Tributes paid after the death of Tallaght based historian Dr Shane Kenna

By Brendan Grehan

THE DEATH has taken place of the Tallaght-based historian, Dr Shane Kenna (33). Dr Kenna held a BA in History and Political Science, and an MA and PhD in Irish History from Trinity College Dublin.

He worked in several sites of historical and political importance, including Kilmainham Gaol Museum and Archive, Dublin Castle, Government Buildings and Castletown House.

His special interest was in late Victorian and Edwardian Irish nationalism.

He had lectured at Trinity College, Dublin and Saor Ollscoil na hÉireann University. Dr Kenna also designed modules on Irish history for the American College, Arcadia University.

He has organised and managed several courses on Modern History and has spoken at over thirty international academic conferences.

Dr Kenna had published several books on Irish history including a biography on 1916 leader Thomas MacDonagh, and the Fenian Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa whose funeral in 1915 is seen as the precursor to the Easter Rising the following year. Shane has also written about the Fenian Dynamite Campaign and Fenianism.

A gifted storyteller, it stood to him when he worked as a tour guide as he always made sure to ground the subject matter in a way that was greatly accessible and memorable to the non-academic.

He will be sadly missed by his mother Olive, his fiancée Edel, his brother John and his wife Lisa, nieces Darcy Mae and Lily Mae, aunts, uncles, cousins, extended family and a wide circle of friends.

His removal will be to St Dominic’s Church in Tallaght on Saturday morning (March 4) arriving for 9.30am Requiem Mass. Funeral afterwards to Newlands Cross Cemetery.