Under new plans for education in the Republic Ireland, history will no longer be compulsory in schools; thus it will be possible for Irish citizens of the future, like Afghans of the present, to have in their heads nothing other than some myths and prejudices about the past.. Colm Toibin

If you don’t know where you have come from you can have no idea where you are going. History is a study of human beings, their motivations, their vulnerabilities, fears and ambitions. It is not a list of dates and kings. It sets you in the context of the past and allows you to understand what made you and your society. To simply concentrate on media studies and computing belittles our capacities and narrows our vision. In the times of Epicurus the study of history was barely invented, but, were he alive today he would support all the liberal arts, but especially history. Ireland is surely in the grip of the little people, in more senses than one!