# Éamon de Valera: Visionary or Victorian? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/irish-history-podcast-778168/amon-de-valera-visionary-or-victorian Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/irish-history-podcast-778168/amon-de-valera-visionary-or-victorian.md Podcast: [Irish History Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/irish-history-podcast-778168) Published: 2026-03-04T04:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/irishhistory/episodes/eamon-de-valera-visionary-or-victorian Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/irishhistory/e/69a5a132e26ab6adcb0f00fc/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/irish-history-podcast-778168/episodes/amon-de-valera-visionary-or-victorian Duration seconds: 3038 ## Resource Éamon de Valera is one of the most influential figures in modern Irish history. Born in New York in 1880s and raised in rural Limerick, he rose from obscurity to become a central figure in the Irish Revolution. He played a major role in the 1916 Rising, became the most internationally recognised Irish figure during the War of Independence, and was central to the Treaty split that led to the Civil War. Although defeated in that conflict he returned to politics as a founder of Fianna Fáil and, in 1932, began the long era in which he dominated Irish public life. Today he is often remembered as the architect of a conservative, Catholic and insular Ireland. This podcast featuring, David McCullagh, looks at de Valera's early years and rise to power and seeks to answer if he was the architect of a conservative state, or simply a reflection of the Irish society that shaped him? My guest is David McCullagh. David is a broadcaster with RTÉ, has a PhD in politics and is the author of six books, including a biography of John A. Costello,  The Reluctant Taoiseach , a two-volume biography of Éamon de Valera,  Rise  and  Rule , and most recently  From Crown to Harp: How the Anglo-Irish Treaty Was Undone . RTÉ broadcaster and author of the acclaimed two volume biography of de Valera, You can find David's books here . Sound by Kate Dunlea. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/irish-history-podcast-778168/episodes/amon-de-valera-visionary-or-victorian/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/irish-history-podcast-778168/amon-de-valera-visionary-or-victorian.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.