blog

Dublin Burning: the Easter Rising and its consequences

As part of Dublin Remembers 1916, Dr Brian Hanley presented a lecture series which examined in detail the lead up to the Rising, what really happened over those momentous days and its impact on future generations. Part of the Dublin City Council 1916/2016 Centenary Programme.
Read More
15 April 2025

North Strand Bombing and the Emergency in Ireland

The bombing of Dublin's North Strand by Nazi aircraft on 31st May 1941 was an assault on Ireland's neutrality. The casualties were many: 28 dead and 90 injured, with 300 houses damaged or destroyed. The North Strand Bombing and the Emergency in Ireland seminar featured talks about various aspects of the bombing including censorship, compensation, and the role of the emergency services. This full day seminar to commemorate the tragedy was held at Dublin City Library & Archive on Saturday 29th May 2010.
Read More
27 May 2024

Documenting Dublin’s History: John T. Gilbert as a book collector

Dr Kennedy discussed Gilbert’s approach to collecting written sources and what his remarkable library represents for the city of Dublin.
Read More
29 May 2023

Portrait of Dublin's First Female Lord Mayor unveiled by City Council

Kathleen Clarke served as Lord Mayor for two terms, standing down as a councillor in 1941 on the grounds of ill health. Continuing to live an active public life until her death on 29th September 1972, she received a State funeral, the third of only three women to be so honoured.
Read More
29 September 2022

The Ballyfermot troop train ambush

Friday 8th July, 1921 a train carrying British troops; members of the Gordon Highlanders; and military supplies; cars, donkeys, horses, as well as civilians was ambushed as it passed under the railway bridge near the small hamlet of Ballyfermot.
Read More
5 July 2022

Dublin's Housing Crisis in Troubled Times

Listen back as Cathy Scuffil discusses the response to Dublin's housing crisis after the collapse of tenements in Dublin’s Church Street in 1913.
Read More
1 June 2022

Audio guides to the city’s most fascinating burial grounds

Dublin City Council is delighted to launch a new series of audio guides celebrating the history of some of the city’s most fascinating burial grounds.
Read More
21 March 2022

In search of Don Patricio

Last weekend I visited the beautiful Spanish city of Seville to attend my first La Liga football match, a clash between local side Real Betis and the visiting Atletico Madrid.
Read More
14 March 2022

Charter of Henry II: 1171-2

In the wake of the Norman Invasion of Ireland, Dublin was seized in 1170 by Richard de Clare, better known as Strongbow.  Watch a recording of a seminar organised by Friends of Medieval Dublin and Dublin City Libraries to mark the 850th anniversary of Henry II’s grant of Dublin to Bristol, 1171–72.
Read More
15 February 2022

Sarah Cecilia Harrison: Artist, Social Campaigner, and City Councillor

Sarah Cecilia Harrison (1863-1941) was one of Dublin’s finest portrait painters but she also immersed herself in the political and social fabric of Dublin life, becoming the first female elected as a Dublin City Councillor in 1912.
Read More
10 February 2022