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Éamonn Proinsias de hÓir was born Edward Francis Dore as one of three children and the only son of Edward Thomas Dore and Nora Daly. A devoted nationalist, he later adopted the Irish spelling of his name. Born in 1921, he studied at University College, Dublin and gained an MA degree in Modern Irish in 1941. While at UCD, he was active in An Cumann Gaelach and in the Language Movement. After some further postgraduate work he joined the translation department of the Dáil.

In 1957, de hÓir was appointed director of the office of the Ordnance Survey. During his tenure, he upgraded and expanded the work of the Placenames Commission and became the country’s leading authority on place names. In 1964, he founded the Placenames Association (An Cumann Logaimneacha) to inform the public of the Commisson’s work and established the Association’s journal, Dinnseanchas, which he continued to edit until his death. De hÓir gave several lectures annually, wrote a number of articles on Irish language subjects and in 1963 published a book in Irish on the lives and work of Eugene O’Curry and John O’Donovan, his nineteenth-century predecessors in the Placenames Office. De hÓir also had a deep interest in archaeology and was a long-standing member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries. He died suddenly on 20 December 1975 at Meath Hospital, Dublin, aged 54.

Joan Davis née Citron was born in Dublin in 1945. She studied tap, folk, and ballroom dancing with Evelyn Burchill as a child, and rediscovered her love of dance at the age of 29, when she began taking classes with the American modern dance pioneer Terez Nelson. Davis made her public debut as a contemporary dancer in 1975, when Nelson staged a small performance at St Mark’s Church in Dublin. Davis and Nelson later taught together, but their partnership failed to last, and Davis sought further training at the London School of Contemporary Dance, commuting between Dublin and London on a fortnightly basis to participate in intensive training sessions.

In April 1977, Davis co-founded the Dublin Contemporary Dance Studio with Karen Callaghan. The school was located at premises on Harold’s Cross, Dublin and opened its doors in September 1977. It provided an opportunity for dancers to work with guest teachers from abroad, and it was here that many of Ireland’s prominent dance personalities received their first grounding in contemporary dance. In March 1979, Davis and Callaghan established the Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre under the patronage of Marsha Paludan and Niall Montgomery. The company toured professionally in Ireland and abroad and received financial support from the Arts Council. Its core members were Joan Davis, Robert Connor, Loretta Yurick, and Mary Nunan, but other dancers such as Ruth Way, Judy Cole, Paul Johnson, and Tony Pinder also performed in the company at different times. The dance company and school played a significant role in establishing and shaping contemporary dance in Ireland, and Davis is acknowledged as one of the pioneers in this field.

The Dublin Contemporary Dance Company folded suddenly in February 1989, when the Arts Council announced the withdrawal of its financial support. This gave Davis an opportunity to pursue her interest in movement as a therapeutic tool and to seek training in various somatic forms such as Authentic Movement and Body-Mind Centering. Throughout the 1990s, Davis worked as a movement therapist, advertising this work as The Moving Experience. She also explored the links between therapeutic practices and the arts, terming it The Theatre of the Unconscious. As part of this exploration, she organised outdoor retreats or “tribals” during which participants lived outdoors and created art and movement in nature. In 1999, Davis received funding from the Arts Council to explore therapeutic movement forms more fully in a shared dance context. The project culminated in a performance, Through Fluid Eyes, on Greystones Beach in County Wicklow in August of that year. From these explorations emerged the Maya Lila training method for professional dancers, which harnesses somatic training practices as a starting point for an exploration of the creative process and encourages coordination between body and mind.

Dance United Northern Ireland emerged from Dance United, a non-profit organization established in 2000 by choreographers Mags Byrne and Royston Maldoom and independent television producer Andrew Coggins. In April 2007, Byrne as Artistic Director and Maldoom as Consultant Director established Dance United Northern Ireland as an entirely separate and independent entity. This professional dance development company works across the island of Ireland and internationally, advocating dance as a tool to facilitate personal and social development, advance dance as an art form, build community connections, and foster tolerance and respect. Its approach has been formulated into four separate but interconnected programmes of work. Building Bridges aims to connect young people who are at risk of being socially segregated due to their special needs, cultural difference, behavioural difficulties, or disability. Crossing the Divide focuses on cross-community work, bringing communities together using dance as a tool to provide people with a safe environment to let go of fears and prejudices. Closing the Gap focuses on inter-generational work and addresses the breakdown in contact between people of different ages. Opening the Spectrum comprises workshops and performances that have a social or developmental aim but do not naturally fit into the company’s other generic programmes. In April 2012, Dance United Northern Ireland changed its name to DU Dance (NI).

Dance Theatre of Ireland was founded in June 1989 by Robert Connor and Loretta Yurick, former members of Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre. Since its inception, the company has created and produced some forty dance works for theatre, festivals, and television, and presented and commissioned work of international choreographers to introduce dance in its wider context to the Irish audience. The company has toured most major venues in Ireland and participated in some of the most prestigious festivals and theatres in Europe, Korea, and the USA. In 2000, with the support of the Arts Council, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, and Dunloe Ewart Properties, Dance Theatre of Ireland opened a purpose-built Centre for Dance to provide a permanent home for the company, rehearsal space for new work, and a venue for dance classes and workshops to dance enthusiasts of all ages.

Dance Resource Base is the premier non-profit organization, which supports the dance community in Northern Ireland. It provides facilities and resources and advocates the raising of the profile of dance in the North. Dance Resource Base was incorporated and registered as an independent company in 2006 following a process of consultation with the dance sector. It is a membership organization and is run by a board of governors who are elected annually by company members. It is an annually supported client of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Dance Ireland is the trading name of the Association of Professional Dancers in Ireland Ltd (APDI). It was founded in 1989 as the representative body for professional dance in Ireland and was initially administered by Dance Council of Ireland. It was incorporated as a non-profit company limited by guarantee in 1992, and re-branded as Dance Ireland in 2006. The organisation aims to provide support and practical resources for dancers and choreographers and to enhance public awareness of and involvement in dance at all levels. Its programme includes international guest residencies, choreographic programmes, master classes and cross arts sessions. It also manages DanceHouse, Ireland’s only custom-built dance studio venue, opened in Dublin in December 2006 with the support of the Arts Council and Dublin City Council.

Margaret ('Madge') Daly was born on 4 February 1877 as the second of the ten children of Edward Daly and Catherine O'Mara. Her siblings included Kathleen Daly, Mayor of Dublin and wife of the Irish revolutionary Thomas Clarke; and Edward ('Ned') Daly, commandant of Dublin's 1st battalion of the Irish Volunteers during the Easter Rising and the youngest of the leaders executed in its aftermath. Margaret's father died in 1890, and six years later his brother, John Daly, assumed responsibility for the support of his widow and children. In May 1898 he established a bakery in Limerick city at 26 William Street, where several of his nieces worked.

When an auxiliary branch of the women’s nationalist organisation Cuman na mBan was established in Limerick on 5 June 1914, Margaret and her sisters became heavily involved in its activities. She was also actively involved in the planning of the Easter Rising. When her uncle died in 1916, Margaret inherited his bakery business and revealed herself to be an astute businesswoman. From the proceeds of the bakery she helped to support not only her sisters and their families but also the newly formed Volunteers. Her strong republican views subjected Margaret to repeated harassment by the military and the police, including the looting and burning of the bakery and the stopping of the bread van during delivery because of Gaelic lettering displayed on its side. Each time, she withstood the ordeal and successfully fought the authorities for compensation.

In the 1940s, Margaret relocated from Limerick to Dublin, where she died unmarried on 21 January 1969.

John Daly was born in Limerick City on 18 October 1845 as the son of a labourer. At the age of 18, he became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), founded in 1858 to crusade for the establishment of an independent Irish Republic. Its sister organisation in the United States was known as the Fenian Brotherhood. Fenianism was particularly strong in Limerick, where John Daly emerged as one of the leaders of an ill-prepared Fenian Rising in 1867. When the attack was repelled, Daly was forced to flee the country. After a period of exile in America, he returned home to reinvigorate the IRB and to promote its aims among the general public. In 1883, John Daly was arrested for his involvement in the so-called Dynamite Campaign, a transatlantic conspiracy directed by Clan na Gael, the rebranded Fenian Brotherhood in America. He was sentenced to penal servitude in Chatham and was later moved to Portland Prison in Dorset. Here he met and befriended a fellow-Fenian, Thomas Clarke, who was serving a sentence for his involvement in a failed attempt to blow up London Bridge as part of the Fenian Dynamite Campaign.

John Daly was released from prison on health grounds in 1896. His brother Edward having died in 1890, Daly was now responsible for the support of his widow and ten children, who included Margaret (Madge) Daly and Edward (Ned) Daly. After a year of fundraising in America for Clan na Gael, he returned to Limerick and established a bakery in May 1898 at 26 William Street, where several of his nieces worked. John Daly became a figurehead for Limerick nationalist politics and, in spite of efforts to disqualify him, won a seat on the City Council. He was elected Mayor of Limerick City on three occasions (1899-1901) and became known as the Fenian Mayor. The spectacular elevation to civic office of a convicted felon was indicative of the appeal of the republican message to the artisans and labourers of the city.

John Daly died on 30 June 1916, devastated by the loss of his nephew Ned Daly and many close friends in the Easter Rising and its aftermath. His influence and legacy was marked by the volume of good wishes the Daly family received from organisations and individuals alike. His and his Fenian comrades’ deaths in 1916 marked the beginning of a more organised and effective military campaign against British rule in Ireland.