Online talk by Historian in Residence with Donegal County Council
Rural District Councils in Donegal, 1919-1925
An online talk by Dr Ben Rogers, from University College Dublin, who is the Historian in Residence with Donegal County Council on Donegal’s Rural District Councils during and after the War of Independence will take place on Thursday next, August 26 at 7pm.
The tal which takes place online via Zoom will examine how the Rural District Councils in Donegal responded to the political upheaval that occurred between 1919 and 1925. It will focus on whether a ‘parallel political War of Independence’ occurred within these bodies prior to their abolition in 1925.
To do this the talk will focus on five points. First, it will briefly provide some background to the councils and the services that they provided.
Finally, the talk will address why the Rural District Councils were abolished in 1925 and why Donegal opposed this move. Overall, the talk will show that the changes in local government in Donegal were just as important as the military conflict during this formative period.
The Culture Division of Donegal County Council has appointed Dr Ben Rogers as historian in residence as part of its Decade of Centenaries programme 2021.
Dr Rogers is currently based in the School of History, University College Dublin.
As Historian in Residence, he is researching two of the County Archives Collections - The Joseph Murray Collection and selected Rural & Urban District Council minute books from 1918 – 1925. Both these collections, spanning the first two decades of the 20th century, have been digitised and are online at https://www.donegalcoco.ie/culture/archives/
A Zoom link will be released and publicized early next week (from August 23) via:
*Donegal Co Council’s website (www.donegalcoco.ie)
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