Project Overview

RIFNET is a network funded by the ESRC and IRC that aims to tell the story of Irish families that sit outside of what we perceive as the ‘traditional’ norm. We are interested in capturing the messy realities of Irish family life and we aim to create a more inclusive picture of what it means (and has always meant) to be part of “the family” in Ireland. The network brings together researchers working on the Irish family across Ireland, the UK, and the world, as well as professionals working in the Heritage and Museum sectors. 

The network will be hosting a number of exciting events over the next year that will connect people who are interested in the Irish family. Please keep an eye on our blog and events pages for more details.

About Us

Understandings of the Irish family have long been constrained by an over-emphasis on the ‘traditional’ unit. The ‘traditional’ Irish family is often imagined as being made up of a heterosexual married couple and their children, living under one household. Other characteristics are also invoked as being  representative of the ‘traditional’ Irish family: Catholic faith, white in ethnic origin, and settled status. Yet, this model is (and has always been) just one expression of the family in Ireland. Generations of Irish families have deviated from this ‘traditional’ model. Their stories, however, have been overlooked, overshadowed and omitted from the narrative. 

RIFNET aims to bring to the fore these marginalised stories and side-lined experiences. Drawing on the expertise of historians, sociologists, legal scholars, museum and heritage professionals, we aim to push the boundaries of existing knowledge and create a new model that captures the broad diversity and messy realities of Irish family life.

The network is led by Dr Leanne Calvert (University of Hertfordshire) and Dr Maeve O’Riordan (University College, Cork), and is supported by a team of 16 researchers and professionals with interests in Irish family life. The expertise of the network is broad in scope and spans the period from the seventeenth-century to the present day. We have active interests in areas that include stepfamilies and blended families; LGBGTQ+ families; siblings; single-parent families; divorced- and widowed spouses; single persons; Travellers’ and their families; and religious families.  For more information on who is involved, see Meet the Network.

As a varied and interdisciplinary network, our work is united by three central questions:

1. How do we categorise the ‘Irish Family’?
2. What is the meaning of ‘family’ in an Irish context?
3. Why have some stories and experiences of the family been side-lined and others gained precedence? How can we change the conversation?

These questions underpin our network and guide us in our mission to tear down unworkable and static models, and replace them with a more inclusive and critically engaged picture of the family in an Irish context.

Events

RIFNET events are now completed. Details of past events can be found below. 

Exhibition

RIFNET (Reconstituting the Irish Family Network) have teamed up with the National Museum of Ireland to host a digital storytelling event, ‘ReCollecting the Irish Family’. Five members of the public were invited to tell their stories through family objects – an object which spoke to them about family. They were then interviewed about the objects to explore the meaning of LGBTQ+ families in Ireland today. These object-based interviews make an important contribution to the meaning of family in Ireland. Here, we share snippets of their stories. The exhibition can be found here and will run until 14 July 2027.

The full interviews and images of the collection have been permanently preserved by the Digital Repository of Ireland and the full collection can be browsed here.

Outputs

Meet the Network

• Dr Leanne Calvert (co-PI)
• Dr Maeve O’Riordan (co-PI)
• Dr Anne Byrne
• Dr Aoife Bhreatnach
• Dr Ciara Meehan
• Clodagh Tait 
• Dr Deirdre Foley
• Dr Elizabeth Kiely
• Dr Fiachra Ó Súilleabháin
• Dr Katie Barclay
• Dr Maebh Harding
• Professor Máire Leane
• Dr Rachel Murphy
• Shannon Devlin
• Dr Tom Hulme

 For further details on the project, please contact Maeve O'Riordan (maeve.oriordan@ucc.ie) or Leanne Calvert (l.calvert@herts.ac.uk). 

Bibliography

A bibliography of work by RIFNET members (published before or during the lifetime of the project) relating to the family in Ireland can be found at the following link: RIFNET Bibliography

Project Partners

Digital Repository of Ireland

National Museum of Ireland

Women’s Museum