Renowned Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk was in Dublin last night to present this year’s Lieutenant General Dermot Earley Lecture on the topic ‘The Middle East: Who built those bloody frontiers and why?’
Based in Beirut, Fisk has lived in the Arab world for more than 40 years, covering the war in Syria and Lebanon, five Israeli invasions, the Iran-Iraq war, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Algerian civil war, Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, the Bosnian and Kosovo wars, the American invasion and occupation of Iran and the 2011 Arab revolutions.
A partnership of the Irish Defence Forces and the Edward M Kennedy Institute for Conflict Intervention at Maynooth University, the event provides a forum for inclusive discussion of the challenges of public leadership and governance in a decade of profound crisis and change.
It is held in memory of the late Lieutenant General Dermot Earley, who made outstanding contributions to Irish and international public life through his work in the Irish Defence Forces, and his sporting endeavours. This year’s event was held at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines in Dublin.
The event was also addressed by the President of Maynooth University, Professor Philip Nolan.
The inaugural lecture was presented in 2013 by Baroness Nuala O’Loan, Former Police Ombudsman in Northern Ireland, who is Chairperson of the Governing Authority of Maynooth University.