BANTER

The International Literature Festival Dublin takes place from May 20 to 29 with readings, discussions, debates, workshops, performance and screenings in venues across the city. We’re delighed to be part of this year’s festival with a discussion on a topic which you can’t get away from at the moment.

Banter on media in the age of fake news is a look at how media operates in an age when fake news seems to be at large everywhere you look. Have facts been replaced by fictions? Has journalism been tajen over by wild and wilful flights of imagination? What is newsworthy and what is fake – and more importantly, how do we tell them apart?

We’ll be joined by Kevin Donnellan (UK editor, Storyful), Lois Kapila (co-founder and managing editor, Dublin Inquirer), Jane Suiter (School of Communications DCU and Director of the Institute for Future Media and Journalism) and Cathal McMahon (Irish Independent) to discuss misinformation on social platforms, fact-checking practices, the journalistic compromises made in the name of clickbait and the problems which occur when readers want the believe the fake news that
they see.

This Banter event takes place at Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin on Saturday May 27 at 2pm. Tickets can be booked here.

There are as many reasons why someone decides to become a public representative as there are men and women in Leinster House. Before 2011, Stephen Donnelly
worked as a project manager and consultant for companies like Transport for London and McKinsey and Company.

That year, he decided to stand for election to Dail Eireann and was elected as an independent first-time TD for Wicklow. Five years later, he was re-elected, this time
as a founding member of the Social Democracts, the party he subsequently left. A year on from that election, Donnelly has joined Fianna Fáil and is now the party’s
spokesperson on Brexit.

Deputy Donnelly joins us at Banter to talk about why he got involved in politics in the first place, the lessons he learned during that first spell in Dáil Eireann, his time with the Social Democrats, the move to Fianna Fáil and what comes next for a man who is most definitely no longer an accidental politician.

Banter’s conversation with Stephen Donnelly TD takes place at Wigwam (Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1), on Thursday April 27. Doors open at 6pm and the interview, followed by an audience Q&A, starts at 6.30pm. Tickets can be booked here.

Cruinniú na Cásca is a large-scale free festival of creativity which will be held in Dublin and across the country on Easter Monday (April 17). Organised by RTE in association with Creative Ireland, it aims to “celebrate culture and creativity in contemporary Irish society through a rich variety of live music and dance, coding, theatre, art and music workshops, talks and tastings, readings and screenings, special events and more”.

As part of the event, Banter will be hosting four sessions in The Printworks in Dublin Castle about the great GAA novel, the role of critics, the demon drink and an one-on-one interview with someone we’ve been trying to do an one-on-one interview with for some time. Here are the details of the individual discussions – admission is free, but tickets should be booked in advance using the links below.

Where is the great GAA novel? (11am-noon)

We’ve had reams of factual books on the sports but, apart from the odd reference to togging out for a match or heading to a training session or using the parish pitch as backdrop, Gaelic games rarely turn up in fiction. It’s a rum one, especially given the place which the games have in our national culture. Our senior hurling panel scratch their heads to consider why this is so and dream up just what the great GAA novel might look like. With Michael Moynihan (sportswriter, The Irish Examiner), Rachael English (novelist and presenter of RTE Radio One’s Morning Ireland), Eimear Ryan(writer and co-editor Banshee literary journal) and Kieran Cunningham (chief sportswriter, Irish Daily Star). Tickets can be booked here.

Everyone’s a critic (1-2pm)

The days of a thumbs up or down from a critic to decide the fate of a new work or project are coming to a close. Between publications cutting back on the number of professional reviewers and the ability of everyone to be a critic online and on social media, the critic is quickly becoming a relic of the past. Yet is there still a need for someone to excercise those critical facilities and provide more than just a listicle or a tweeted review? Where do we find these critics in 2017 and how do they get paid? And will arts and culture organisations miss the critic when he or she leaves their free seat for the last time? With Cristín Leach (art critic, Sunday Times Ireland), Ian Maleney (writer and critic for The Wire, The Quietus, The Irish Times and Fallow Media), Graham McLaren (director of the Abbey Theatre) and Nadine O’Regan (arts editor, Sunday Business Post). Tickets can be booked here.

The demon drink (3-4pm)

A discussion on the part which drink plays in Irish culture and what the depiction of alcohol tell is about ourselves. And does the relationship between drink and the arts inform and influence a dependency culture when it comes to sponsorship and funding? With Tara Flynn (actress, comedian and writer), Dave Lordan (writer, poet and dramatist) and Derek O’Connor (RTE.ie Culture editor). Tickets can be booked here.

Fachtna O’Ceallaigh: a life in music (5-6pm)

Fachtna O’Ceallaigh began his career writing about music for The Evening Press, but soon found his way to the other side of the fence. Over his career, the Dubliner has managed Clannad, the Boomtown Rats, Bananarama, the Bothy Band, Donal Lunny, Morrissey (for seven eventful weeks), Eamon, Ricky Gervais (when he was in Seona Dancing), Dread Broadcasting Corporation and, currently, Hare Squead. He’s also been a DJ on the national airwaves and looked after U2’s Mother Records for a spell. A Banter conversation at Criunniú with one of the few no-nonsense, straight shooting managers in the game who stil has loads to say and do. Tickets can be booked here.

Now on its fifth outing and a much more action-packed event since it moved from Dublin to Sligo last year,  Shore Shots bills itself as “a weekend of ideas and adventures on the Wild Atlantic Way”. That means a surf festival out west with movies, music, art, surfing (of course), talks, ideas, parties and much more besides in Sligo on April 22 and 23.

Banter probably ticks the “talks” and “much more besides” boxes and we’ll be taking over a room in The Model for a series of conversations with some fascinating people talking about what they do and especially the discoveries they’ve made in the line of their work or activism which may have contributed to a change in their outlook or creative methods. Our cast for Banter at Shore Shots is as follows

Dorothy Cross: one of Ireland’s leading artists (and a woman who has been on our list of ideal guests for ages) whose dramatic sculptures and installations often touch on on the sea.

Aoibheann O’Brien: co-founder and CEO of FoodCloud, the not-for-profit social enterprise that helps businesses redistribute surplus food to charities. It has secured numerous investments and in 2015 agreed a deal that ensured Tesco’s 146 stores would redistribute surplus food to charities across Ireland.

Alan Simms: back in 1995, Alan booked the Queen’s University Students Union in Belfast for a club night called Shine. Over 20 years on, the club is still going and Shine now includes a number of venues in the city and Dubliun as well as the Belsonic festival.

Finn Ní Fhaoláin: the blogger, surfer, chef and author talks about her new book Finn’s World

Kevin Cavey: the grandfather of Irish surfing on the sport in Ireland in the days before wetsuits or forecasts.

Olan O’Brien: Olan’s All City record label and shop has been quietly but fiercely pushing the boundaries of hip-hop since 2003

Justin “JC” Coghlan: the co-founder of Movember, the global organisation campaigning to raise awareness of men’s health issues.

Lucia Griggi: award-winning photographer with her roots in surfing, skateboarding and outdoor adventure scenes

Matt Smith: founder of Backwash Magazine and the Moy Hill Community Garden in Lahinch, Co Clare

More information on what else is happening over the weekend and tickets for all events on the Shore Shots website.

Online interactions and community exchanges were always been robust and full-bodied, but that’s taken a very distinct downturn in recent times. Negative comments, offensive remarks and downright nasty and abusive reactions to what people have to say has become the norm in our social media timelines and online interactions. If you express an opinion online, chances are there is someone who will disagree with your opinion – and have a go at you, your family, your job, your looks, your pet cat and anyone and anything else that comes to mind while they’re at it.

What are the causes behind this malignant behaviour? Are those hiding behind pseudonyms and alter-egos simply childish trolls doing it for the lolz or are they emboldened by how they can comment so freely en masse and are now moving into real life activity and attacks? For those who have to interact with this behaviour day in and day out, what are the solutions they think should be tried out? And is there any
chance it can get better before it gets worse?

Aoife Barry (The Journal), Ellen Tannam (writer and podcaster HeadStuff, RTE etc), Conor Behan (DJ and writer) and Mark Smyth (senior clinical psychologist) join us at Banter this month to see how the heck we got to this point and where it goes from here.

The details: Banter on online behaviour will take place at Wigwam (Middle Abbey St., Dublin 1) on Thursday March 30. Doors open at 6pm and the discussion, followed by an audience Q&A, begins at 6.30pm. Tickets can be booked here.

Since 2015, Imagine has been gathering a fine crew of thinkers and talkers in Belfast for various events aimed at promoting debate and discussion on the big issues of our time. Director Peter O’Neill very kindly extended an invitation to Banter to join this year’s festival and we were happy to take him up on his offer.

Our contribition to the theme of “prepare for a new tomorrow” is The New Majority, a conversation with the next generation of Northern Ireland voters about what they want from their politics and especially politicians. We’ll be joined by a selection of those who will decide the make-up of elected assemblies in the future about the issues in Belfast and the world which move them in terms of both activism and voting intentions. Are the old reasons for sticking an X on the ballot paper going out with the tide for younger voters or do they still exert an influence?

Banter at Imagine will take place at The Factory at The MAC (Exchange Street) on Saturday March 25 at 2pm with Katie Richardson (Goldie Fawn), Fergal McFerran (president, NUS-USI), Tara Connolly (chairperson, NI Youth Forum) and Callum Curry (entrepreneur and founder of SUSSD). Admission is free, but advance registration is necessary and can be done here.

You can check out the full programme of events for Imagine – including film screenings, workshops, discussions, lectures, talks and an explanation of why you see Elvis in your toast – here.

What’s your best gig you’ve ever seen? That’s a question which stops most music fans in their tracks and sets off some great memories, fierce discussions and occasionally some rowdy disagreements.

It was also the starting point for a new book from Dublin’s punk rock and DIY scene activists Hope Collective. Editors Niall McGuirk and Michael Murphy asked a bunch of people to write about their favourite live shows and the returns were collated into a just published book entitled In Concert: Favourite Gigs of Ireland’s Music Community.

On Tuesday February 21, Niall, Michael and a number of those who’ve contributed to the book (see below) – plus some special guests – will join us at Banter to talk about the book, the notion of favourite gigs and read their selections as well. Audience contributions welcome too.

The full list of guests is as follows:

Ellie & Louise McNamara (Heathers) on The Mountain Goats, Bloomington 2011
Frances Roe (Jam Jar Jail) on Rocket from the Crypt, Dublin 2001,
Edwina Forkin (Zanzibar Films and ex-TCD Ents Officer) on Sonic Youth/Nirvana and early Therapy?, 1991
Suzanne Rhatigan (singer and promoter) on Grace Jones at Electic Picnic, 2015
Peter Jones (Paranoid Visions) on the Poison Girls at Sean McDermott Street, Dublin, 1983
Peter Devlin (musician, producer and broadcaster) on The Specials/The Beat, Stardust, Dublin, 1981

Banter on In Concert will take place at Wigam (Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1) on Tuesday February 21. Doors open at 6pm and the event will kick off at 6.30pm. Tickets can be booked here and, like the book, all proceeds will go to the Irish Red Cross’ Syria Appeal. More information on the book here and copies will be on sale on the night.

Every single day, our social media timelines are full of stuff. It could be people talking about what happened last night, it could be someone sharing some silly joke, it could be Donald Trump saying stuff that you never thought you’d hear the incoming president of the United States saying. And it’s also full of people selling goods and services for brands because they happen to have a big social media presence.

Social media influencers are the ones whose tweets, Facebook posts, Snapchat snaps, Instagram posts, digital articles and videos attract big audiences and are therefore hugel attractive to brands, agencies and companies who want to reach that mass of people. A new school of marketing and PR, social media influencers have become a big part of the promotional landscape in Ireland and worldwide over the last year to 18 months.

But it’s a trend with a lot of questions around it, apart from the one about how many Twitter or Instagram followers you need to have to qualify for the title. Are punters who are looking at these posts and photos aware that money has changed hand? Are the rules around declarations of interest stong enough? Just how much money are we talking about anyway? Are social media influencers here to stay and should we get used to them? Does it actually work and is it better than taking out an old-fashioned online ad? How do brands gauge the success of otherwise of what they’re doing with influencers? Who are the winners and losers? And what comes next?

We’ll be joined by Rosemary Mac Cabe (blogger and journalist), Tara O’Farrell (make-up artist, blogger and model), James Kavanagh (Snapchat superstar and Currabinny food company) and Holly Shortall (New/Slang) to discuss these and many more issues at Banter’s encounter with the social media influencers.

The details: Banter on social media influencers will take place at Wigwam (Middle Abbey St., Dublin 1) on Thursday January 19. Doors open at 6pm and the discussion will get underway at 6.30pm. Tickets can be booked here (this event is now sold out).

For the last couple of years, Banter has teamed up with the First Fortnight mental health arts festival to host a sports-releated event of some stripe. We’re very happy to join them again in January and we’re especially happy to welcome Paul Kimmage to the Banter stage.

One of the most influential and widely read sportswriters in the country, Paul was a professional cyclist and wrote the award-winning book, Rough Ride, about his time on the circuit before he turned to the writing trade full-time. He will join us to talk about his life as a professional cyclist, his career as a sportswriter, the mental stresses and strains that occur in sport and how sportspeople deal with these.

A Banter conversation with Paul Kimmage takes place at The Workman’s Club, Dublin on Tuesday January 10. Doors open at 6.30pm, the event starts at 7pm and tickets are available here (this event is now sold out).

It’s time for our now annual trip to the Kingdom. On Saturday and Sunday December 3 and 4, Banter joins Other Voices and takes up residence by the fire in the back of Foxy John’s in downtown Dingle where we’ll be joined by a fine cast of talkers, makers, do-ers and players for some conversations and music. We’ll be open for business both days from 2pm to 6pm and admission is free. Please note that capacity is limited so get there when doors open at 1.30pm if you want a chair or standing room.

Here’s who will be joining us on the edge of Europe over the weekend – big thanks to Banter Other Voices co-conspirator Molly King for all her programming work on this one

Dr Suzanne O’Sullivan: tales from the frontline of psychosmatic illness with the Dublin-born neurologist and author of It’s All In Your Head, the winner of the Wellcome Book Prize 2016 

Catherine Murphy TD: the Kildare North TD and Social Democrats’ co-founder on her political activism, life as a public representative, the Irish parliamentary system, new politics, the Social Democrats and making the headlines

Paul Howard: the man behind the trials, tribulations and triumphs of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly about his new book I Read the News Today, Oh Boy about the life and times of Tara Browne, the inspiration behind The Beatles’ “A Day In the Life”

Aoife Kelleher: the documentary maker behind the award winning One Million Dubliners, Strange Occurrences In A Small Irish Village and Growing Up Gay on the art of storytelling on screen

Aideen Barry: a profile of the Cork visual artist whose Brittlefield retrospective at the RHA was one of the year’s cultural highlights

Eithne Shortall: The Sunday Times’ chief arts writer joins us for Banter’s Review of the Arts to talk about the books, films, music, theatre, art and other cultural highlights and lowlights of the past year

Aoibheann McNamara: an odyssey into slow food and slow fashion with the Donegal-born firebrand behind Galway restaurant Ard Bia and The Tweed Project.

Bringing It All Back Home: we talk to the folks behind Bean In Dingle, Airt and WK Fitness 

There will be also be music at Banter over the weekend from some fantastic acts turning up namely Jealous of the Birds, Jack O’Rourke, Ailbhe Reddyand, as become the tradition at Banter in Dingle, some trad maestros in the shape of Cormac Begley and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh. We will also have some very special suprise guests so don’t say you weren’t warned.

It is nearly time to say goodbye to 2016, one of the most eventful years on record. From Brexit to the US presidental election, from the general election to strikes, from Syria to Dublin gangland strife, from the Euros to the Olympics, from David Bowie to Prince, it has been a year when it seems as if every single day was notable for what was going on around us.

As we’ve done in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, Banter will be bringing together a panel of folks to talk about the stories of the last 12 months which have resonated with them. It’s always one of the highlights of the Banter year, chiefly because it’s a night which reminds us of stuff that happened which we’d forgotten all about and casts new light on some of the stories which dominated the news cycle for so long.

Banter’s Review of the Year panel: Fintan O’Toole (The Irish Times), Anna Cosgrave(Repeal Project campaign founder), Elaine Buckley (Fair Game podcast) and Emmet Condon (Homebeat and Another Love Story).

The details: Banter’s Review of the Year takes place on Tuesday December 6 at Wigam, Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1. Doors open 6pm, the rewinding starts at 6.30pm and tickets are available here (this event is now sold out).

They’re expecting 53,056 people to show up at Web Summit in Lisbon this week and Banter will be in there too. It’s our second year to be involved with the event: last year, we recorded long-form conversations with the likes of Irish and Leinster rugby player Jamie Heaslip, Galway hurler Joe Canning, Radiohead and Nick Cave manager Brian Message, Pitchfork president Chris Kaskie City of Palo Alto Chief Information Officer (and former member of The Wilde Oscars) Jonathan Reichenthal, HBO Sports vice-president Peter Nelson, Vox Media global vice-president Jonathan Hunt and Summit co-founder Daire Hickey at the RDS in Dublin.

This year, the Summit folks are giving us a stage and we’ll be in the Startup Workshop Studio in Pavilion 1 of the FIL convention centre on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon if you’re at the Summit and fancy saying hello.

Here’s who we’ll be talking to – all interviews will be recorded and podcast after the event.

Marian Goodell

One of the founding board members of the Burning Man Project and now the organisation’s first CEO, Marian joins us to talk about keeping the show on the road, maintaining the festival’s ethos and future developments.

Bill James

A lesson in data and sabermetrics from the influential American baseball writer, historian, and statistician

Bruce Pavitt

The man who founded the Sub Pop label in Seattle back in 1986 about life on and off the record label grid.

Nikki Dryden and Allison Wagner

A dive into the deep, murkier end of the swimming pool with two Olympians: Nikki competed as a swimmer for Canada in Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996, while Allison won a silver medal for the United States at the 1996 games behind Michelle Smyth.

Paul Tighe

A conversation about communications and culture with the Navan-born bishop who is one of the Vatican’s leading media experts, adjunct secretary to the influential Pontifical Council for Culture and the man who put the pope on Twitter.

Michael Shamberg

The producer of Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction, Erin Brockovich, The Big Chill, Contagion, Gattaca, Get Shorty, Garden State and tons more – and currently advisor to BuzzFeed Motion Pictures – on the state of the movie business in 2016

Bradley Tusk

Politics, tech and strategy with the founder and CEO of Tusk Holdings, Uber’s first political consultant and Michael Bloomberg’s former campaign manager.

Back in October 2013, we held a discussion about housing in the capital. After the boom and the bust, we thought back then that it was as bad as it could get and the struggle to find an affordable house to rent or buy seemed harder than ever.

Fastforward three years and the situation now is worse than ever before. Last week, figures from the Residential Tenancies Board showed that the cost of renting a home in the capital is now at an all-time high and that the average monthly cost of renting in Dublin in June 2016 was €113 higher than a year ago. Rents are also increasing outside Dublin so there’s no escape. Add in record numbers of homeless families and rough sleepers and you’ve a crisis which doesn’t appear to be getting any better, no matter what the government promise or plan. 

This Banter discussion will focus on the situation which exists in the city right now regarding renting a home, the possible solutions which could be introduced, the perpetual reluctance by the relevant authorities to do anything about this, the unwillingness to tackle the areas of social housing and student housing and how the current intransigence could play out.

The panel: Eithne Shortall (The Sunday Times), Sive Bresnihan (Dublin Tenants Association), Dr Lorcan Sirr (School of Real Estate and Construction Economics at the Dublin Institute of Technology) and Mandy Meredith (Associate Director, Sherry FitzGerald Lettings)

The small print: Banter on Generation Rent will take place at Wigwam (Middle Abbey St., Dublin 1) on Wednesday October 26. Doors open at 6pm and the discussion gets underway at 6.30pm sharp. Limited tickets can be reserved here.

We’ve had a right run of legends at Banter over the last seven years or so with a plethora of bold print names joining us from right across the spectrum. We’re as proud as punch to have the legendary sports broadcaster Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh in situ for Banter 150 on Sunday October 23 for a conversation about his time behind the microphone bringing great games to hundreds of thousands home and away.

Mícheál will be our guest at No Idle Day, a festival from the fine people at Young Hearts Run Free which will run at various Dublin venues from Friday October 21 to Sunday October 23. Banter 150 will take place at The Sunday Game at The Yacht in Ringsend and will feature music from Shrug Life and The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock, a screening of Risteárd Ó Domhnaill’s powerful film Atlantic, food by Aoife Forkful, DJ sets by Nialler9 and guest and much more. Tickets are available here and all proceeds go to the Simon Community.

Fantasy 12 is a forthcoming exhibition where a bunch of artists, designers and record labels answer the question “if you could release a record from any iconic artist (past or present), what would the cover look like?”.

Those taking the challenge to design an iconic sleeve include  Vlad Sepetov (best known for his work with Kendrick Lamar), Stephen Serrato (Flying Lotus’ “You’re Dead”), Cecilia Martinez AKA Teti (creative and art director at Lobster Theremin Records), Nick Gazin (Vice’s art editor and illustrator and who has worked on the Run The Jewels project), Dewey Saunders (Anderson .Paak etc), Paul Diddy (Luaka Bop label art director) and many more. The exhibition of their work will run at Dublin’s Copper House Gallery from October 13 and there will also be live music, DJs, talks, screenings, and record fairs as part of the buzz.

As part of the exhibition, Banter will host a discussion at The Sugar Club on Saturday October 15 with Vlad Sepetov, Nick Gazin and Paul Diddy talking about the ins and outs of designing for music. Tickets for the event are now available here.

Tim Moore is a writer who is partial to the odd adventure or two. Over the course of his book career to date, he’s gone in search of those Eurovision contestants who’ve came bottom of the class (as detailed in his book Nul Points), journeyed across Spain with a donkey for company (Spanish Steps), cycled the route of the Tour de France on a diet of ProPlus and rose wine (French Revolutions) and got back on a bike for the 3,200km route of the notorious 1914 Giro d’Italia, this time on a century old wooden-wheeled bike (Gironimo!)

The reason for his visit to Banter next month is that he’s got a bike out of the shed again and he’s written another book about it. The bike this time was the MIFA 900, a tiny-wheeled, two-geared East German shopping bike – and Tim’s spin took him along the 9,000km route of the old Iron Curtain.

The Cyclist Who Went Out In the Cold is an adventure yarn about battling Russian hostility, Romanian landslides and a diet of dumplings; sleeping in bank vaults, imperial palaces and unreconstructed Soviet youth hostels and the kindness of reindeer farmers and Serbian rock gods.

Tim will join us at Banter to talk about the book which came out of this three months and 29 countries jaunt and how he became older and wiser – mostly older – from his time spent pedalling along the old Cold War divide.

The details: A Banter Conversation with Tim Moore takes place at Wigwam (Middle Abbey St., Dubin 1) on Monday October 17. Doors open at 6pm and the event starts at 6.30pm. Tickets are now available here.

If you’d predicted a year ago that we’d see Donald Trump lining up against Hillary Clinton in the battle for the White House, few would have taken your prediction seriously. But after a bruising primary campaign where the expression “you couldn’t make this up” was overused on a weekly basis, that’s where we’re at: it’s Trump representing the Republican Party and Clinton standing for the Democrats.

Ahead of the business end of deciding who will get to be the next president of the United States, Banter has brought together some interested observers to discuss the themes which have emerged so far, the issues which will decide this race, the strengths and weaknesses of the two candidates and how the rest of the campaign might well shake out.

Banter’s US Presidential panel: Carole Coleman (RTE reporter and the station’s former Washington correspondent), Dr Karen Devine (International Relations, School of Law & Government, DCU) and TJ Mulloy (Chair of Democrats Abroad Ireland).

The details: this discussion will take place at Wigwam (Middle Abbey St., Dublin 1) on Tuesday September 20. Doors open at 6pm and polliing gets underway at 6.30pm followed by an audience Q&A. Tickets can be reserved here.

It’s the first time that we’ve put on a Banter event in Dublin as part of Culture Night and it’s all thanks to the good folks at RTÉ Radio One and the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme who’ve invited us along to take part in their event at Dublin Castle.

Presented by RTÉ in partnership with the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme, Dublin City Council and the Office of Public Works, the Culture Night with RTÉ programme will see Dublin Castle transformed for one night only with live music, theatre and spoken word events throuhgout its historic rooms and outdoor spaces.

In the case of Banter, we’ll be hosting a discussion in the Conference Centre at 8.10pm on what an Irish revolution would look like in 2016 with Una Mullally (The Irish Times), Lois Kapila (co-founder and managing editor Dublin Inquirer), Blindboy Boatclub (The Rubberbandits) and Dr John Gibney (TCD School of History author, historian and Glasnevin Trust Assistant Professor in Public History and Cultural Heritage). Admission is free and you can register for tickets here.