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Mark Hennessy

@markhennessy

Ireland and Britain Editor, The Irish Times Leading The Irish Times’ Common Ground project exploring relationships on the island of Ireland, and between Ireland and Great Britain https://www.irishtimes.com/common-ground/

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Latest posts by Mark Hennessy @markhennessy

Priceless….

02.03.2026 21:50 👍 8 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
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Embracing Anglo-Irish history will never oblige us to think better of Cromwell, says Martin Most British historians have ‘no interest’ in Ireland, says academic as Cambridge announces new Anglo-Irish post

The teaching of history, and why it matters in dark times- in Cambridge University, and everywhere else - Remember the past, or repeat its mistakes, says academic

Embracing Anglo-Irish history will never oblige us to think better of Cromwell, says Martin

www.irishtimes.com/ireland/educ...

23.02.2026 19:57 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Castle Leslie: A divided estate, a nightclub, a ‘hippie colony’ and now a thriving hotel The estate, which runs alongside the Border in Co Monaghan, has borne the Leslie name for 400 years and is ‘part and parcel of the community’

An Irish reunification story, but not one that people might expect - Once divided, the Castle Leslie estate in Monaghan has been brought back together again, and now plays a critical part in the local Border economy
www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

23.02.2026 13:42 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

The idea that these people are in charge of AI should frighten everyone.

21.02.2026 20:59 👍 11 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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Stop fixating on Border polls and start a respectful conversation about Ireland’s future Surveys turn everything into a binary choice when understanding for the beliefs of others is needed

Stop banging on about Irish unity polls. Instead, let’s have a respectful conversation about the island’s future, says Graham Spencer
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

21.02.2026 14:44 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
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Stop fixating on Border polls and start a respectful conversation about Ireland’s future Surveys turn everything into a binary choice when understanding for the beliefs of others is needed

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

20.02.2026 18:16 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 2 📌 0
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Fergal Keane: veteran Irish foreign correspondent leaves BBC after 37 years Threats to a free press from oligarchs are now greater than ever, warns journalist as he departs reporting role

Oligarchs seeking to destroy the free Press, says Fergal Keane, veteran Irish foreign correspondent, as he leaves BBC after 37 years
www.irishtimes.com/media/2026/0...

13.02.2026 16:34 👍 10 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0

In Boston ICE randomly pulled over this huge white Irish guy with a Mass drivers license, 20 years in the states, legal status, pending green card and have held him for 5 months, his citizen wife paid a $4k bond that was ignored(!) ICE forged his signature on deportation agreement, no appeal

09.02.2026 12:42 👍 2185 🔁 977 💬 27 📌 29
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The Irish Constitution: Leading judge on how it could impact the drive for a united Ireland The Constitution, designed to achieve unity, ‘may ultimately complicate that ambition’, not ‘because it was weak and inflexible’ but ‘rather because it was sufficiently flexible and strong’

The Irish Constitution: Leading Irish Supreme Court judge on how it could impact the drive for a united Ireland

www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

09.02.2026 09:48 👍 7 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

06.02.2026 09:09 👍 47148 🔁 19324 💬 1350 📌 795
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Ex-SAS commander in North: ‘The idea that we played hard and fast with the law is nonsense’ Former British special forces soldiers reject allegations the regiment was central to a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy during the Troubles

Ex-SAS commander in Northern Ireland: ‘The idea that we played hard and fast with the law is nonsense’

www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

07.02.2026 10:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
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Melania Trump is not Rapunzel in the tower, pining to be saved from the ogre imprisoning her Melania is where she wants to be: in the bosom of a corrupt family that is prostituting the People’s House

Melania Trump is not Rapunzel in the tower, pining to be saved from the ogre imprisoning her

www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

01.02.2026 14:17 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio) YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

28.01.2026 17:02 👍 97509 🔁 40896 💬 4302 📌 5366
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Social networks could be treated as publishers if they host illegal content, Minister of State says Government considering law that would ban ‘deepfakes’, Niamh Smyth says

Wouldn’t that be nice - rather than the Wild West from which all of the social networks have grossly profited for years / Social networks could be treated as publishers if they host illegal content, says Irish Minister of State says

www.irishtimes.com/politics/oir...

28.01.2026 08:00 👍 12 🔁 2 💬 2 📌 0
Video thumbnail

Walz: "To Americans who are watching this, I've got a question for you: What side do you want to be on? The side of an all powerful federal govt that can kill, injury, menace, & kidnap its citizens off the streets? Or on the side of a nurse at the VA hospital who died bearing witness to such govt?"

25.01.2026 20:24 👍 50330 🔁 14728 💬 885 📌 611

More right than he knows, probably. The Titanic’s captain needed to slow down, to watch where he was going, to listen to wiser counsel, and to have turned left, or right in time to miss disaster

22.01.2026 18:23 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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File describing Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly as IRA leader returned to National Archives Historian disputes Minister’s assertion that withdrawal of file was ‘normal’

File describing Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly as IRA leader returned to National Archives

www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

17.01.2026 23:08 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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File describing Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly as IRA leader returned to National Archives Historian disputes Minister’s assertion that withdrawal of file was ‘normal’

File describing Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly as IRA leader returned to National Archives after being pulled the week before, and being reported on

www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

17.01.2026 22:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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‘We haven’t had one bad experience’: Why cross-Border trade has leapt fourfold since Brexit InterTradeIreland offers assistance, including up to €21,500 to put a salesperson on the ground in the other jurisdiction for a year

Trade INCREASES four-fold between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland since Brexit - ‘We haven’t had one bad experience’: Why cross-Border trade has leapt fourfold since Brexit

www.irishtimes.com/business/eco...

16.01.2026 09:04 👍 5 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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Government withdraws file alleging Gerry Kelly IRA leadership role from National Archives Letter written by senior Garda Noel Conroy outlined group’s most influential figures in 1996

Irish Government withdraws file alleging Gerry Kelly IRA leadership role from National Archives

www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...

10.01.2026 10:37 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1
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Studio Ulster: ‘We can create environments that are impossible to find anywhere else’ Studio Ulster, which opened earlier this year in Belfast, offers film-makers cutting-edge technological capabilities

The future of the film industry is being made in Belfast - the single most impressive place I visited anywhere in 2025….https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/12/27/belfasts-field-of-dreams-by-the-lagan/

02.01.2026 12:37 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Spanish villagers devastated by forest fire win €468m in lottery prizes Mayor says Christmas windfall created ‘a cascade of emotions after such a terrible year’

The Christmas story of the year 😀Spanish villagers devastated by forest fire win €468m in lottery prizes

www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

23.12.2025 15:22 👍 7 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
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Reluctant pop star Chris Rea felt ‘Monty Python-silly’ in Slane but was beloved in Ireland The singer-songwriter’s streak of earnestness elevated him beyond other hitmakers of the day

The reluctant showman ….. a fine piece, this on the life of Chris Rea Reluctant pop star Chris Rea felt ‘Monty Python-silly’ in Slane but was beloved in Ireland

www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

23.12.2025 09:46 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Always entertaining to start Saturday with Anton Savage on Newstalk link.goloudplayer.com/s/pN77bjedu4tf

13.12.2025 13:31 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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John Magnier gave ‘entirely false’ evidence in Tipperary land dispute, judge finds Businessman faces legal bill of €6m as judge says ‘lying ... is what happened’ in High Court case

Billionaire, John Magnier gave ‘entirely false’ evidence in Tipperary land dispute, judge finds

www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...

12.12.2025 19:32 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

It’s the neediness that gets you, really

05.12.2025 22:04 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

It takes hard work to be this dumb….

04.12.2025 21:54 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Drones spotted near Zelenskiy’s flight path to Dublin, triggering major security alert Irish navy ship spotted five drones operating near route of the Ukrainian president’s aircraft by Howth coast

Drones spotted near Zelenskiy’s flight path to Dublin, triggering major security alert

www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

04.12.2025 19:42 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

The most incredible letter I have ever read.

02.12.2025 09:51 👍 6 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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Manufacturing in North Ireland definitely not a thing of the past Nearly 100,000 people work in a sector critical to the North’s economic success

“Never drive a better car than your customer”- Northern Ireland’s manufacturing firms, the community that rarely speaks of its success

Manufacturing in North Ireland definitely not a thing of the past

www.irishtimes.com/business/eco...

02.12.2025 11:32 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0