Dublin City Council marks the centenary of Bloody Sunday

Back to Media Releases

20th November 2020

A special commemorative edition of the popular series History on Your Doorstep dedicated to Bloody Sunday, written by Liz Gillis and the Council’s Historians in Residence, will be launched by the Lord Mayor, Hazel Chu, at a free webinar online event at 7pm on Saturday 21st November.

Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, TD, will also be in attendance at the webinar which will feature an illustrated presentation on Bloody Sunday and the killings of Dick McKee, Peadar Clancy and Conor Clune, followed by a Q&A session with the authors of the book. 

Speaking ahead of the webinar launch, Lord Mayor Hazel Chu remarked:  “By 1920 the War of Independence in Ireland was escalating, and 21st  November Bloody Sunday was the darkest day in this vicious conflict. This new book dedicated to Bloody Sunday is available for free, so that everyone can read and remember the story of this fateful day - it is an accessible and insightful look at the events of the entire day and its aftermath.”

The Lord Mayor also thanked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, TD, for her department’s support for the publication.

21st November is the 100th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a day of extreme violence in Dublin City, when 32 people were killed in a single day. The dead included 13 spectators, three of them children, and 1 GAA player (Michael Hogan), killed in Croke Park when Crown forces opened fire on the crowd attending a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary.

History on Your Doorstep will be available as a free ebook initially on Dublin City Council’s website and, once restrictions allow, people will be able to pick up free copies from the Council’s 21 public libraries across the city.

To mark the central role of GAA in Bloody Sunday, Dublin City Libraries, working in partnership with Dublin GAA, have produced an online exhibition about Bloody Sunday which will be available for club websites. The Council’s historians in residence will offer talks to GAA clubs across the city, and the library service has produced a list of recommended reading and listening.

The book, exhibition, reading list and registration for the webinar can be found at https://www.dublincity.ie/library/blog/bloody-sunday-21-november-1920

This event is free but registration is required at https://bloodysunday1920.eventbrite.ie

 

Notes to the Editor:

Dublin City Council’s Historians in Residence (James Curry, Cormac Moore, Mary Muldowney and Cathy Scuffil) work across the city to talk to people about history and promote its sources and discussion, especially the historical collections in Dublin City Library and Archive. This public history project began in spring 2017 and is an initiative of Dublin City Council under the Decade of Commemorations programme.

The historians work in the five administrative areas of Dublin City to make history and historical sources accessible for all. Further details at https://www.dublincity.ie/residential/decade-commemorations/historians-residence

The book covers various aspects of the day and its aftermath with chapters on:

  • ‘We have Murder by the Throat’: Bloody Sunday 21 November 1920 by Liz Gillis
  • Croke Park on Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920 by Cormac Moore, HIR Dublin North Central Area
  • Bloody Sunday 1920 in the Press by Mary Muldowney, HIR for the Central Area
  • Dick McKee: ‘A Famous Finglas Patriot’ by James Curry, HIR, Dublin North West Area
  • After Bloody Sunday…Murders, Raids and Roundups by Catherine Scuffil, Dublin South Central and South East Areas

Historians are available for interview and their contact details are given below: