Dr Tom Walsh Lecture

The 2023 Dr Tom Walsh Lecture will be given by Emer O’Kelly. Having a long and broad journalistic career, and now writes and broadcasts mainly on the arts. She trained as a reporter in Independent Newspapers, and went on to work as Woman’s Page Editor of the Evening Herald, Farm Home Editor in the Irish Farmer’s Journal, features writer and political commentator in the Sunday Press, and as a newscaster in RTÉ for 18 years, as well as presenting many series of programmes on radio and television, including World Week, the first dedicated foreign affairs programme on RTÉ television.

She is currently Drama and Opera critic for the Sunday Independent, having also written a current affairs column for that newspaper for a number of years, and is a regular contributor to RTÉ radio’s “Sunday Miscellany.”

Emer poses the question:

Are women peacemakers? Does equality require women to accept the same ugly tasks as men, including going to war? Or does the “home front” work better in the service of peace?

We are grateful for the ongoing support of the Lecture by Victoria Walsh Hamer, daughter of the Festival’s Founder, Dr Tom Walsh.