The Fergus McCabe Community Development Archive

There is a selection of documents from the Fergus McCabe Community Development Archive on display in the Reading Room of Dublin City Library and Archive from August 12th – September 13th during the opening hours: Monday to Thursday, 10am to 8pm and Friday to Saturday 10am - 5pm.

Dublin in the 1970s was a vibrant city with strong community spirit but it also faced significant social challenges. The onset of suburbanisation brought disruption to city centre and the inner city faced major social issues including lack of adequate housing, high unemployment and derelict streetscapes. In the 1980s the rise in drug culture amplified this situation. With local authority services struggling to meet the needs of neighbourhoods, community groups emerged to fill the gaps, such as the North Inner City Community Coalition (NICC). Many of these issues remain present today with community groups and organisations still active in their work for the neighbourhoods.

In 2022, a group of historians, librarians, and community workers met to create an archive to capture community development from 1970-2019 in North East Inner City (NEIC) Dublin and gifted it to Dublin City Library and Archive (DCLA) to be stored and catalogued for public use. The materials gathered include letters, reports, photographs, and various other materials that provide a voice to people of the community which otherwise might be forgotten.

This archive is named in honour of Fergus McCabe (1949-2020), in recognition of his lifelong dedication to community work at both a local and national level. Fergus [Pictured above] began his career as a social worker and went on to play a key role in numerous initiatives including the Neighbourhood Youth Projects, the Voluntary Statutory Group, and the Inner City Organisation Network (ICON). Founded in 1992, ICON brought together over 60 community project groups to work collaboratively for social change.

The collection documents significant community-led events such as the annual switching on of the Christmas Tree Lights on Buckingham Street, which has taken place since 1996. Organised by ICON, the memorial honours community members lost to drug misuse. Photos of this event are on display in DCLA, alongside the Photographic Exhibition Collection that was featured in the Inner City Looking-On Festival,1986. The festival was organised in response to the demolition of Georgian buildings that displaced local residents.

Recognising the value of the collection, DCLA, with the help of the NEIC Area Office have appointed a project archivist to describe, arrange and conserve the material. These resources are to become available to researchers, students, and local historians through the Reading Room. Community archives like this are a valuable part of documenting Dublin’s history for Dublin City Archives.

The Fergus McCabe Community Development Archive is currently closed and will open to researchers in early 2026 when cataloguing is complete.