to United Kingdom (2013-2017)

📅Monday, April 22, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Upon retirement, New York University appointed Dan Mulhall Global Distinguished Professor in Irish Studies, teaching a seminar ‘Literature as History - Ireland 1880-1940’. He had been Parnell Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge in 2022-2023.

He was granted the Freedom of the City of London in 2017 and made a Freeman of his native Waterford in 2019.

‘Housing the People: Building the State in the first decade of the Free State’

Dr Ruth McManus Associate Professor, Geography School of History & Geography, DCU

📅Monday, April 15, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The Free State suffered severe infrastructure damage and damage to the wider economy in the aftermath of the Civil War. With a population less than 3 million in 1922, the estimated shortage was 46,000 houses - ⅔ rural; ⅓ urban. The size of the typical house was 3 rooms and the typical family comprised 5 persons. The typical habitation in Dublin was 1 room, many in overcrowded dilapidated tenements, and 49% of all urban families numbered 6, or more persons each.

‘The Right to Trial by Jury in Defamation Proceedings; consequences of proposed abolition’

Bernard Barton, Probus Member; Justice of the High Court (2014-2021)

📅Monday, April 8, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

If a complaint is heard in the High Court and there is a jury, the jury decides the amount of damages that should be awarded. If it is in the Circuit Court or the High Court (and there is no jury), the judge makes the decision.

A draft bill published plans to overhaul defamation law. Concern has been raised that the abolition of juries in defamation cases will put a significant distance between the public and the justice system - a development that could have unintended consequences but news media suggest that juries prevent ‘a more balanced view’ and that uncertain outcomes ‘strike fear’ into the heart of editors’

No Meeting - Easter Monday

📅Monday, April 1, 2024
🕥00:00 - 00:00

‘FE Smith and Carson, Casement and Collins'

Jim O'Callaghan SC TD, Fianna Fáil Spokesman on Justice

📅Monday, March 25, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Smith was a King’s Counsel; a skilled orator, noted for his staunch opposition to Irish nationalism and Home Rule. His political career began in 1903 as Conservative MP for the working class constituency of Walton, Liverpool.

He succeeded Edward Carson MP (1854-1935) as Attorney General on 3 November 1915. Smith led the prosecution of Roger Casement (1864-1916) for high treason in June 1916, who was tried under the same medieval statute of King Edward III (1312-1377) – as Robert Emmet (1778-1803) had been tried.

Lord Birkenhead, as Lord Chancellor, was one of the British negotiators and signatories of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921. He described the Treaty as ‘a document, which I believe, will be memorable in history’.

No Meeting

📅Monday, March 18, 2024
🕥00:00 - 00:00

Public Holiday, St Patrick's Day

'The Kenny Report - A Missed Opportunity'

Tim Ryan, Former Journalist and author of five books including The Irish Times Nealon’s Guide to 33rd Dáil. Biographer of Albert Reynolds, Dick Spring and PJ Mara. Member of Residential Tenancies Bo

📅Monday, March 11, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Tim Ryan’s latest book marks the 50th anniversary of the ‘Kenny Report’ by The Hon Mr Justice John Kenny (1917-1987), Member of the Supreme Court.

Bobby Molloy TD (1936-2016), then Minister for Local Government commissioned The Kenny Report. Justice Kenny was asked to consider and advise on possible measures to control the price of land. His Report produced radical recommendations but these never made it into law.

'The Challenge of News Gathering in Israel and Palestine and Reporting to the CNN Global Audience of

Andrew Carey CNN Bureau Jerusalem Chief (2016-2022) Chairman, Foreign Press Association (2019-2022) CNN Kyiv Bureau Chief (2022+)

📅Monday, March 4, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Census 2022 - Ireland's New Religious Demography - the Growth of No Religion'

His Grace, Most Rev Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland (2004-2020)

📅Monday, February 26, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Census 2022 indicates that the number of people in the State who reported having no religion increased to 763,210, over 14% of the population. 78% of these are Irish. The highest ratio reporting ‘No Religion’ resided in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. This was an increase of 63% over Census 2016 and an increase of 187% since Census 2011. A further 3,823 people reported that they were Agnostic or Atheist.

Archbishop Martin, his parents, his older brother Séamus (retired International Editor and foreign correspondent with The Irish Times) relocated to 173 Sarsfield Road in the late 1940’s from a tenement off Aungier Street when Dublin Corporation began the development of Ballyfermot. Sarsfield Road was the first street in the new neighbourhood.

Archbishop Martin retired with a powerful legacy most especially in the area of safeguarding. He demonstrated courageous leadership - never shirking responsibility while amply demonstrating empathy with those who suffered abuse.

He emphasized that ownership of social change is vital if change is to be accepted and fully embraced. ‘Ownership of social process does not mean exclusive private ownership within the terms of its own heritage but accepting ownership of the rights and traditions of others.’

'The Case for a Directly Elected Mayor of Dublin'

Councillor Dermot Lacey, Lord Mayor of Dublin (2002-2003)

📅Monday, February 19, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The Citizens Assembly in its final report launch in January 2023 recommended that provision be made for a directly elected Mayor of Dublin with responsibility for the four existing local authority areas in County Dublin.

It recommended that 15 specific areas of responsibility be devolved immediately to the proposed mayor – housing, homelessness, community healthcare, transport, the environment and emergency services.

Six other functions, including policing, water and education were recommended to be devolved after 5-10 years.

The foregoing has been under consideration by the Government for the past year.

‘The Food Cloud Story’

Aoibheann O’Brien Co-Founder & Partnership Director

📅Monday, February 12, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

FoodCloud is a not-for-profit social enterprise that was established in 2013 to tackle the twin issues of food waste and food insecurity. FoodCloud maintains surplus food

redistribution warehouses in Cork, Dublin and Galway and deploys technology to offer a managed service providing support to over 440 community groups that receive food from 600 food businesses and with the wider business community in four countries – Ireland, UK, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

No Meeting

📅Monday, February 5, 2024
🕥00:00 - 00:00

St Brigid's Public Holiday

‘The Roles of the Modern Zoo’

Dr Christoph Schwitzer, Director Dublin Zoo

📅Monday, January 29, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Dr Schwitzer, a zoo biologist and graduate of Univeristy of Cologne, had been Director of Dublin Zoo since July 2020. He had been Chief Zoological Officer, Director of Conservation and Head of Research at Bristol Zoo since 2006.

Dublin Zoo will celebrate the bicentennial of its establishment in 2031, based on a 10-year strategy ('Dublin Zoo 200') published in October 2021. The Zoo opened in September 1831 as a learned society for the study of zoology.

‘The Museum of Literature Ireland and Joyce’

Eamonn Ceannt, Chairman Museum of Literature Ireland; Sculptor; Former Vice-President & Bursar UCD; Former Board member Concern Worldwide; Trustee, Chester Beatty Library

📅Monday, January 22, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The Museum of Literature Ireland, UCD Naughton Joyce Centre, 86 St Stephen’s Green opened to the public in September 2019. Thanks to the generous patronage of Martin and Carmel Naughton, a concept in gestation since 2010 was brought to fruition when the Aula Maxima in Newman House was transformed into a 10,000ft2 exhibition space.

Probus Dun Laoghaire AGM

Dr Niall Holohan, Probus President 2024

📅Monday, January 15, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Members Only

'The Origin of the Irish National Land League'

Tony Layng, Retired Solicitor

📅Monday, January 8, 2024
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Tony will focus on the role played in the Land League by his great-grandfather, James Daly (1838-1911), Secretary of the Irish National Land League which was established in Castlebar on 21 October 1879 to campaign for the Three F's - fair rent; fixity of tenure and free sale.

James Daly purchased in 1876 The Connaught Telegraph, a Castlebar newspaper first published on St Patrick’s Day 1828.

The Telegraph became the early publicity platform for what was initially a Co Mayo land movement.

James Daly has been described by Professor Joe Lee, Chair of Modern History in UCC (1974-2002), and author of The Modernisation of Irish Society 1848-1918, as the ‘most undeservedly forgotten man in Irish history’

Meeting Cancelled (Show & Tell)

📅Monday, December 18, 2023
🕥00:00 - 00:00

Christmas Lunch - Members, Guests, spouses / partners

Guest of Honour: Doug Beattie MC MLA, 18th Leader Ulster Unionist Party

📅Thursday, December 14, 2023
🕥12:30 - 15:30
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Doug Beattie was awarded the Military Cross in recognition of his actions during intense fighting against Taliban forces over several days to retake the town of Garsmir, in southern Afghanistan.

Attendees are requested to remit payment (€50 per person) online to Probus bank account no later than next Friday 1 December -

IBAN: IE98AIBK93340625986011

'Long-term Plans for Dublin Port'

Eamonn O'Reilly, Chief Executive Dublin Port (2010-2022)

📅Monday, December 11, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

At the outset of his tenure as Chief Executive, Eamonn O’Reilly devised a 30-year Masterplan for the development of Dublin Port to 2040 and the need for a transformation in the relationship between the Port and the City. Success in achieving this essential strategic objective has resulted in new and diverse cultural, heritage and community initiatives to strengthen the link. An additional east coast port will be needed before Dublin Port reaches full capacity.

Eamonn oversaw the investment of €500 million in port infrastructure.

The throughput of the Port in 2010 was 28.1m million tonnes. Last year the throughput was 36.8 million tonnes, yielding a turnover of €101.5 million (+18.3%) and Operating Profit of €44.2 million (+24.8%).

'The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 - Cause and Effect'

John Bolton, Probus President 2020

📅Monday, December 4, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The Spanish Civil War was fought between Republicans and Nationalists.

The Republicans comprised various socialist, communist, separatist and anarchists, some loyal and some opposed to the left-leaning government of the Second Spanish Republic.

The Nationalists were an alliance of Falangists, monarchists, conservatives and traditionalists led by a military junta among whom General Francisco Franco (1892-1975) achieved a preponderant role.

450,000 lives were lost.

'The District Court - a perspective from the Bench'

Judge William Early (Retired)

📅Monday, November 27, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Judge Earley completed a 23-year career serving as a moveable judge of the District Court, a role in which he presided in most of the 25 court districts in the State.

The District Courts have limited and local jurisdiction organised on a local basis:

Civil Jurisdiction: claims to a value of €15,000

Family Law: Maintenance, custody, access and domestic violence

Criminal Jurisdiction: Non-jury trial of offences including most road traffic offences

Small Claims Procedure

Last year, the District Courts dealt with 127,289 civil cases (74% of all civil cases) and 338,825 criminal offences (89% of all criminal cases).

The State employs 71 district justices.

'Is Our Politics Fit for Purpose?'

Art O'Leary, Chief Executive Electoral Commission

📅Monday, November 20, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Established in February 2023, the Electoral Commission responsible for the democratic and electoral system is independent of government.

Art O’Leary was Secretary-General to the President from 2014 to 2021, responsible for advising the President on constitutional and all other matters relating to the presidency. Prior to that he was Secretary to the Constitutional Convention that considered constitutional change to the electoral system and marriage equality.

During his 20-year career in the Houses of the Oireachtas, Art was Director of Parliamentary Committees with strategic and operational responsibility for 26 Oireachtas Committees; Information and Communications and Human Resources for 1,500 Oireachtas members and staff.

'The Royal County and Probus Dun Laoghaire Marine'

Monty Tinsley, Probus President 2014, 2015 and 2016

📅Monday, November 13, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Who Will Save Palestine?'

HE Dr Jilan Abdulmajid, Ambassador of Palestine

📅Monday, November 6, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The last Israel-Palestinian peace talks began on 29 July 2013 following an attempt by John Kerry, United States Secretary of State to restart the peace process. On 2 May 2014 an anonymous senior American official, in an interview cleared by the White House, placed the blame for the break-down in talks mainly on Israel's settlement stance - 'Netanyahu did not move more than an inch'. Israel, on 29 April 2014, authorized a record land mass - slightly more than half of it outside the West Bank separation barrier, for settlement construction.

Hamas (founded in 1987) obtained 42.9% of the vote and 74 of the 132 seats in the last legislative elections in January 2006. Fatah (founded in 1959) secured the balance.

The decision of the European Union to designate Hamas a terrorist organization was upheld by the European Court of Justice in July 2017. This decision freezes funds and other financial assets. EU persons and entities are forbidden from making funds, financial assets and economic resources available to listed individuals, groups and entities. Online content, such as texts, images, sound recordings or videos, including live transmissions that incite or contribute to terrorist acts; instructions on how to commit offences and the solicitation of participation in terrorist groups are covered by the regulations.

Hamas promotes palestinian nationalism in an Islamic context - rejecting the nation-state in favour of the 'ummah', or 'community'; laying claim to a universal model of government that defines a country as a region and not as a nation.

Hamas has reiterated very recently that Israel’s existence is ‘illogical’ and it must be wiped off all ‘Palestinian lands’ - defined as the West Bank, Gaza and Israel, minus the Golan Heights.

Ambassador Abdulmajid was awarded a PhD in 2019 by the University of Nicosia (a private university founded in 1980 with a student population of 12,000) based on her thesis on the topic of political marketing.

Public Holiday - No Meeting

📅Monday, October 30, 2023
🕥00:00 - 00:00

Visit to Strokestown House & Park, Co Roscommon

📅Thursday, October 26, 2023
🕥09:00 - 18:30
🏟Strokestown Park & House, Co Roscommon (map)

'Diplomacy & Identity'

Bobby McDonagh, Ambassador to the Court of St James's (2009-2013)

📅Monday, October 23, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Commemoration of John L Murray RIP, Probus member and 10th Chief Justice (1943-2023)

Paul Gallagher SC, former Attorney-General

📅Thursday, October 19, 2023
🕥19:30 - 22:30
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Norman's Prince Arthur's Sword'

Mark Leslie, Architect. Owner Martello Media, pioneers of digital media and immersive exhibition design

📅Monday, October 16, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

HRH Field Marshal Prince Arthur presented an inscribed sword to Captain Norman Jerome Beauchamp Leslie when he was commissioned in 1905. Captain Leslie was killed in action in France in October 1914.

‘Killing Thatcher’

Rory Carroll, Ireland Correspondent, The Guardian

📅Monday, October 9, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

An account of the Provisional IRA’s 1984 attempt to kill the Prime Minister in Brighton

'Dublin's Architectural Heritage: Defending the Indefensible'

Frank McDonald, former Environment Editor, The Irish Times

📅Monday, October 2, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Frank McDonald’s Books

The Destruction of Dublin (1985)

The Construction of Dublin (2000)

Chaos at the Crossroads (2005)

The Builders (2008)

'The Reality of Ireland V The Narrative of Ireland'

Dr Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, Minister for State, Department of Finance

📅Monday, September 25, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Dr Carroll MacNeill's mandate as Minister for State covers Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance.

‘The Role of Education in the Social, Cultural and Economic Development of Ireland’

Dr Áine Hyland PhD, D.Sc, D.Litt

📅Monday, September 18, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Dr Hyland’s career began in 1962 as a 20-year old research assistant at the Department of Education supporting the team that published the seminal 1965 Joint OECD/Department of Education Investment in Education report.

This captured robust statistical evidence on social inequality in educational participation; low-levels of full-time participation among 15 to 19 year olds and rates that were highly biased in favour of those with money to participate and a system that also reinforced the values of a deeply conservative Catholic Church that excluded those at the margins who had neither the social nor the cultural capital to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy.

Dr Hyland’s immense contribution to research, teaching and national policy marks a turning point in our conception of Higher Education. Her stature, influence and impact are widely recognized and have been truly international

‘An Introduction to Jazz’

Frank Gallagher, jazz musician

📅Monday, September 11, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'The Tradesman’s & Tradeswoman’s Economy'

Seán Aylward, Probus Member; Chairman SOLAS

📅Monday, September 4, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

SOLAS is a State agency inaugurated in October 2013 under the auspices of the Minister for Further and Higher Education.

It allocates funds to 16 Education and Training Boards that are the driving force of education and training in each local community offering pathways for every learners across Early Education; Community National Schools, Post-Primary Schools, Further Education Colleges and a range of adult and further education centres. Established on 1 July 2013 on the dissolution of 33 Vocational Education Committees ETB’s support 270,000 places and 30,000+ further education and training courses annually.

'Ireland's Call - From Brexit, 23.00 Hours on 31 January 2020 to the Windsor Framework, 24 March 202

Stephen Collins, Columnist The Irish Times, former Political Editor

📅Monday, August 28, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The inside story of how Irish political leaders and officials waged a successful diplomatic campaign to persuade the EU that whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations there could not be a hard border on the island of Ireland. The support of EU institutions and member states for the Irish position caused consternation in London and triggered chaos in the House of Commons.

Visit to Birr Castle Demesne

📅Thursday, August 24, 2023
🕥12:00 - 16:00
🏟Birr Castle Demesne (map)

Visit to Birr Castle Demesne

Home of 7 Earls of Rosse, engineers, botanists, astronomers, Birr Castle is the site of amazing feats of science and engineering, as well as The Leviathan – the largest telescope in the world; rare trees and flowers, wonderful wildlife, walks along the river and lake – an environmental and scientific time capsule.

Lawrence Parsons, (1840-1908) 4th Earl of Rosse was Chancellor of Trinity College between 1885 and 1908. The mother of Brendan Parsons, 7th Earl of Rosse (b1936) was, through an earlier marriage, mother of Antony Armstrong Jones (1930-2017), photographer, filmmaker and husband (1960-1978) of Princess Margaret (1930-2002).

Participants, travelling by car / car share parking in the public car park at Marian Hall, William Street – cost €2 (coins only) for 2 hours.

We will convene at noon for lunch in the Courtyard Café at the Castle. Afterwards, we will take a guided tour of the Castle and visit the Science Museum and grounds. Cost for general admission and Castle tour is €17 pp, if our group has over 15 participants – otherwise €20 pp

'Ireland's Insurance Industry: where now for what is arguably one of the largest and indispensable i

Frank Mee, Probus Member; Non-Executive Director Allianz Re Dublin; Finance Director and Deputy CEO Allianz Worldwide Care (1999-2019)

📅Monday, August 21, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Irish Stained Glass and Earley Studios'

Michael Earley, Probus Member, Artist, PhD Student; Retired consultant plastic surgeon and clinical professor, Department of Surgery UCD

📅Monday, August 14, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Earley Studios (1852-1975), Camden Street Upper, was the biggest stained-glass display studio in Ireland, employing 100 persons in its heyday. It was the family business of four generation’s of Michael’s ancestors and the subject of the PhD thesis that he will defend in September 2023.

No Meeting - Public Holiday

📅Monday, August 7, 2023
🕥00:00 - 00:00

'Irish Scientific and Engineering Discoveries in the 19th Century'

William Fagan, Chair Photo Museum Ireland; President International Leica Society

📅Monday, July 31, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Energy Crisis - what crisis?'

Paul Gallagher, Probus Member; former international Shell Oil exploration infrastructure engineer

📅Monday, July 24, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Publishing Irish Writers'

Seamus Cashman, Publishing Consultant

📅Monday, July 17, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Probus Summer Lunch

Guest of Honour: Senator Michael McDowell SC

📅Thursday, July 13, 2023
🕥12:30 - 15:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

No Meeting - RSGYC Volvo Dún Laoghaire Regatta

📅Monday, July 10, 2023
🕥00:00 - 00:00

'Major-General Emmet Dalton (1898-1978), Somme Soldier, Irish General, Film Producer

Sean Boyne, Biographer Emmet Dalton

📅Monday, July 3, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'The Role of Psychology in Sport'

Felicity Heathcote, Sports Psychologist; author

📅Monday, June 26, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Felicity is the author of 'Peak Performance: Zen and the Sporting Zone' and 'The Resting Place of the Moon'

She was official psychologist to the Irish Team at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 which comprised 58 competitors who took part in 49 events in 12 sports.

Michael Carruth won gold in boxing welterweight and Wayne McCullough won silver in boxing bantamweight.

Felicity has also practiced in Jerusalem with the UN and NGO's and in Japan, Iran and the United States.

'Looking Back, the changing faces of Ireland'

Eric Luke, Photojournalist

📅Monday, June 19, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'A Personal History of the Internet, from conception to Artificial Intelligence'

Dr Dennis Jennings, Internet Pioneer

📅Monday, June 12, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Public Holiday - no meeting

📅Monday, June 5, 2023
🕥00:00 - 00:00

'Trends and Future Challenges in Policing'

Drew Harris, 22nd Commissioner, An Garda Síochána

📅Monday, May 29, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'The Role of Religion in Modern Ireland'

Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent, The Irish Times

📅Monday, May 22, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Plato and the Immortality of the Soul'

Michael A Ryan, Probus Hon Secretary; Retired hotelier and philosophy scholar

📅Monday, May 15, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Plato believed the soul was eternal - that it exists prior to the creation of the body and that, after death, the soul moves to another body. It was in this context that he defined the body as 'the prison of the soul'.

'Regulating Legal Services'

Dr Don Thornhill, Inauguraal Chairman, Legal Services Regulatory Authority

📅Monday, May 8, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Secretary-General, Department of Education & Science (1993-1998)

Executive Chairman, Higher Education Authority (1998-2005)

No Meeting - May Day

📅Monday, May 1, 2023
🕥00:00 - 00:00

'Tales from the Ivory Tower'

Dr Jim Malone, Professor (Emeritus) of Medical Physics and former Dean of Medicine, Trinity College / St James's Hospital Dublin

📅Monday, April 24, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Medical physicist, Radiation Protection; Digital Imaging, related ethics / governance; Humanities. His 'tales' are built around aspects of everyday life in the Ivory Tower - recollections that are happy, sometimes humorous, sometimes earnest and mostly true - offering an elegiac view of things Ireland need, but may not quite deserve!

'The 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, 1998'

David Donoghue, Former Ambassador

📅Monday, April 17, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

David Donoghue, a native of Dublin, graduated from UCD obtaining a BA in Modern Languages and a MA in German Language and Literature in the early 1970s. He then set off on an extremely successful career path in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, with overseas postings in Rome, Bonn, Paris, Moscow, Vienna, Berlin and finally a posting in the UN in New York City.

He was involved in the negotiation of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, the Downing Street Declaration in 1993 and the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. He served as the Irish head of the Anglo-Irish Secretariat in Belfast during the period 1995 to-1999.

Easter Monday

📅Monday, April 10, 2023
🕥00:00 - 00:00

No Meeting

'The NTMA and the Banking Crisis'

Dr Michael J Somers, Chief Executive NTMA (1990-2019)

📅Monday, April 3, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Dr Michael Somers has been Second Secretary-General, Department of Finance (National Debt management; 1987-1990); Secretary-General, Department of Defence (1985-1987). Other recent positions include: Chairman, Stockbrokers (2010-2022); Director, Fexco Holdings (2010-2022); President, Ireland-US Council - Irish Branch m(2011+); President, Institute of Directors (2017-2020); Deputy Chairman AIB; Director, Hewlett Packard International Bank.

'Anecdotes from a Lifetime in Journalism'

Deaglán de Bréadún, Journalist, Author, Broadcaster and Commentator

📅Monday, March 27, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Former Northern Editor of The Irish Times and Political Editor of The Irish Sun, Déaglan deBréadún has most recently been an Irish News columnist. Deaglán's career took him from Leinster House to Belfast, the Middle East, Russia, Cuba, Colombia and the White House.

Author: 'Power Play: 'The Far Side of Revenge: Making Peace in Northern Ireland' (2001 and 2008); Rise of Modern Sinn Féin' (2015) and 'Scéalta Nuachta' (2016)

'Muscial Conversations' - based on the musical choice of members

Compère: Raymond Burke, Probus Member

📅Monday, March 20, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Patrolling the Berlin Wall in 1972'

Dr Phillipe Hamel, former non-commissioned French cavalry officer.

📅Monday, March 13, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

A Red Army force of 1.6 million soldiers, including a substantial component from Ukraine, began to encircle Berlin on 16 April 1945 – the final military step in ending World War II in Europe commenced on 16 April 1945. Hitler shot himself on 30 April. His gauleiter (district leader), Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide on 1 May, having, in his sole act as Chancellor, dictated a letter of surrender ordering it to be delivered under a white flag. Magda was mother, (through her first marriage) of Harald Quant (1921-1967) whose business empire included pharmaceutical company Altana AG; 10% of Daimler-Benz and 30% of BMW. Their penultimate gesture was to arrange the killing of their six children via morphine injections to render each unconscious and cyanide to kill them.

Surrender of Nazi garrisons in Berlin commenced on 2 May and Germany surrendered unconditionally in Rheims France on 7 May. Victory in Europe took effect at one minute past midnight on 8 May.

The Allies agreed at the Potsdam Conference between 17 July and 2 August 1945 to divide Berlin into four sectors. These were to become characterized by ideologically opposed ‘superpowers’ and the start of Cold War politics. Russia was associated with the eastern sector; France with the north-west; Britain with the western sector and the United States with the sector to the south of Berlin.

Germany split into to independent jurisdictions in 1949 – the Federal Republic (FDR) allied to Western democracies and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) allied to the Soviet Union.

The GDR government closed the border with FDR in 1952 but the border between East and West Berlin remained open until August 1961 and more than 3½ million East Germans crossed to the more affluent West Berlin between 1952 and 1961.

The Government of GDR commenced construction on 13 August 1961 of a 3.6M high concrete barrier, 106km in length, with 302 watch towers that separated West Berlin from GDR and the Russian sector of Berlin so as to contain the population. Adjacent to the Wall was a wide margin, known as the ‘death trap’ that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other lethal deterrents. The objective was to protect the population of the East from ‘Fascists elements’ conspiring to prevent ‘the will of the people’ from building a socialist state in East Germany.

Dr Hamell will also describe the building of the Wall and the role of Western Allied Forces.

He relocated to Ireland in 1972; earned a PhD in theoretical linguistics in UCD and taught French in various parts of the Civil Service. He also taught French, German and Spanish at secondary school level in Dublin.

'The Future of Business'

Dr John Teeling, Chairman The Great Northern Distillery; prolific entrepreneur

📅Monday, March 6, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Changing Times - living through the information revolution'

Paul O'Neill, Editor The Irish Times (2017-2022)

📅Monday, February 27, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Paul O'Neill started his career in journalism in 1982 with the Waterford News and Star which his father, Paddy O'Neill, edited in the course of his career. He worked for the Cork Examiner until 1989 when he joined The Irish Times as a news reporter and crime correspondent He was appointed London Editor, Finance Editor and Deputy News Editor under his predecessors Geraldine Kennedy and Kevin O'Sullivan. Paul is a passionate cyclist!

'Age Proof - the New Science of Living a Long and Healthier Life'

Professor Rose Anne Kenny, Regius Professor of Medical Gerontology, Trinity College

📅Monday, February 20, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Professor Kenny is Director of Mercer's Institute for Successful Ageing at St James's Hospital and founding Principal Investigator of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). A graduate of NUI Galway, she undertook clinical and research training at Hammersmith & Westminster Hospitals London before her appointment as Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at University of Newcastle, where she was also Head of the academic and clinical Departments of Medical Gerontology (1989).

Meeting Cancelled

📅Monday, February 13, 2023
🕥00:00 - 00:00

As a mark of respect to John O'Brien, former Probus Vice President (17 June 1950 - 9 February 2023)

Imbolg /St Bridget's Holiday

📅Monday, February 6, 2023
🕥00:00 - 00:00

No Meeting

'Enjoying Claret in Georgian Ireland'

Dr Patricia McCarthy, Author 'Enjoying Claret in Georgian Ireland', Four Courts Press, April 2022

📅Monday, January 30, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Patricia McCarthy is an architectural historian and author of ‘A Favourite Study’ Building the King’s Inns (Dublin, 2006), and Life in the Country House in Georgian Ireland (Yale University Press, 2016).

It had become the custom in the era bookmarked by the Penal Laws 1695 and the Act of Union 1800 for the Anglo-Irish élite to copiously quaff quality claret, Bordeaux red wine, as an expression of social status This custom was fostered by the Lord Lieutenants, one of whom, Charles Rutland, 4th Duke of Rutland died at the age of 33 from liver disease in the Vice-Regal Lodge. Allegiance to the Crown and the political order was expressed when 'claret flowed'.

An estimated 15,000 Jacobite emigrés made their home in Bordeaux and of these, Lynch, McCarthy, Dillon, O'Byrne, Ffrench, Galway and Kirwan rose to social prominence. To these can be added the names of Barton, Lawton and Johnston, three of the most successful Anglican families in the wine trade. 14 chateaux vineyards started by these families thrive today - Phelan-Segur, Boyd-Cantenac, Leoville-Barton, Lynch-Mousssas, Dillon & Clarke.

Meeting Cancelled

📅Monday, January 23, 2023
🕥10:30 - 12:30

As a mark of respect to Probus Member The Hon. Mr Justice John L Murray (27 June 1943 - 18 June 2023), former Chief Justice

Annual General Meeting

Dr Jim Ryan, President 2022

📅Monday, January 16, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

1 Welcome and Presidents Report

2 Secretary's Report

3 Treasurer's Report

4 Election of President 2023

5 Election of Committee 2023

6 Preliminary Plan for 2023

7 Any Other Business

'Show and Tell'

Presenters: Ian d'Alton, John Murray, John Bolton, Donal Denham, Gordon Henderson, Michael Kenny and Jim Ryan

📅Monday, January 9, 2023
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'The Aftermath of the Treaty and Civil War for Southern Unionists and Opportunities Lost'

Bernard Barton, Justice of the High Court (2014-2021)

📅Monday, December 19, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Co-author: 'The Men and Women of the Anglo-Irish Treaty Delegations 1921'

Christmas Lunch

📅Wednesday, December 14, 2022
🕥12:30 - 15:30
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'The Irish Civil Service, 100 years on - continuity and change'

Dermot McCarthy, Secretary-General to the Government and D/Taoiseach (2000-2011)

📅Monday, December 5, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'From History to Housing and back again'

Dr Ian d'Alton, Probus Member; Chief Executive, Housing Finance Agency Plc (2007-2012); Member Audit & Risk Committee, Environmental Protection Agency (2013-2019)

📅Monday, November 28, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Ian d’Alton is author of ‘Protestant Society and Politics in Cork, 1812-1844’ and, with Dr Ida Milne, edited a volume of essays titled ‘Protestant and Irish: the minority’s search for a place in Independent Ireland’

The Housing Finance Agency acts as a centralized lender to fund local authorities and higher education entities in their housing operations and borrows on the domestic and international capital markets to enable this.

'Role of Art in the new Irish State'

Dr Roisín Kennedy, Lecturer / Assistant Professor School of Art History & Cultural Policy, UCD

📅Monday, November 21, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Dr Kennedy is a graduate of UCD and University of Edinburgh. Her research and writing focuses on the critical reception of art writing post 1880, censorship and the position of women as artists and subjects in modern art.

Her recent book, Art and The Nation State: the Reception of Modern Art in Ireland was published last year by Liverpool University Press. She also co-edited Harry Clarke and Artistic Visions of the New Irish State (2018).

'Northern Ireland – Current Challenges and Future Outlook'

Sir David Sterling KCB, Interim Head, Northern Ireland Civil Service (2017-2020)

📅Monday, November 14, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Sir David Sterling was Permanent Secretary, Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment (2009-2014); Permanent Secretary, Department of Finance (2014-2017).

As Head of the Civil Service he was tasked with maintaining public services following the collapse of the institutions after Martin McGuinness, on 9 January 2017, announced that he was resigning as Deputy First Minister after a dispute between Sinn Féin and DUP concerning the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) subsidy scheme (aka ‘cash-for-ash’). RHI was established by Dame Arlene Foster in 2012 when Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Investment, and later became the subject of a public inquiry established by Máirtin Ó’Muilleoir, Minister for Finance and chaired by Sir Patrick Coghlin, a retired member of the Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland.

'The Dún Laoghaire Baths Project'

Robert Hannan, Senior Architect, Dun Loaghaire Rathdown Co Co (RIP 25 Oct 2023)

📅Monday, November 7, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Royal Victoria Baths were built in 1843 on the initiative John J Crosthwaite (1794-1884) to replace a swimming facility adjacent to the Royal Hotel constructed in 1828 but removed to make way for the extension in 1844 of the Dublin & Kingstown Atmospheric Railway to Dalkey.

Dún Laoghaire Baths closed in 2007 and the site became a derelict blight. The site has been restored at an estimated cost of €13.4 million.

Crosthwaite started to develop 13 houses on Crosthwaite Park in 1862, eleven years after the Window Tax was repealed, but it took 70 years before Crosthwaite Park was completed. He was Chairman Kingstown Town Commissioners on 23 July 1880, when he presided over the official opening of Kingstown Town Hall and Courthouse (constructed 1874-1880; architect: John Loftus Robinson (1848-1894).

'Navigating Through Complexity - principles and observations'

Vice Admiral (Retired) Mark Mellett DSM, PhD, Chief-of-Staff, Defence Forces (2015-2021)

📅Monday, October 24, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Remembering Peter D Sutherland SC (1946-2018)'

Garrett Sheehan, Childhood Friend of Peter Sutherland, Chair, Standards in Public Office Commission

📅Monday, October 17, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Notre-Dame de Paris - Fire in 2019: Disaster or Gothic Triumph?'

Professor Roger Stalley MRIA, Fellow Emeritus, History of Art, Trinity College

📅Monday, October 10, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Notre-Dame de Paris is a medieval Catholic cathedral and a widely recognized iconic symbol of Paris and the French nation located on the Île de la Cité on the River Seine. Construction of which began in 1163 and completed in 1260. On 15 April 2019, while undergoing renovation and restoration, the roof caught fire and burned for 15 hours. The first Mass will be held in the Cathedral nave on Monday, 15 April 2024.

Did You Notice?

Dr Seamus Cannon, Chair Joyce Tower Society. Director, Blackrock Education Centre (1981-2011);

📅Monday, October 3, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Does your house have a boot scraper, fancy fascias, jostle stones at the gate (as you know, they are always in pairs)? What is a benchmark and why are they important? What does your street name tell you about its history? What about the decorative masonry and ironwork in your neighbourhood?

Seamus Cannon is an active local historian and author of 'Monkstown, A Victorian Village'. Seamus will focus attention on what is hidden in plain sight in our immediate neighbourhoods and encourage you to see it in a new light. He is also a woodworker who constructed a traditional Dunfanaghy currach, a boat used by fishermen in his native Co Donegal

'Tax Systems; Future Directions?'

Dr Dónal deBuitléir, Chairman, Low Pay Commission; Member Policing Authority; Board Member RCSI Hospital Group; Eisenhower Fellow 1987

📅Monday, September 26, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The Commission on Taxation and Welfare was tasked by government in June 2021 to independently consider how best the taxation and welfare systems can support economic activity and promote increased employment and prosperity in Ireland. Their report is scheduled for publication shortly.

'Has Ireland Lost her Soul?'

Gerard O'Neill, Chairman Amárach Research

📅Monday, September 19, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Gerard is a graduate of the London School of Economics and was previously Business Planning Manager in An Post. He leads the strategic consulting practice in Amárach, working with senior management teams to create resilient strategies for the future.

Gerard is also a Fellow of the Marketing Institute of Ireland. He is a director of AIMRO – the Association of Irish Market Research Organisations. He recently served two terms as board member National Statistics Board, a statutory body set up to guide the broad strategic direction of the Central Statistics Office.

'A Shared Island: double belonging, or opposition identity?'

Rev John Dunlop, Retired Presbyterian minister and former Moderator and member several public bodies

📅Monday, September 12, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Eisenhower Fellow, 1989

Member, Independent Review of Parades and Marches, which laid the foundations of the Parades Commission of Northern Ireland

Moderator, General Assembly Presbyterian Church in Ireland (1992-1993)

'The Irish Civil War - a hundred years later'

Professor (Emeritus) Michael Laffan, former Head, School of History and Archives UCD

📅Monday, September 5, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Publications

'The Partition of Ireland 1911-1925'

'The Resurrection of Ireland: the Sinn Féin Party'

'Judging WT Cosgrave'

'The Black & Tans 1920-1921'

Jim Herlihy, retired member of An Garda Siochána and co-founder of the Garda Siochána Historical Society

📅Monday, August 29, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

10,000-strong, RIC reserve constabulary created in 1920 to supplement the native force, so called from the dark green and khaki colour combination of the improvised uniforms they initially wore.

Vast majority were recruited in Britain from the ranks of unemployed former British soldiers who had fought in World War I.

Reputation defined by brutality, reprisal attacks on civilians and civilian property, including extrajudicial killings, arson and looting.

Dalkey Coast Watchers, 1939-1945

Des Burke-Kennedy, Dalkey Tidy Towns Committee; author 'Murder, Mutiny and the Muglins'

📅Monday, August 22, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Dogged detective work and a huge voluntary effort.

'A Musical Profile of George Gershwin (1898-1937), American pianist and composer'

Raymond Burke, Probus Member

📅Monday, August 15, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Testing Times: developments in clinical diagnostics'

Dr Cormac Kilty

📅Monday, August 8, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Cormac is a biotech entrepreneur, manages a biotech investment portfolio and is involved with two angel investment groups in Ireland. He was the founder of Biotrin, a virology diagnostics company which he sold in 2008 to Italian firm Diasorin for €25 million. A native of Cork, he is a past-pupil of CBC Monkstown Park and a resident of Sandycove.

Bank Holiday - no meeting

📅Monday, August 1, 2022
🕥00:00 - 00:00

'Connecting a Nation', how telecommunications influenced the development of Ireland since 1852

Deryck Fay, Author 'Connecting a Nation', UCD Press October 2021

📅Monday, July 25, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Russia and Ukraine: reflections of an Irish diplomat in Moscow during Putin's first years in office

Justin Harman, Ambassador to Russian Federation (2003-2009)

📅Monday, July 18, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Roaming Around Russia'

Brian Snow, Probus President (2021)

📅Monday, July 11, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Brian will recount his personal experiences from his time in working in Russia.

'Thinking About a United Ireland'

Rory Montgomery, Second Secretary-General, Department of Foreign Affairs (2016-2021)

📅Monday, July 4, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00

Rory Montgomery is a former Irish diplomat who was the leading DFA official on Brexit and was part of the team which negotiated the Good Friday Agreement.

He is now an honorary professor at Queen’s University Belfast, a member of The Royal Irish Academy, and Chair of the Press Council of Ireland, and is a writer and commentator on British-Irish and EU issues. Rory Montgomery will explain the work of the Royal Irish Academy’s ‘Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South’ (ARINS) Project and analyses the state of the debate on Irish unity.

'Development of Irish Enterprise'

Julie Sinnamon, Chief Executive Enterprise Ireland (2013-2021)

📅Monday, June 27, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Julie Sinnamon  is the third CEO of Enterprise Ireland, and previously held  senior public sector positions during a 30-year career in Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. She is a business graduate of the University of Ulster, has a Masters in International Business (Fordham and IMI) and is a graduate of the Stanford Executive Programme, USA.

In this presentation, Julie will briefly outline her views on the challenges faced in the development of indigenous industry, and on her experiences in facing these challenges in various roles within Enterprise Ireland. Given the wide experience of the Probus members, it is planned that the talk will be mainly in the form of an interactive Q&A session

'Plato on the nature of justice'

Michael Ryan, Probus Member; retired night-club operator, hotelier, band leader and philosophy scholar

📅Monday, June 20, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Michael notes that 'The Republic', Plato's most famous work, is often mistakenly taken as a political treatise, whereas, in fact, it is an enquiry into the nature of justice - first, as it occurs in the state and then in the modern world. Michael's talk will be geared to anyone encountering 'The Republic' for the first time while the extract maybe a happy reacquaintance for others.

'Wills and Probate, without solicitors'

John Lowe, Managing Director, Money Doctors

📅Monday, June 13, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)
🔗moneydoctors.ie

John Lowe is founder and MD of Money Doctors. He is a Fellow of The Institute of Bankers, Qualified Financial Adviser, and has over 40 years’ experience in banking. He is also a bestselling contributor on personal finance, through print articles, radio and TV. his handbook ‘Money Doctors 2022’ was published by Providence Press (2021) and is now in its 17th edition. He also provides corporate Financial Wellbeing webinars and seminars – an hour-long plus Q&A entitled Financially healthy for life, are grounded on the premise that financial worries are the major employee stress factor, and inhibit productivity and growth. This talk will explore the issues of wills; their importance in family finances; and simple ways to making a will.

Visit to Hillsborough Castle & Gardens

Hosts: Antrim Probus

📅Tuesday, June 7, 2022
🕥19:30 - 18:17
🏟Hillsborough Castle & Gardens (map)
🔗hop.org.uk

Encompassing 100 acres, Hillsborough Castle, the only royal residence in Northern Ireland, is the official residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. It was also the venue for the negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

ITINERARY

09:30 Enterprise train from Connolly to Portadown

11:09 Arrive Portadown / coach to Hillsborough

12:15 - 12:45 Tours of the Castle (45 minutes) in groups of 25 per tour

13:30 Lunch at on-site café / Garden visit

15:50 Coach to Portadown

16:39 Enterprise train from Portadown to Dublin Connolly (arrive 16:17)

'A Reassessment of the life and career of Charles J Haughey (1925-2006)'

Dr Gary Murphy, Biographer Charles J Haughey (1925-2006); Professor of Politics, School of Law & Government DCU

📅Monday, May 30, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Saint or sinner?

Charles Haughey was, depending on whom you ask, either the great villain of Irish political life or the benevolent and forward-thinking saviour of a benighted nation. He was undoubtedly the most talented and influential politician of his generation, yet the very roots of his success - his charisma, his intelligence, his ruthlesseness, his secrecy - have rendered almost impossible any objective evaluation of his life and work.

Professor Murphy's biography is based on unfettered access to Haughey's personal archives and extensive interviews with more than eighty of his peers, rivals, confidants and relatives.

'The History of Royal St George Yacht Club'

Vincent Delany, Local Historian, retired architect and member RSGYC

📅Monday, May 23, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Royal St George Yacht Club was founded in 1838 by members of Pembroke Rowing Club who were anxious to escape the foul conditions prevailing on the Dodder and Liffey at Ringsend as a consequence of untreated sewage. It is the second longest established yacht club in the town established in premises that was the first privately owned building erected on public land. Pembroke Rowing Club subsequently became the earliest iteration of rowing in Dublin University Boat Club.

An early member, Francis Conyngham Marquess Conyngham (1797-1876), son of Elizabeth Marchioness Conyngham (1770-1861), was mistress of King George IV from 1820 until his death in 1830. It was through his patronage that Queen Victoria granted the royal ensign in 1845.

Royal Irish Yacht Club was founded in 1831 by the Henry Paget 1st Marquess of Anglesey (1768-1854), a hero of the Battle of Waterloo until his affair with the sister-in-law of the Duke of Wellington was disclosed. who He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from February 1828 until January 1829.

The foundation stone of the National Yacht Club was laid on 20 April 1870.

'The Military Archives, Who we are; What we do and What's Ahead'

Hugh Beckett, Head of Database Management, The Military Archives

📅Monday, May 16, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)
🔗militaryarchives.ie

The Military Archives has been the official place of deposit for records of the Defence Forces, the Department of Defence and the Army Pensions Board since 1990, as defined in the National Archives Act, 1986. The Archives has collected material from the foundation of the State to the present day, including records from overseas missions.

From as early as 1924, the National Army, recognising the importance of the War of Independence, undertook to preserve historical documents from that time. Some of the earliest collections preserved by the Historical Section include the Collins Papers, Civil War Operations and Intelligence files and Captured Documents (Civil War up to 1925), which continue to be made available today.

'Strangers and Brothers: the UK-Ireland Relationship'

HE Paul Johnston, British Ambassador to Ireland

📅Monday, May 9, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

90-minute Workshop using 'data literacy' skills to assess information and the capacity to recognise

Dr Christopher Debruyne, Computer Scientist and Assistant Professor, Montefiore Institute of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Université Liège, Belgium

📅Monday, April 25, 2022
🕥10:30 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The workshop will be discussion based and quite interactive is intended to explore how information is assessed and misinformation recognized. These ‘data literacy’ skills can be used to correctly interpret information. Dr Debruyne has been a research fellow at the ADAPT Centre at Trinity College and co-hosted by DCU – the Science Foundation Ireland Centre of artificial intelligence driven digital content. Parters in ADAPT include UCD, TU Dublin, NUI Maynooth, Muster Technological University, Technological University of the Shannon, Midlands and Midwest and NUI Galway.

Dr Debruyne’s research focus in ontology (the study of existence and the study of how we determine if things exist, or not) and knowledge engineering and he has a particular interest in how information can be used to construct false realities.

Easter Monday - no meeting

📅Monday, April 18, 2022
🕥00:00 - 00:00

'Climate Change and Garden Birds'

Niall Hatch, Public Relations, Branches & Development Officer, Birdwatch Ireland

📅Monday, April 11, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

BirdWatch Ireland is the largest independent conservation organisation in Ireland. Its primary objective is the protection of wild birds and their habitats.

A major study published last year, Birds of Conservation in Ireland, 2020-2026, covering the island of Ireland, indicates that 63% of Ireland's 211 regularly occurring wild bird species are now of serious conservation concern and 26% of these are on the 'red list', meaning that they are considered to be at the highest risk of extinction.

Niall, a keen birdwatcher since early childhood, is a frequent contributor to radio and television programmes. He is a solicitor by profession and a graduate of UCD and Cornell University, New York.

'Biodiversity and Human Well-being'

Dr Tom Bolger, Professor of Zoology (Emeritus), Former Head of Zoology Department UCD

📅Monday, April 4, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Professor Bolger’s primary research interests, which have been funded by State and EU programmes, are in the effect of global change on terrestrial biodiversity and the nutrient dynamics in soil systems.

He has a particular interest in experimental design and statistical models and has published extensively in these areas. The Irish Ecological Association conferred him with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.

'The Billionaire Who Wasn't - the legacy of a philanthropist'

Colin McCrea, Senior Vice President (retired) The Atlantic Philanthropies

📅Monday, March 28, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Charles Francis Feeney (Chuck - born April 23, 1931) is an Irish-American businessman and philanthropist who made his fortune as a co-founder of the Hong Kong based Duty Free Shoppers Group. His paternal grandmother came from Kinawley, a small village straddling the Fermanagh/Cavan border.

The Atlantic Philanthropies were founded by entrepreneur Chuck Feeney, who decided in 1982 to devote his wealth to the service of humanity. A champion of Giving While Living, Feeney has long maintained that people of wealth should use it to better the world during their lifetimes. That belief, which has been a driving influence in our work, led our trustees to decide in 2002 to limit Atlantic’s life to a fixed term.

Atlantic, which will close its doors in 2020, made its final grant commitments at the end of 2016. Over 38 years, we invested over $8 billion in promising programs and people and in places where we saw the chance to create opportunity and promote greater fairness and equity for all. Because we believe that it’s imperative to address deeply rooted problems sooner than later, many of our grants were “big bets” designed to bring lasting improvements to people’s lives.

He has been called the "James Bond of philanthropy", for his secrecy and success. In 1997, Time magazine declared that "Feeney's beneficence already ranks among the grandest of any living American". He has shunned publicity, although he cooperated in his 2007 biography, The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing. Feeney is also the subject of a documentary by RTÉ Factual, titled Secret Billionaire: The Chuck Feeney Story.

In 2010, Feeney received the Cornell Icon of Industry Award. In 2012, all the universities of Ireland, North and South, jointly conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Laws on Feeney. During the year, he also received Ireland's "Presidential Distinguished Service Award" for Irish Abroad. In 2012, he also was awarded the UCSF Medal for outstanding personal contributions to the University of California, San Francisco's health science mission. In 2014, Warren Buffett said of Feeney, "[he's] my hero and Bill Gates' hero. He should be everybody's hero." On the 160th Anniversary of Queensland being created, June 6, 2019, Feeney was made an Honorary Queensland Great for his contribution to Queensland.

In December 2020, Cornell University announced that they would rename East Avenue, a road that goes through the center of campus and sits alongside his alma mater, Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, "Feeney Way," to honor Feeney for his contributions to the university.

'Finding Old Dun Laoghaire'

Tom Conlon, Local Historian; author 'Victorian Dun Laoghaire'

📅Monday, March 21, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

For many years, the scenic side of the town has been the focus of publications; in this book, the author has extensively researched the darker side of Dun Laoghaire, and reveals the poverty which has historically counter-balanced its more salubrious tendencies.

'Members Quiz'

Quiz Master: John Biggar, Probus Member

📅Monday, March 14, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'The Irish Business Angel Network'

John Phelan, All-Island Director Halo Business Angel Network

📅Monday, March 7, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Ireland needs a culture of risk takers!'

Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) is the all-island umbrella group responsible for the development of business angel networks and syndicates. Through actively working to support the formation and operation of new and existing angel networks, as well as to increase the number of angel investors in early stage Irish companies, HBAN support the entreprenurial community across the island of Ireland.

The all-island umbrella group works on a regional basis to support the formation of new angel networks and works with existing angel networks to develop their capability and capacity, and across a range of industry sectors. HBAN also acts as a voice to government, stakeholders, business and the media to promote the interests and needs of the wider angel investment community. HBAN is managed by Dublin BIC in partnership with the regional Irish BICs in Cork, Galway & Waterford. and with Clarendon Fund Managers in Northern Ireland.

HBAN has been helping start-ups access funding for growth since 2007. Since then, angel investment has continued to accelerate as the number of active angels, and companies pitching for investment grows. Approximately 150 companies pitch to investors within the HBAN network each year, with one-in-three receiving funding as a result. To date HBAN angels have invested more than €126m in start-ups since the inception of the network.

'Beyond 2022 Project: recreating the lost Public Record Office of Ireland'

Dr Ciaran Wallace, Post-doctoral research fellow Department of History Trinity College; Deputy Director and Public Engagement Lead Person of Beyond 2022 Research Team

📅Monday, February 28, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Beyond 2022 is an all-island and international collaborative research project working to create a virtual reconstruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland, which was destroyed in the opening engagement of the Civil War on June 30th, 1922.

The ‘Record Treasury’ at the Public Record Office of Ireland stored seven centuries of Irish records dating back to the time of the Normans. Together with our 5 Core Archival Partners and over 40 other Participating Institutions in Ireland, Britain and the USA, we are working to recover what was lost in that terrible fire one hundred years ago.

On the centenary of the Four Courts blaze next year (30 June 2022), we will launch the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland online. Many millions of words from destroyed documents will be linked and reassembled from copies, transcripts and other records scattered among the collections of our archival partners. We will bring together this rich array of replacement items within an immersive 3-D reconstruction of the destroyed building.

The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland will be an open-access resource, freely available online to all those interested in Irish history at home and abroad. Many of the most important memory institutions worldwide are joining us in this shared mission to reconstruct Ireland’s lost history. The Virtual Record Treasury will serve as a living and growing legacy from the Decade of Centenaries.

'A Gut Feeling about Happiness and Healthy Ageing'

Professor John Cryan, Professor & Chair, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience University College Cork; Vice President for Research & Innovation; Principal Investigator APC Microbiome Centre

📅Monday, February 21, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

The APC Microbiome Ireland SFI Research Centre, founded as the Alimentary Pharmabotic Centre in 2003, is about people working together across the boundaries of traditional research sectors. The APC has created a lively trans-disciplinary environment with clinicians, clinician-scientists and basic scientists from diverse backgrounds working in teams, sharing ideas and resources. Although focused upon the magic and mysteries of the gastrointestinal bacterial community, (the microbiota), the scale and scope of the work has become one of the fastest moving areas of biology, of relevance to all branches of human medicine and veterinary science, and is of growing importance to the economic welfare of society.

'Irish Photography since 1839'

William Fagan, Board member Gallery of Photography Ireland & Vice President / Treasurer of International Leica Society

📅Monday, February 14, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

William is a retired public servant, photographer and photographic historian. In his public service career William served in the Departments of Labour, Finance and the Public Service. He was involved in the establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman where he became Director in 1987. He subsequently served as Director of Consumer Affairs for 8 years.

In 1998 William joined the private sector where he became Director of Regulatory Affairs and Communications at Chorus Communications (shareholders Independent News and Media and Liberty Media) where he was involved in the introduction of broadband and digital TV into Ireland. He served on the board of ICT Ireland, a digital industry body established by IBEC. In 2006 William went to work for the Government of Qatar where he established a telecoms regulator which liberalised the Qatari telecoms market. William has worked as a consultant specialising in the areas of broadband and regulatory training.

He is a member of the Institute of International and European Affairs ( IIEA) Royal Dublin Society (RDS), Dublin Camera Club, the Leica Society (UK), the LHSA – the International Leica Society (US) and the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain (PCCGB). He has written articles on photography, photographic equipment and photographic history for magazines in the UK, US and Ireland and is currently researching the history of photography in Ireland from 1840 to the present.

'Transforming the World: negotiating the Sustainable Development Goals'

David Donoghue, Permanent Representative to United Nations (2013-2017); Head of Anglo-Irish Secretariat Belfast ; Ambassador to Russian Federation, Austria and Germany

📅Monday, February 7, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

During his time at the UN, Ambassador Donoghue served as co-facilitator for three major negotiations relating to sustainable development. He and his Kenyan colleague co-facilitated the major negotiation process in 2014-15 which led to agreement on the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda. In September 2013 he and his South African colleague had co-facilitated a General Assembly conference which reviewed progress made on the MDGs. And in 2016 he and his Jordanian colleague co-facilitated the negotiations which agreed the New York Declaration on large movements of migrants and refugees.

'Plastics Circular Economy and Sustainability'

Fionn Ferreira, Environmental Campaigner, 21-year old student and inventor of micro plastic treatment process

📅Monday, January 31, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Fionn Miguel Eckardt Ferreira, a native of Ballydehob Co Cork, was born in Cork to boat-builder and modeller Anne Eckardt, from Germany and West Cork and boat-builder Rui Ferreira from Portugal, who had met in the UK in 1994 and settled in Ballydehob, County Cork. He was brought up in Ballydehob and attended St James' primary school in Durrus and subsequently Schull Community College in Schull, completing school, at the age of 18, in 2019.

Ferreira spent part of his childhood kayaking around remote coastal areas of Ireland with his dog India, noticing an increasing amount of plastic washing up on the coastline. He created a methodology to quantify and collect plastic pollution, with a focus on microplastics.

Ferreira designed and tested a method to remove microplastics from water, following what he described as thousands of failed attempts. He stated that he was inspired by an article by Fermilab physicist Arden Warner, who developed a new approach to cleaning up oil spills, using magnetic principles and made a device that uses a magnet-based method to remove the particles from water with extraction rates of 87%

The highest extraction rates observed in Fionn's experiments were for polyesters. He first exhibited the project at the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2018 where he was awarded the Intel Award, best in category, Intellectual Ventures Award and a first-place award. Ferreira subsequently exhibited at ISEF 2018 winning the 1st place American Chemical Society award, 2nd place award in Chemistry, 1st place for Drug Chemical and associated technologies, a scholarship to the University of Arizona and a certificate of honourable mention by the American Statistical Association.

In 2019, Ferreira exhibited at the 2019 Google Science Fair winning the global grand prize award of $50,000.

'Climate Change: Planetary Emergency or long-term threat?'

Dr Ray Bates, Emeritus Professor of Meteorology University of Copenhagen; Adjunct Professor of Meteorology UCD; MRIA

📅Monday, January 24, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Ray Bates is Adjunct Professor of Meteorology in the Meteorology and Climate Centre at UCD. He was formerly Professor of Meteorology at the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen and a Senior Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre.

Earlier in his career he was Head of Research at Met Éireann. He was Chairman of the RIA’s Climate Change Sciences Committee, 2009-2013, and a member of the RIA’s Climate Change and Environmental Sciences Committee, 2014-18. Prof. Bates' current research area is climate sensitivity. He was awarded the Vilhelm Bjerknes Medal of the European Geosciences Union in 2009. He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and of the Academia Europaea.

28th Annual General Meeting

Brian Snow, President & Committee

📅Monday, January 17, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00

AGENDA

1. Welcome and President’s Report

2. Secretary’s Report

3. Treasurer’s Report

4. Election of President for 2022

5. Election of Committee for 2022

6. Preliminary Plan for 2022

7. Membership Fee Proposal

“It is proposed that the Probus Membership Fee be increased to €75 for 2022 and any shortfall to be funded by voluntary contributions called for in late 2022”.

8. A.O.B.

'Show & Tell'

Probus Members

📅Monday, January 10, 2022
🕥11:00 - 12:00

A group of members present an item of personal memorabilia and narrate the underlying story connected

Members Musical Choices - presented by six or seven Probus members

Raymond Burke, Probus Member

📅Monday, December 20, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00

'The Supreme Court - one of the most powerful institutions in our State'

Ruadhan MacCormaic, author 'The Supreme Court; Assistant Editor, The Irish Times

📅Monday, December 13, 2021
🕥10:30 - 12:30

'The Anglo-Irish Treaty - and consequent debates'

Dr Mary Staines, Historian and Retired Consultant Psychiartist

📅Monday, December 6, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'State Building - Ireland 1922'

Frank Sheridan, Probus Member, Historian; former Ambassador

📅Monday, November 29, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Northern Ireland post Brexit - a Unionist perspective

Ian Paisley MP, North Antrim (2010+); Junior Minister, Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister (2007-2008); MLA (1998-2010)

📅Monday, November 22, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Westminster majority 12,721 (28.9%)

'Northern Ireland, post Brexit - a Nationalist perspective'

Máirtín Ó'Muilleoir, MLA (2014-2020); Minister for Finance (2016-2017); 58th Lord Mayor of Belfast (2013-2014)

📅Monday, November 15, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'The Impact of Brexit on British society and on UK/EU relations'

The Right Hon. Lord Adonis PC, Chairman, The European Movement UK; Labour Peer

📅Monday, November 8, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Will Irish Science be awarded a Nobel Prize anytime soon?

Dr John Hegarty, Probus Member; Physicist; Chairman, The Irish Times Trust; 43rd Provost of Trinity College (2001-2011)

📅Monday, November 1, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Between 1901 and 2021, the Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded 115 times to 219 laureates and the Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded 113 times to 186 laureates

Theoretical physicist, John Bardeen (1908-1991) is the only individual to have been awarded the Physics prize twice - in 1956 for the invention of the transistor and in 1972 for his proposal of the theory of superconductivity.

Frederick Sanger (1918-2013) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry twice - in 1958 for his work on the structure of proteins and in 1980 for his work concerning the determination of the base sequence in nucleic acids.

Marie Curie (1867-1934) was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice - in 1903, jointly with her husband, Pierre Curie (1859-1906) for their research on radiation phenomena and in 1911, five years after his death in a Paris traffic accident, for her discovery of the elements polonium and radium using techniques she invented for isolating radioactive isotopes.

Bank Holiday Quiz

Quizmaster: Kevin O'Malley

📅Monday, October 25, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Confident Ageing'

Professor Ian H Robertson, Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Trinity College Institute of Neurosciences

📅Monday, October 18, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Outcome of 2021 German Federal Parliamentary Elections

John Bolton, Probus President 2020

📅Monday, October 11, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

The 2021 German federal election was held on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. The result demonstrated the strength of the centre ground at the expense of the extreme right and extreme left.

'Two Show-offs' - producing amateur musicals and drama

Probus Members: Dr Jim Ryan, Vice President + Lorcan McEneaney

📅Monday, October 4, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Climate Change and Biodiversity

His Grace, Most Reverend Dr Dermot Farrell, Archbishop of Dublin + Primate of Ireland

📅Monday, September 27, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Oliver Cromwell - God's Executioner'

Dr Micheál Ó'Siochrú, Professor in Modern History, Trinity College

📅Monday, September 20, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Dental Surgery - a personal history'

Peter McGonigal, Probus Member, retired clinical dental surgeon

📅Monday, September 13, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Peter was a clinical dental surgeon in Ballsbridge, who also provided voluntary dental services around the world through the charity Operation Smile Ireland. He is Senior Examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons (England) and mentor for the RCS Fellowship Examination.

'Risk - Personal Tales of Business Creation'

Michael Kenny, Michael Shiel, Conal Harvey and Michael Ryan

📅Monday, September 6, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'The European Court of Justice, Autocrats or Unsung Heroes of the EU?'

The Hon. Mr John L Murray, Chief Justice (2004-2011); Member Supreme Court (1999-2015); Member European Court of Justice (1992-1999); Attorney General (1982 and 1987-1991)

📅Monday, August 23, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

(as the judges in Luxembourg have been variously described!)

Dublin's Victorian Heritage

Michael B Barry, Author - 'Dublin's Victorian Heritage'

📅Monday, August 16, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Evolution of the Landscape Management and Design of The Phoenix Park

Dr John A McCullen, Chief Parks Superintendent, Office of Public Works; author

📅Monday, August 9, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

The Phoenix Park: 1,750 acres - launched in 1662. Larger than London's Hyde Park, Regent's Park, Kensington Gardens, St James Park, Green Park, Greenwich and Battersea Park combined!Evolution of its

Howth Boat Trip (TBC)

Brian Snow

📅Tuesday, August 3, 2021
🕥12:30 - 17:30

Bank Holiday Quiz

Billy McCrea, Quizmaster

📅Monday, August 2, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Faces, Spaces, Places - an overview of the history of Dublin's Jewish community from the 1530's.'

Dr Melanie Brown, Lecturer in Jewish-Irish History, Trinity College

📅Monday, July 26, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'My Life and Times'

Billy McCrea, Probus Member; retired airline pilot: 'My Life and Times'

📅Monday, July 19, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00

Visit to Botanic Gardens Kilmacurragh, Co Wicklow

Brian Snow

📅Tuesday, July 13, 2021
🕥11:00 - 13:00

'An Assessment of the Irish Economy in a rapidly changing environment'

Jim Power, Chief Economist Friends First

📅Monday, July 12, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00

Social Event, Michael Ryan's garden, 10 Killiney Heath

Michael Ryan

📅Monday, July 12, 2021
🕥14:30 - 16:00
🏟10 Killiney Heath, Killiney (map)

'Generating Electricity: a strategy shaped by climate change'

Brendan Tuohy, Chairman Eirgrid Group

📅Monday, July 5, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Successful Policing Policy and Strategies'

Fachtna Murphy, Garda Commissioner (2007-2010); first Bureau Chief, Criminal Assets Bureau (1996-1999)

📅Monday, June 28, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'The Global Tax Battle hots up : Why are they picking on us ( our 12.5% ) and should we be fearful?'

Padraic A White, Chairman, Wireless Radio (2018+); Chief Executive IDA Ireland (1981-1990)

📅Monday, June 21, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'High Treason: the Appeal of Roger Casement (1864-1916), The Court of Criminal Appeal, London 1916'

The Hon. Mr Justice Donal O'Donnell, Member of the Supreme Court

📅Monday, June 14, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Germany: The End of the Merkel Years'

Michael Collins, Director-General, The Institute of International and European Affairs; Ambassador to Germany (2013-2019); Ambassador to United States (2007-2013)

📅Monday, May 31, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Chancellor Merkel is the first female Chancellor of Germany and has been described as the de facto leader of the EU and 'the most powerful woman in the world'. Born in Hamburg and raised in East Germany she entered politics in 1989, the year the Berlin Wall crumbled.

'Britain and Ireland after Brexit'

Seán Dorgan, Chairman Wicklow Hospice Foundation; Chief Executive IDA Ireland (1999-2008)

📅Monday, May 24, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Seán is a former Chairman of Tesco Ireland and Ulster Bank Group

'Reimagining Ireland's Waterways'

John McDonagh, Chief Executive Waterways Ireland

📅Monday, May 17, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Two Years in Kazakhstan'

Paul Gallagher, Honorary Secretary Probus Dun Laoghaire Marine

📅Monday, May 10, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Paul will describe his experience of residing in Kazakhstan, the world's largest landlocked country and the ninth-largest country in the world which gained independence in December 1991 from the Soviet Union.

'Members Boltholes: where do Probus members' regularly escape to in Ireland and elsewhere?'

Six Probus members will present a short illustrative narrative

📅Monday, May 3, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'What has The Probation Service ever done for us?'

Vivian Geiran, former Director, The Probation Service; Chair, Council for Penalogical Co-operation, Council of Europe

📅Monday, April 26, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'The Devil's Chaplain - the life and work of Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Dr Peter Boyle, Fellow Emeritus, School of Chemistry, Trinity College

📅Monday, April 19, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Charles Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist. The proposition he advocated that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors is widely accepted. In a joint publication with Alfred Russell Wallace (1823-1913), another British naturalist, Darwin introduced his scientific theory that this branching system of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin is regarded as one fo the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey - one of Britain's most significant honours.

'The European Union on the 70th Anniversary of the Treaty of Paris 1951'

David O'Sullivan, EU Ambassador to the US (2014-2019)

📅Monday, April 12, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

David O'Sullivan held a number of high-level position including membership of EU Commissioner Peter Sutherland's Cabinet with specific responsibility for social affairs and relations with the European Parliament (1985); Head of Task Force Group for Education, Youth and Training (1989); member of Commissioner Pádraig Flynn's Cabinet with specific responsibility for Social Dialogue and Labour Law and Deputy Chef-de-Cabinet (1993/1994). He subsequently served as:

Director-General for Employment (1996) - coordinating the European Social Fund

Director-General for Education and Culture (1999)

Chief-of-Staff to President Romano Prodi (1999)

Secretary-General of the EU Commission (2000-2005) -Chief EU Negotiator for Doha Development Round of the World Trade Organisation talks

Director-General, Trade (2005-2010); Free Trade Agreement with South Korea

Director-General, External Relations (2010), with responsibility for setting up the European External Action Service

Chief Operating Officer. European External Action Service (2011-2014)

Members' Quiz

Dr Niall Holohan, Quizmaster (Probus Member)

📅Monday, April 5, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Biodiversity and Human Well-being'

Dr Tom Bolger, Professor of Zoology (Emeritus), UCD

📅Sunday, April 4, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'The Rise and Fall of Waterford Wedgwood'

Brian Patterson, Chief Operating Officer, Waterford Crystal (1987-1995); Chief Executive Wedgwood (1995-2001); Director Waterford Wedgwood Plc (1987-2004)

📅Monday, March 29, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

‘Ireland's Campaign to win a seat on the UN Security Council’

Brendan Rogers, Deputy Secretary-General, Department of Foreign Affairs

📅Monday, March 22, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Promoting Ireland Across the Globe on St Patrick's Day: anecdotes from behind the scenes

Former Ambassadors (Probus-DLM members)

📅Monday, March 15, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00

'Civic Governance: Doom and Gloom, or Zoom and Boom: an optimistic view'

Dr Cathal MacSwiney Brugha, Professor (Emeritus), Quinn and Smurfit Business Schools, UCD

📅Monday, March 8, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Ireland's Coming Revolution: power from the sea'

Peter Coyle, Executive Chairman, Marine Renewables Industries Association

📅Monday, March 1, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)
🔗http://www.mria.ie

'Priests in Irish folklore'

Dr Salvador Ryan, Professor of Ecclesiastical History, St Patrick's College Maynooth

📅Monday, February 22, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)
🔗maynoothcollege.ie

Does public service broadcasting have a promising future?

Cathal Goan, Director-General of RTÉ (2003-2011)

📅Monday, February 15, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Cathal Goan also played a leading role in the launch of TG 4 network in October 1996.

The Government established a Future of Media Commission in September 2020 with a remit that covers public service broadcasters, commercial broadcasters, print and online media platforms. The Commission is examining sustainable funding sources; changes in audience behaviour and changes in technology and will make recommendations to address prevailing practices and challenges.

UN Geneva: working for Peace, Rights and Well-being

Mary Whelan, Permanent Representative (Ambassador) to the UN and other international organisations at Geneva (2001-2006)

📅Monday, February 8, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Covid-19: Update on vaccines and therapeutics

Professor Luke A J O'Neill, Chair of Biochemistry, Trinity College; Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Inflazone Ltd; author.

📅Monday, February 1, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

A world-renowned immunologist, Prof O’Neill co-founded Inflazone Ltd in 2016 with Prof Matt Cooper, Professor of Chemical Biology in the Institute of Molecular Bioscience at University of Queensland. It is a pioneer in the development of orally available inflammatory inhibitors to treat chronic inflammatory diseases – from Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, asthma to liver inflammation by regulating the body's immune response.

Inflazone raised €55 million in Venture Capital by 2018 and was acquired by the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche last September.

Inflazone shareholders received €380 million upfront and are eligible to receive additional milestone payments.

Qatar & Syria - some cultural insights

William Fagan, Telecom Regulator - State of Qatar (2005-2010)

📅Monday, January 25, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Here are links:

click here for Syria Through the Lens Podcast with Catherine Ward, born in Aleppo, living in Damascus

click here for The Road to Palmyra BBC Film from 2018 with Dan Cruickshank and Don McCullin

click here for Beyond The Chaos, The Remarkable Heritage of Syria by Michael Barry - The Andalus Press.

27th Annual General Meeting

John Bolton, President 2020 and Committee

📅Monday, January 18, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

President’s Report

Treasurer’s Report

Nomination of Hon Auditor

Determination of Annual Membership Subscription

Elections to Committee

Any Other Business

New President outlines Event Programme for coming year

'Show & Tell'

📅Monday, January 11, 2021
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

A group of members present an item of personal memorabilia and narrate the underlying story connected

A Musical Profile of Sir Arthur Sullivan, with a little help from WS Gilbert'

Raymond Burke, Probus Member

📅Monday, December 14, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Gilbert & Sullivan - The Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900).

Kremlin Nightmares

Conor O'Clery, former Moscow Correspondent of The Irish Times

📅Monday, December 7, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Conor O'Clery arrived in Moscow in 1987 to report on the changes being initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. He recruited the lady who would later become his wife, Zhanna - an Armenian-born PhD student resident in Krasnoyarsk Siberia as a translator. Conor wrote a book in 2018 'The Shoemaker and His Daughter' about Zhanna and her family. This reveals a very personal glimpse of the Soviet Union.

'The Holocaust' - a second generation perspective

Oliver Sears

📅Monday, November 30, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Oliver a London-born Dublin-based art dealer. He is the son of a Holocaust survivor & a former trustee of Holocaust Education Trust Ireland. He is a frequent contributor to radio and newspapers including RTE and The Irish Times. He gave his lecture 'The Objects of Love', the story of how his mother and grandmother survived the Holocaust in Poland, for the 2019 annual Kristallnacht lecture at Trinity College Dublin.

Diplomacy: Stasis or Transformation

Michael Lillis, former diplomat

📅Monday, November 23, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

- The Four Horsemen, John Hume, breaching British control of US policy on Ireland since Partition in Carter Initiative of August 1977;

- Thatcher eliminates Unionist veto in Anglo-Irish Agreement 1985;

- Bunker Days (and nights): Irish Govt team in Stormont 1985 - 87;

- Stasis: Two nights alone with Castro : UN Mission on Human Rights in Cuba 1988: leader he most admired was Franco.

'Ireland's Miss Liberty'

Michael Kenny, Probus Member

📅Monday, November 16, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Building a shared island'

Colum Eastwood MP, Leader of the SDLP

📅Monday, November 9, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Enhancing the Effectiveness of EU Human Rights Policy

Eamon Gilmore, EU Special Representative for Human Rights

📅Monday, November 2, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Eamon Gilmore took up his duties as EU Special Representative for Human Rights on 1 March 2019 and has been appointed initially for two years.

Bankl Holiday Quiz

Quiz Master: Peter Gunning, Probus Member

📅Monday, October 26, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Ireland and the EU post Brexit

Dr Ray Bassett, retired Ambassador and author

📅Monday, October 19, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Dr Bassett noted that Leo Varadkar 'had done everything in his power to thwart the democratic outcome in the UK [the Brexit vote in 2016]...The gamble failed and Ireland is now facing a very difficult situation...Opposing a fair deal for the UK was never in Ireland's interests. It was a huge blunder'.(Sunday Express 8 Aug 2020)

The Enigma of Arthur Griffith (1871 - 1922): 'father of us all'

Dr Colum Kenny, Emeritus Professor at DCU; barrister-at-law and author of eight books

📅Monday, October 12, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Edward Lee - Model Employer and Man of Courage

Michael Lee, great grandson of Edward Lee (1853 - 1927), founder of Edward Lee & Co

📅Monday, October 5, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflct and Lessons from the Irish Peace Process

Alan Shatter, Minister for Justice & Equality and Minister for Defence (2011-2014)

📅Monday, September 28, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral - and his world

Professor Andrew Carpenter, Emeritus Professor of English at UCD; Member Royal Irish Academy

📅Monday, September 21, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Dean Swift is regarded as 'the foremost prose satirist in the English language'. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Reversing the demise of our Main Streets

Bobby Kerr, entrepreneur and presenter 'Down to Business' (Newstalk)

📅Monday, September 14, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

'Building a Better Health Service'

Paul Reid, Chief Executive Officer, Health Service Executive

📅Monday, September 7, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Formed on 1 January 2005, the HSE is responsible for the provision of health and social services, with public funds, for everyone living in Ireland. The greatest change in the Irish population structure in the past decade has been the the proportion and number of persons in the 65+ age cohort. Life expectancy has increased by almost two and a half years since 2005 mainly attributable to decreasing mortality rates among individuals in the older age groups and an indication of greater effectiveness in the prevention and treatment of disease.

The HSE has a budget of €17.4 billion in 2020, an increase of €1.4 billion (6.3%) over 2019. The HSE is the largest employer in the State, with more than 67,000 direct employees, and a further 35,000 employed by agencies funded by the HSE.

Sláintecare is the ten-year programme intended to transform our health and social care services through a universal single tier health service. It is the roadmap for building a world-class health and social care service for the Irish people.

‘Leading a dynamic postal service in the modern era’

David McRedmond, Chief Executive Officer, An Post

📅Monday, August 31, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

David McRedmond was appointed Chief Executive of An Post in October 2016. Prior to then he was Chief Executive of TV3 until the television station was sold to Liberty Global in December 2015.

David’s earlier career was with Eircom and in the retail industry in the UK and US when he was Operations Director of Waterstones; Managing Director of WH Smith Travel Retail and Chief Executive of WH Smith Inc.

'A Life in Politics: not for the faint-hearted'

Liz O'Donnell, Chair, Road Safety Authrority; former TD and Minister of State

📅Monday, August 24, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Fighting Epidemics

Frank Sheridan, Probus President (2019); former Ambassador

📅Monday, August 17, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Machiavelli - a bad rap?

John O'Brien, Probus Secretary

📅Monday, August 10, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Bank Holiday Quiz

Raymond Burke, Quiz Master, Probus Committee

📅Monday, August 3, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Representing Ireland: Japan (1978-80) and Korea (1999-2004)

Paul Murray, Prombus Member, Author, former Ambassador

📅Monday, July 27, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Taoisigh that I have encountered

Vincent Browne, Probus Member

📅Monday, July 20, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Vincent Browne has engaged with ten form holders of the office of Taoiseach

Anthony Trollope -A Decade in Ireland, 1841 -1851

Michael Gleeson, Secretary Trinity College(1990 -2008); Director of Strategic Initiatives (2008-2011)

📅Monday, July 13, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Mr Gleeson is a member of the board of St James Hospital; Chair of the Trustee Board of Marino Institute of Education and the Foundation Board of the RDS. He is a member of the Board of Glasnevin Trust a School Governor and PensionsTrustee.

Anthony Trollope (1815 - 1882) wrote four novels in Ireland in the decade he resided here from 1841. He met his future wife, Rose Heseltine in Kingstown.

Peacebuilding and Ireland

Brendan Wafer, Probus Member

📅Monday, June 29, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

The Middle East

Dr Niall Holohan, Probus Member; former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia

📅Monday, June 22, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Ecuador

Dr David Owens

📅Monday, June 15, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

The Geology of the Mediterranean

Christopher Stillman, Professor of Geology (1965 - 2002 / Emeritus; Felow Emeritus), Trinity College

📅Monday, June 8, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Online Quiz

Donal Duffy, Probus Member and Quizmaster

📅Monday, June 1, 2020
🕥00:00 - 00:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Early Views of the Universe (Part 2)

Dr Robert Barklie, Senior Lecturer Physics (Retired), Trinity College

📅Monday, May 25, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Early Views of theUniverse (Part 1)

Dr Robert Barklie, Senior Lecturer in Physics (Retired), Trinity College

📅Monday, May 18, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Historical Review of the Catholic Church in Dun Laoghaire

Dr Jim Ryan, Probus Member

📅Monday, May 11, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:30
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Jungle warfare in East Africa, 1914

Tony Allwright, Probus President (2018)

📅Monday, April 27, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

Bulgaria

John Biggar, Probus member and former Ambassador

📅Monday, April 20, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

📅Monday, April 13, 2020
🕥00:00 - 00:00

NO MEETING - Easter

Captain Luke Ryan, Rush Co Dublin (1750 -1789): An Irish Privateer

Brian Snow, Probus Vice President

📅Monday, April 6, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Zoom Meeting (map)

The Rise and Fall of Waterford Wedgwood

Brian Patterson, Chief Operating Officer, Waterford Crystal (1987 – 1995) Chief Executive, Waterford Wedgwood (1995-2000) Director Waterford Wedgwood Plc (2000 -2004)

📅Monday, March 30, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

POSTPONED- Covid-19 Emergency

‘Christ Church Cathedral – a diversified beacon at the spiritual heart of medieval Dublin’

Very Rev Dermot M P Dunne, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

📅Monday, March 23, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

POSTPONED

📅Monday, March 16, 2020
🕥00:00 - 00:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

NO MEETING - St Patrick's Day

Promoting Ireland Across the Globe on St Patrick's Day: Anecdotes from behind the scenes

📅Sunday, March 15, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00

'Anything Goes' by Cole Porter

Dun Laoghaire Musical & Dramatic Society

📅Wednesday, March 11, 2020
🕥20:00 - 22:30
🏟Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire (map)

Come along and meet Reno, a brassy evangelist turned nightclub singer, Billy our hero, Hope his love and her domineering mother Evangeline, as well as gangsters, molls, angels and sailors.

Based on an original book by P.G. Wodehouse, author of the Jeeves & Wooster stories, you can expect a plot that is dastardly, intricate, and results in an absolutely irresolvable tangle…though of course it is happily resolved by the Finale!

And all set to the incomparable music of Cole Porter classics, such as I Get a Kick Out of You, You’re The Top, Friendship, It’s De-Lovely, Blow Gabriel Blow, and of course the title song Anything Goes.

‘Issues and challenges facing town planning’

Ruari Quinn, Chairman, Institute of International & European Affairs Leader, The Labour Party (1997 – 2002)

📅Monday, March 9, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

‘Is the decriminalization of the possession of controlled substances the way forward for Ireland?’

Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan (Ret), Chairman Drug Law Task Force

📅Monday, March 2, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Justice Sheehan was a justice of the High Court from 2017 to 2014 and a member of the Court of Appeal from 2014 to 2017.

'Baby, it's cold outside!'

Fergus O'Gorman, Former Government Scientific Adviser Author: ‘The Irish Wildlife Book’

📅Monday, February 24, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Spanish Foreign Policy, 2012-2018 - a personal perspective

HE Ildefonso Castro, Ambassador of Spain; Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (2017-18)

📅Monday, February 17, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Ambasador Castro was Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy from 2012 to 2017 and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018.

Sailing the islands of the Wild Atlantic Way

Brian Snow, Probus Member

📅Monday, February 3, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Toledo 1492 - three cultures, an expulsion and missing keys

Paul Humphreys, Probus Member

📅Monday, January 27, 2020
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Members Christmas Lunch

📅Wednesday, December 11, 2019
🕥12:30 - 15:30
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Brexit - A Perspective from the City of London'

Richard Burrows, Chairman British American Tobacco; Senior Independent Director Carlsberg A/S and Rentokil Initial Plc. Previously Joint Director-General Pernod-Ricard; Governor Bank of Ireland

📅Monday, December 9, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Amazing Art & Architecture in Historic Cemeteries'

Dr David Owens, Probus Member

📅Monday, December 2, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Breege's Journey from Boston (Co Clare) to Primark'

Breege O'Donoghue, Chair Design & Crafts Council of Ireland; previously Group Director Business Development, Primark

📅Monday, November 25, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Breege O'Donoghue played a pivotal leadership role in almost every step of Penneys / Primarks transformation over nearly four decades.

'A Southerner Goes North!'

Dr Sean Farren, MLA for North Antrim 1998 - 2007

📅Monday, November 18, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The Cost of a United Ireland

John FitzGerald, Research Affiliate ESRI

📅Monday, November 11, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

John FitzGerald has been a Research Affiliate at the ESRI since November 2014. Prior to that he was a Research Professor at the ESRI and Programme Coordinator of the Macroeconomics Research Area. He is President of the Association d’Instituts Européens de Conjoncture Économique and a former president of the Irish Economic Association. He is currently a member of the Commission of the Central Bank of Ireland and of the Independent Expert Panel established in 2014 by the Department of Communications Energy and Natural resources In the past he has served as a member of the National Economic and Social Council and of the board of the Northern Ireland Authority for Energy Regulation. He was also a member of the Irish Energy Research Council, of the Independent Water review Panel, Northern Ireland and of the High Level Group on Green Enterprise. He chaired the Renewable Energy Strategy Group for the Department of Public Enterprise. He was a member of the EU "Group for Economic Analysis" from 2002-2004 advising the President of the EU Commission on matters of Economic Policy.

Rotha Mór an tSaoil

Donal Duffy, Probus Member. Previously Deputy General Secretary, Irish Hospital Consultants Association

📅Monday, November 4, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

TK Whitaker - Irishman of the 20th Century

Anne Chambers, Biographer

📅Monday, October 21, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Thomas Kenneth Whitaker (8 December 1916 – 9 January 2017), a native of Rostrevor Co Down; son of a Protestant father and Catholic mother, was an Irish economist, politician, diplomat, Secretary of the Department of Finance - who served as the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland from 1969 to 1976 and a Senator from 1977 to 1982, upon being nominated by An Taoiseach, Jack Lynch. Dr Whitaker was Chancellor of National University of Ireland from 1976 to 1996.

He is credited with a pivotal role in the economic development of Ireland.

Visit Railway Museum, Whitehead Co Antrim + Lunch at Whitehead Golf Club

📅Thursday, October 17, 2019
🕥09:30 - 20:15
🏟Whitehead Railway Museum, Co Antrim (map)
🔗https://www.steamtrainsireland.com

Whitehead Railway Museum, which was officially opened in 2017, combines the past with the present. Visitors can get close to some of the magnificent steam locomotives in the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland collection – a chance to step aboard the footplate of an 1879-built steam engine.

Whitehead Golf Club was established 1904. It is located on Muldersleigh Hill the site of an early settlements dating as far back as the early Stone Age, the site offers unrivalled views over vast areas of land and sea.

The panorama extends all the way across Belfast Lough to the Mourne Mountains, over the Irish Sea to Scotland and across Islandmagee all the way up to the famous Glens of Antrim and close to the newly restored famous Gobbins cliff-face path.

'The state of Anglo-Irish relations'

Dáithí O’Ceallaigh, previously Director-General Institute for International & European Affairs; Chairman Press Council; Ambassador to the Court of St James's

📅Monday, October 14, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Protestant and Irish - the minority's search for place in independent Ireland

Dr Ian d'Alton, Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Irish History, Trinity College; author

📅Monday, October 7, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Dr Ian d’Alton is a historian, primarily of southern Irish Protestantism, latterly through the medium of the literary, and the author of a monograph -

Protestant society and politics in Cork, 1812-1844 (Cork University Press, 1980).

His other writings and speeches are detailed below. With Dr Ida Milne, he has co-edited a volume of essays Protestant and Irish: the minority’s search for place in independent Ireland (Cork UP, 2019). He is currently researching books about the Royal Historical Society’s Alexander Prize, and its place in British historiography, 1897-2005 (he was a recipient of the Prize in 1972); the fascicle for Naas, Co. Kildare in the Royal Irish Academy’s Irish Historic Town Atlas series; and [with Dr Ida Milne] The Irish Revolution 1912-23: Wicklow in the county series edited by Dr Daithi O Corrain and Professor Marian Lyons.

Ian was a senior Irish public servant, initially working in the Department of Finance and then in a State owned company, Housing Finance Agency plc, as Head of Treasury, and of which he became Chief Executive Officer and a Ministerially-appointed Board member in 2007

From South Antrim to South Africa - milestones along the way

Rodney Rice, previously RTE producer and presenter; Chairman Action Aid

📅Monday, September 30, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Rodney Rice, a native of Whiteabbey Co Antrim, concluded his 40-year career with RTE in July 2009. He presented the current affairs programme, 'Saturday View' for a quarter century and 'Worlds Apart, a programme with a focus on development for 23 years. Following retirement - he was a director of ActionAid Ireland until December 2018.

Ageing Well

Deborah Gallagher, St Michael's Hospital

📅Monday, September 23, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

California Verbal Memory Learning Test

Rachel Bates, UCD

📅Monday, September 16, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'A Forgotten Order - the lost Orange Heritage in Leinster, Munster and Connaught'

Quincy Dougan, Historian, Commentator and 'Unashamed Ulster Loyalist'!

📅Monday, September 9, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)
🔗http://www.grandorangelodge.co.uk

This Protestant fraternity has 34,000 members (90,000 in the 1960's) throughout the world. Autonomous Grand Lodges are established in Scotland, England, the United States of America, West Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The name comes from William III, Prince of Orange, and commemorates his victory over despotic power laid the foundation for the evolution of Constitutional Democracy in the British Isles.

Support for William of Orange in the British Isles led to the formation of Orange Societies to commemorate his victory at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, but the largest and longest lasting groups were the Boyne Societies in Ireland.

In 1795, following the culmination of attacks on Protestants in County Armagh at the Battle of the Diamond, in which Protestants routed those who had attacked them and attempted to burn properties, it was decided to form an organisation which would protect Protestants. This body, drawing on existing Orange Clubs in the neighbourhood, was named the Loyal Orange Institution.

Today defending Protestantism is not so literal as it was in 1795, but members' take a stand for 'truth' in an age of secularism and in order to defend their culture and traditions.

'Food for Climate Thought'

Tony Allwright, Probus President 2017

📅Monday, September 2, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

An alternative viewpoint to some of the climate-change conundrums'

Reaching for the Stars - deValera in America June 1919 to December 1920

Dr David McCullagh, Biographer and Presenter 'Prime Time' on RTE 1

📅Monday, August 26, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'We are reaching for the stars in the hope of obtaining the mountain top', Éamon deValera, 1919

deValera arrived in New York on 11 June 1919 aboard SS Lapland at the end of a 10-day voyage from Liverpool. The ship has been launched at the Harland & Wolff yard in Belfast in June 1908 and was operated by White Star Line. The purpose of the visit was to achieve recognition for the nascent State and to reconcile various Irish factions.

He remained in the United States until 11 December 1920, returing home on SS Celtic, another ship owned by White State Line. She struck the Cow & Calf Rocks near Roches Point while on a voyage to Cobh in December 1928; became usable and declared a total loss before being sold for scrap in 1933.

Annual Voyage from Dun Laoghaire to Howth + visit to Hurdy-Gurdy radio museum

Coordinators: John Ryan / Kevin O'Malley

📅Thursday, August 22, 2019
🕥12:30 - 17:00
🏟Howth Harbour (map)

Depart Dublin Bay Cruises departure point on East Pier @ 12.30

Voyage Fare €19

Admission to Hurdy-Gurdy radio museum €5

Lunch - self-financed

'Japan: The Land of the Rising Scrum'

Mark Egan, Head of Competitions & Performance, World Rugby

📅Monday, August 19, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Hosted once every four years, the Rugby World Cup is rugby's centrepiece event. It is the big stage that rugby players from all over the world dream of reaching. Held over the course of seven weeks, it is the 3rd largest sports event in the world after the summer olympics and the Football World Cup. The 2019 World Cup commences in Japan on 20 September and concludes on 2 November.

Roots

Lorcan McEneaney, Probus Member; previously Assistant Chief Inspector of Schools, Dept of Education & Science

📅Monday, August 12, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The Secretary-General of a Government department - Evolving Leadership Styles

Seán F Aylward, previously Private Secretary to two Taoisigh - Jack Lynch and Charles J. Haughey; first Director-General, Irish Prison Service; Secretary-General, Department of Justice & Equality.

📅Monday, July 29, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Following retirement from the Civil Service in 2011, Mr Aylward became Ireland’s representative on the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which is responsible for monitoring conditions in prisons, police stations and other institutions in the council’s member states. He was appointed Under-Treasurer of The Honorable Society of Kings Inns in 2013 and continued in this role until 2018.

The Papacy

Rev Michael Collins, priest Archdiocese of Dublin and author: 'The Vatican'

📅Monday, July 22, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Fr Collins is a native of Glenageary. After secondary education at St. Conleth’s College Ballsbridge he studied Theology at the diocesan seminary of Holy Cross and History, Greek and Roman Civilisation and Philosophy at University College Dublin.

After ordination he served in two parishes before following postgraduate studies in Rome at the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archeology. He later taught in a number of universities, including the American University of Rome, John Cabot University and Duquesne University, Rome Campus. He returned to Dublin in 2005.

'The Vatican', published in 2008, offers an insight into the unique 2,000 year history, traditional ceremonies, priceless treasures and spectacular architecture of the Vatican. It includes accounts of the day-to-day running of this State, illustrated by the stories of those who live or work in this extraordinary city within a city.

Over the past few years Fr Collins has also written columns for The Catholic Times and the Irish Times as well as for periodicals and magazines such as Primo, Vatican Past and Present and Catholic Life, as well as contributing to radio and TV documentaries.

'John Hume in America'

Maurice Fitzpatrick, film maker, writer, lecturer

📅Monday, July 15, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Maurice Fitzpatrick is an Irish and Japanese-educated film-maker, writer and lecturer. He wrote and produced the BBC documentary film The Boys of St Columb’s, which is about how educational reform in Northern Ireland helped break the vicious cycle of sectarian violence by raising a new generation of leaders who would go on to reshape the social and political future of Northern Ireland – the film tells the story through prominent Irish leaders including Nobel Prize winning writer Seamus Heaney and John Hume, who won the Nobel Prize for his role in the Northern Ireland peace process.

Maurice has just finished another documentary film as writer and director for the BBC about Brian Friel’s play ‘Translations’ which focuses on the role of (mis)communication and language in a clash between two different cultures. He has published articles on Kurosawa’s cinematic interpretation of Shakespeare, on modern novels, on travel, and a book ‘The Boys of St Columb’s’. He is currently a lecturer at the University of Cologne. Before that, he lived in Tokyo from 2004-2011 where he lectured at Keio University, Japan’s oldest university. He has also been a guest lecturer at various universities in North America and Europe.

He has also made a documentary feature film, In the Name of Peace: John Hume in America which will be shown at the Kennedy Summer School. The film chronicles the support of John Hume’s approach to politics in Northern Ireland in co-ordination with senior political figures in US and Irish Foreign Affairs.

The challenges facing IDA Ireland on its 70th birthday

Frank Ryan, Chairman IDA Ireland; previously Chief Executive Enterprise Ireland (2003-2013)

📅Monday, July 8, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Summer Luncheon

Senator Ian Marshall

📅Thursday, July 4, 2019
🕥12:30 - 15:30
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

For members, spouses and guests. Guests-of-honour: Josephine Cotter, widow of Micheal Cotter; Senator Marshall and Peter Bowring, Commodore Royal St George Yacht Club

Touring the USSR in 1973

Paul O'Kane, Probus Member

📅Monday, July 1, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Fraternal Visit to Dublin by the Probus Club of Antrim

📅Wednesday, June 26, 2019
🕥10:00 - 16:30

Itinerary included Leinster House; National Gallery and lunch at Buswells Hotel

'The School of Athens'

Michael Ryan, Probus Member

📅Monday, June 24, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

A fresco captured on canvas and representing philosophy by the Renaissance artist Raphael between 1509 and 1511.

The Life & Times of Bram Stoker (1847-1912), author of Dracula

Paul Murray, Probus Member, Diplomat and Biographer

📅Monday, June 17, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'A Lifetime in Journalism'

Deaglán de Bréadún, Member of the Press Council

📅Monday, June 10, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Deaglán de Bréadún was nominated to the Press Council by the National Union of Journalists. He was formerly Father of the NUJ Chapel at the Irish Times. Positions held during many years at the paper included Northern Editor, Political Correspondent, Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Temporary Moscow Correspondent, Irish Language Editor and Feature Writer/Sub-Editor.

He took voluntary redundancy at the end of 2012 and later became Local Radio Correspondent with the Houses of the Oireachtas where he spent a year broadcasting accounts of proceedings at Leinster House to radio stations around the country. He then worked as Political Editor of the Irish Sun, until February 2015. He is the author of a comprehensive account of the peace process, entitled "The Far Side of Revenge: Making Peace in Northern Ireland" (Collins Press, 2001 and 2008) and a collection of short stories in Irish entitled "Sceallóga (Chips)", published by Comhar Teo. His coverage of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement won the IPR/BT Northern Ireland press and broadcast award for daily news journalism.A native of Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, his family moved to Dublin, where he attended CBS Synge Street and UCD, graduating with a master's degree in Anglo-Irish literature

June Bank Holiday - No Meeting

📅Monday, June 3, 2019
🕥00:00 - 00:00

Chicago Connections

Peter Gunning Probus Member and former Ambassador

📅Monday, May 27, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Travelogue on Iran

Paul Gallagher, Oil Engineer and Probus Member

📅Monday, May 20, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Europe, Foreign Direct Investment & Tax

John O'Brien, Probus Member; former Secretary of IDA Ireland

📅Monday, May 13, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

May Bank Holiday - No Meeting

📅Monday, May 6, 2019
🕥00:00 - 00:00

'A Brief History of Our Planet - where do we fit in?'

Dr Christopher J Stillman, Associate Professor Emeritus - Geology, Trinity College 1965-2002

📅Monday, April 29, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Professor Stillman is a graduate of Leeds University. His doctoral research was on volcanic rocks in what was then Rhodesia, following which he worked with the Geological Survey of Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, for six years. After this, he began his long and distinguished association with Trinity College Dublin, beginning with a lectureship in the Geology Department and for some years he was Head of TCD's Environmental Science Laboratory. Since retirement, Professor Stillman has been closely following the effects of climate change, a process which has occurred time and again in the World’s history.

Easter Monday - No Meeting

📅Monday, April 22, 2019
🕥00:00 - 00:00

Commemorating the life and career of Douglas Gageby (1918-2004)

Patrick Gageby SC (son)

📅Monday, April 15, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Douglas Gageby was born in Dublin, at 54 Upper Beechwood Avenue, Ranelagh, to Thomas Gageby, a Belfast-born civil servant. His mother, Ethel Elizabeth née Smith, was a schoolteacher from county of Cavan. The Gageby family moved to Belfast when Douglas was about three as his father went to work for the Northern Ireland Civil Service following partition. His paternal grandfather Robert Gageby had stood as a Labour parliamentary candidate in Belfast North in 1910 and was a Belfast City Councillor for 20 years, first elected in 1898 as a trade union candidate supported by the Independent Labour Party.

He was educated at Belfast Royal Academy and Trinity College, Dublin, where he was elected a scholar in Modern Languages (French and German) in 1940. He was also actively involved with the student newspaper Trinity News. He enlisted in the Irish Army as a private soldier at the outbreak of World War II.[citation needed] He was commissioned later, and he served as an intelligence officer. He reported from post-war Germany for the Irish Press and went on to work under Conor Cruise O'Brien in the Irish News Agency. In 1954 he was the first editor of the Evening Press. In 1963 he became editor of The Irish Times, a post he held until 1986, having been brought back from a short retirement in 1974 He is credited with moving the Irish Times from a Unionist organ into a successful Irish journal of record.

What Have Muslims Ever Done for Us?

Brian Snow, Probus Member - who has resided and worked in several Middle East jurisdictions

📅Monday, April 8, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

‘Food and Diet: Personal and Global Challenges’

Tom Arnold, Agricultural Economist. Chairman, Task Force Rural Africa; Chairman, Constitutional Convention; former Chief Executive, Concern Worldwide; former Chairman, The Irish Times Trust

📅Monday, April 1, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Task Force Rural Africa is an expert group created by the European Commission to provide expertise, advice and possible recommendations on enhancing the role of the EU agri-food and agro-industrial sector in the sustainable economic development of Africa.

Founded in 1968, Concern has responded to major emergencies and implemented long-term development programmes in more than 50 countries. Today, with a staff of 3,900 of 50 nationalities, Concern operates in 25 of the world’s poorest countries, helping people to achieve major and long-lasting improvements in their lives.

The Escalating Cost of the National Children's Hospital: are white elephants stampeding again?

Dr Sean Barrett, Economist and Pro-Chancellor Trinity College

📅Monday, March 25, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Following completion of the second phase of the two-stage tender procurement process, the final cost of the design, build and equipment programme for which the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board is responsible is now €1,433 million, €450 million more than advised to Government in April 2017. €319 million of the additional cost relates to construction costs associated with staff, consultants, planning, design team fees, risk/contingency and management equipment service.

St Patrick's Day - No Meeting

📅Monday, March 18, 2019
🕥00:00 - 00:00

Musical - Jekyll & Hyde

Dun Laoghaire Musical & Dramatic Society

📅Thursday, March 14, 2019
🕥20:00 - 22:30
🏟Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire (map)

Based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic thriller, Jekyll & Hyde is the gripping tale of a brilliant mind gone horrifically awry, set to a powerful pop-rock score by Frank Wildhorn with book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse.

The Media in a Troubled Land

Michael Brophy, former Managing Director The Sunday World; former Chief Executive Independent News & Media (NI)

📅Monday, March 4, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Commemorating the Centenary of Major Historical Events

Dr Maurice Manning, Chairman, Expert Group, Decade of Centenaries; Author; Chancellor National University of Ireland; Fine Gael TD 1982-1987; Senator 1981-1982 and 1987 - 2002

📅Monday, February 25, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The Expert Advisory Group on Commemorations was established by the Taoiseach in 2011 and meets regularly in the Department of the Taoiseach. Its role is to advise the Government on historical matters relating to the Decade of Centenaries, and to consult widely with academic, community and voluntary groups and members of the public to ensure that significant events are commemorated accurately, proportionately and appropriately in tone. The group is non-partisan and composed of independent members from around the country.

An Overview of European Politics

John Bolton, Vice President Probus

📅Monday, February 18, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Dublin Opinion 1922-1968

Felix M. Larkin

📅Monday, February 11, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

A satirical magazine with the motto that 'humour is is the safety valve of the Nation.

Mr Larkin is an historian and former senior civil servant in the Department of Finance and the National Treasury Management Agency. He is former chairman of the Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland 2010-13 and Academic Director of Parnell Summer School 2013-15. Author of 'Terror and Discord: the Shemus cartoons in the Freeman’s Journal, 1920-1924' (2009) and of numerous scholarly articles on the history of the press in Ireland.

The 1970 Arms Trial

Dr Michael Heney, former RTE investigative journalist

📅Monday, February 4, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

On 28 May 1970, Charles J Haughey and Neil T Blaney, former government ministers, went on trial in Dublin, together with an Irish Army intelligence officer, Captain James Kelly, a Belfast republican leader named John Kelly and Belgian businessman and accused Nazi Albert Luykx, who had allegedly agreed to use his contacts to acquire the weapons.

All charges against Blaney were dropped in the District Court on 2 July 1970 and as a result he was not tried, before the main trial got underway under Justice Aindrias Ó Caoimh. The trial collapsed a week later after allegations of bias. Following a second trial the other four defendants were cleared on 23 October.

Dr Heney's research concerns new information relating the trial and the circumstances connected to it.

The History of the GAA

Mark Duncan, Author 'The GAA - A Peoples History'

📅Monday, January 28, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The Inaugural Meeting of Dáil Éireann - Mansion House, Tuesday 21 January 1919

Dr Donal McCartney, Emeritus Professor of Modern Irish History, UCD

📅Monday, January 21, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

2019 Annual General Meeting

📅Monday, January 14, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

'Show & Tell'

15 Members

📅Monday, January 7, 2019
🕥11:00 - 12:00

A presentation of memorabilia, mementos and souvenirs that tell a story

Margaret Thatcher & Ireland

Frank Sheridan, Probus Vice President and Former Ambassador

📅Monday, December 10, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Members Christmas Luncheon

Guest-of-Honour: Enda Kenny TD, former Taoiseach

📅Thursday, December 6, 2018
🕥12:30 - 16:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

For members, spouses and guests

The Man from Arran

Robin Hamilton, Probus Member and Insurance Loss Adjustor

📅Monday, December 3, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The Irish Senior Citizens Parliament - update

Matt Coleman, Club President 1999, 2000 and 2001

📅Monday, November 26, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The impact of deregulation and low-cost air travel on Irish Society

Dr Seán Barrett, Economist; Fellow Emeritus Economics - Pro-Chancellor Trinity College

📅Monday, November 19, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Rathmines & Rathgar Musical Society - Carousel

📅Saturday, November 17, 2018
🕥19:30 - 23:00
🏟National Concert Hall (map)

Composed in 1945 by Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) and Oscar Hammerstein (1895-1960) and set on the coast of Maine, the story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs.

He participates in a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child; after it goes tragically wrong, he is given a chance to make things right. A secondary plot line deals with millworker Carrie Pipperidge and her romance with ambitious fisherman Enoch Snow. The show includes the well-known songs "If I Loved You", "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone".

Life is a Funny Business, a very personal story

Alan Shatter, former Minister for Justice & Defence

📅Monday, November 12, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Thirty-eight years in the Force

Bill Herlihy, Club Founder, Club President 1994, 1995 + 2013, former Garda Chief Superintendent

📅Monday, November 5, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Halloween Public Holiday - no meeting

📅Monday, October 29, 2018
🕥00:00 - 00:00

The Cup that Cheers!

Gordon Henderson, President 2002 + 2003

📅Monday, October 22, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00

Hayes, Conyngham Robinson - reminisces about a 4th generation family firm

Michael Shiell, Probus Member and Managing Director (pharmacy chain)

📅Monday, October 15, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The Sinking of RMS Leinster on 10 October 1918

Cormac Louth, Maritime Historian

📅Monday, October 8, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:15
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)
🔗museum.ie

RMS Leinster Open Day at National Maritime Museum on 8 October. Details on Museum web site.

Jazz Concert @ Killiney Golf Club

Dalkey Island Probus Club

📅Monday, October 1, 2018
🕥10:30 - 12:00
🏟Killiney Golf Club (map)

Do You Remember?

Don Mooney, Probus Member and Club Founder

📅Monday, September 24, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Founders Day: Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the inaugural meeting to establish The Probus Club of Dun Laoghaire in 1993

Visit to Dublin Airport and presentation by DAA

Host: Maura Cassidy, Dublin Airport Authority

📅Wednesday, September 19, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Dublin Airport (map)
🔗daa.ie

The 1918 Origin and Impact of the Influenza Pandemic

Pádraig Laffan, Vice Chair Foxrock Local History Club

📅Monday, September 17, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Spread globally from Fort Riley Kansas. Lasted from January 1918 to December 1920 and infected 500 million people around the world and led to the deaths of 50 million+.

Introduction to Plato

Michael Ryan, Probus Member, Philosopher and Entrepreneur

📅Monday, September 10, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Visit to Air Corp, Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel + Russborough House

John O'Neill, Probus Member

📅Wednesday, September 5, 2018
🕥10:00 - 12:00
🏟Casement Aerodrome Baldonnel (map)
🔗http://www.military.ie/air-corps/

A Brief Odyssey to South America

Paul Humphreys, Probus Member + Air Traffic Controller

📅Monday, September 3, 2018
🕥11:00 - 11:45
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Special Meeting to consider a proposal by the Committee to amend a clause in the Constitution

The Committee

📅Monday, September 3, 2018
🕥11:45 - 12:00

If necessary, the meeting may continue beyond Noon to facilitate discussion.

Exploring the Presidency of Ireland

Professor Eoin O'Malley, Author: 'The Presidential Election 2011 : Explaining the Outcome Contributor to The Irish Presidency, Power, Ceremony and Politics'; Director M Sc in Public Policy at DCU

📅Monday, August 27, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Dr O’Malley is also the author of :

'Contemporary Ireland - One Party Dominance – Fianna Fáil and Irish Politics 1926-2016'.

He is son of Des O’Malley, Founder of Progressive Democrats and grand-nephew of Donagh O’Malley TD (1921-1968) Minister for Health (1965-66) and Minister for Education (1966-68). The late Donagh O’Malley was the only cabinet minister to have been honored with a State funeral.

Tales of Mayo

Monty Tinsley, Probus Member, Club President 2014, 2015 and 2016

📅Monday, August 20, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Who do you think I am?

Raymond Burke, Probus Member + Engineer

📅Monday, August 13, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

August Public Holiday - no meeting

📅Monday, August 6, 2018
🕥00:00 - 00:00

Roman Influences in Our Area

Michael O'Flaherty, Local Historian

📅Monday, July 30, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Kindred Spirits & Enduring Friendship

Dr Jim Ryan, Probus Member and Biologist

📅Monday, July 23, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The speaker's grandfather Dr James Ryan TD (1891-1970), Kindlestown Co Wicklow – one of 11 siblings Taghmon Co Wexford. He was Minister for Agriculture (1932-47), Minister for Social Welfare (1947-48), Minister for Health (1951-54), Minister for Finance (1957-65); founder of Irish Volunteers and founder of Fianna Fáil.

The 2nd President of Ireland, Sean T O'Kelly (1882-1966), also a founder of Fianna Fáil, married Mary Kate (Kit) Ryan (1895-1934) in 1918 , - a sister of Dr Ryan. She died in 1934 and the late President then married his late wife's younger sister, Phyllis Ryan (1895-1983). Another sister, Mary Josephine Ryan (1894-1977) married General Richard Mulcahy (1886-1971), Leader of Fine Gael from 1944 to 1959. A fourth sister, Agnes, married Denis McCullough (1883-1968) a Cummann na nGaedheal TD in the 4th Dail who subsequently established McCullough Piggott in Suffolk Street Dublin.

Robert Barton TD (1881-1975), Annamoe Co Wicklow; officer in Royal Dublin Fusiliers during Easter Rising; later a barrister and judge; Chairman of Agricultural Credit Corporation (1934-54) last and longest surviving signatory of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921. Grandson of Hugh Barton, who in 1821 acquired Château Langoa Barton one of fourteen Bordeaux wineries’ awarded the prestigious 3rd Growth classification in 1855 and whose ownership continues in the Barton family. Robert Barton’s death on 10 August 1975 preceded the death of Éamon deValera by 19 days.

Leadership Characteristics of Taoiseach John A Costello and Taoiseach and President Éamon deValera

Dr David McCullagh, Biographer: 'The Reluctant Taoiseach, John A Costello' (1891-1976) TD SC and 'deValera’s Rise (1894-1932)' Vol 1; Author: 'A Makeshift Majority' – Inter-Party government 1948-51

📅Monday, July 16, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The concluding volume of Rule 1932-1975 is anticipated to be published later in 2018

Lunch-time Voyage from East Pier Dun Laoghaire to Howth

Dublin Bay Cruises

📅Tuesday, July 10, 2018
🕥12:30 - 17:00
🏟East Pier, Dun Laoghaire (map)
🔗http://www.dublinbaycruises.com/cruises/dun-laoghaire-howth/

Aboard St BrIdget - a 26 metre steel hull vessel

Depart at 12.30PM

Lunch at Howth; Dart home from Howth

Price (one-way) - €18.

The Peace Process Dividend; Urban Regeneration of Titanic Quarter Belfast

Conal Harvey, Executive Vice Chairman, Titanic Quarter Belfast

📅Monday, July 9, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

75-hectare site previously occupied by Harland & Wolf is one of Europe’s largest waterfront regeneration developments and the single largest regeneration scheme in the history of Northern Ireland.

Members' Summer Luncheon

Guest of Honour: Seamus Mallon

📅Thursday, July 5, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

For members, spouses and guests

Veni, Vidi, Vici (well almost)

Paul Gallagher, Probus Member and Engineer

📅Monday, July 2, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

My career in oil pipeline engineering in distant lands

A Life in Politics

Mary Harney, Chancellor University of Limerick, Tánaiste (1997-2006) Minister for Health (2004-2011) Minister for Enterprise Trade & Employment (1997-2004) Leader, The Progressive Democrats (1993-2008

📅Monday, June 25, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The Life & Times of Charles J Haughey

Dr Martin Mansergh

📅Monday, June 18, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

Visit: Freemasons Hall and Presentation on Masonry + Lunch at RIAC Dawson St

Host: MW Douglas T Grey, Grand Master, The Grand Lodge of Ireland

📅Thursday, June 14, 2018
🕥12:00 - 13:30
🏟Freemasons Hall, 17 Molesworth Street, Dublin (map)
🔗freemasons.ie

The second most senior Grand Lodge in the world and the oldest in continuous existence. It has a membership of 22,000 - dedicated to 'making good men better'

Celebrating Bloomsday in Music and Verse!

Artistes: Mick Sheridan, Kieran Griffin and associates

📅Monday, June 11, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)
🔗james joyce.ie/bloomsday

16 June 1904: named after Leopold Bloom, the central character in Ulysses. Bloomsday has been celebrated annually in Dublin since 1954.

June Public Holiday - no meeting

📅Monday, June 4, 2018
🕥00:00 - 00:00

MacGill Summer School Glenties: Four Decades of Contemporary Irish History

Dr Joe Mulholland, Founder & Director MacGill Summer School

📅Monday, May 28, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🔗http://www.macgillsummerschool.com

Founded in 1981, the MacGill Summer School takes place in Glenties Co Donegal each July. The School honours the memory of Patrick MacGill (1889-1963), poet, novelist and journalist who was born in Glenties and died in Florida. He was the eldest of 11 children. When he went to a hiring fair in Strabane at the age of 12 he was hired by a Tyrone farmer. At the age of 14 he went to Ayrshire where, like many from Co Donegal in the early years of the 20th century, he worked as a 'tattie-howker' (one of a gang of twenty juvenile potato-gatherers').

When the potato season was over MacGill was employed as an itinerant navvy (a labourer on road, railway and tunnel construction). He recorded, in his writings, the harshness of life in his native county and became known as 'The Navvy Poet'. He became self-educated through reading the works of French novelist, poet and dramatist Victor Hugo (1802-1885), Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) the English writer, poet and novelist and others.

Visit: Dublin Airport Control Tower Complex

Host: Helen Sheridan, Irish Aviation Authority

📅Tuesday, May 22, 2018
🕥10:00 - 12:30
🏟IAA Dublin Airport Control Tower (map)
🔗http://www.iaa.ie

Maximum 35 participants - already enlisted

Special Bus departing RSGYC to Dublin Airport at 10:00

Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien (1917-2008), diplomat, writer, historian, academic and politician

John Biggar, Probus Member and Ambassador

📅Monday, May 21, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The speaker, John Biggar, is nephew of Máire Mhac an tSaoi, widow of Dr Cruise O’Brien and daughter of Seán MacEntee (1889-1984) TD and Tánaiste ((1959-65); Minister for Finance (1932-39), Minister for Industry & Commerce (1939-41); Minister for Local Government & Public Health (1941-48); Minister for Health (1957-65). When he died in 1984 Mr MacEntee was the last surviving member of the First Dáil.

How do newspapers contribute to society?

Dan Flinter, Chairman of the Board, The Irish Times

📅Monday, May 14, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

May Public Holiday - no meeting

📅Monday, May 7, 2018
🕥00:00 - 00:00

Behind the Scenes of the Eurovision Song Contest

Julian Vignoles, Author: 'Inside the Eurovision Song Contest - Music, Glamour & Myth'

📅Monday, April 30, 2018
🕥11:00 - 12:00
🏟Royal St. George Yacht Club (map)

The 63rd Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Lisbon between 8 - 10 May

Stormont Parliament Buildings + Lunch

Host: The Probus Club of Antrim

📅Tuesday, April 24, 2018
🕥09:00 - 18:00
🏟Stormont Parliament Buildings (map)

Originally known as Storm Mount when owned by Rev John McClelland, the 224 acre estate was purchased for £20,000. Construction of the Parliament Buildings cost £1.7 million. The new facility was opened on 16 November 1932 by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII (1894-1972) and known after his abdication in 1936 as the Duke of Windsor. This building, designed in the Greek Classical tradition, is 365' wide - a foot for each day of the year and the six columns represent each of the six counties.

Attendees depart Dublin Connolly at 9.30

Attendees depart Belfast Central at 14.05