Ronan Fanning MRIA was Professor of Modern History at University College Dublin. He was an editor of the Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series and a founder-member of the Royal Irish Academy's National Committee for the Study of International Affairs. He was joint-editor of Irish Historical Studies from 1976 to 1987. He was the author of The Irish Department of Finance and Independent Ireland and co-editor of Documents on Irish Foreign Policy: Volume I, 1919-22, Documents on Irish Foreign Policy: Volume II, 1923-1926 and Documents on Irish Foreign Policy: Volume III, 1926 - 1932. He published scholarly articles in journals throughout Europe and North America and was a regular political columnist for the Irish Sunday Independent.