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Ár Dover Féin

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In 1937, ten young men between the ages of 13 and 23 migrated from Achill Island, Co. Mayo to Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow in Scotland to work in the potato fields. Tragically, on the night of their arrival, a fire swept through their makeshift accommodation claiming all of their young lives. This documentary investigates the Kirkintillock […]

Irish Republic Proclaimed

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This newsreel shows enthusiastic celebrations on the streets of Dublin as legislation creating the Irish Republic is passed. On 18th April 1949, The Republic of Ireland Act came into force. It declared that Ireland may officially be described as the Republic of Ireland and that the President of Ireland had the executive authority of the […]

Along the Line

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This 1931 film from the Pathé Pictorial cinemagazine series features the Lartigue Monorail, running from Listowel to Ballybunion, Co Kerry. The steam-powered monorail (originally designed by Frenchman Charles Lartigue) operated from 1888 to 1924 and carried passengers, livestock and freight. In this newsreel we can see how the monorail rides along supported A-shaped trestles. Footage […]

President of Éire

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Large crowds gather on the streets of Dublin as Ireland’s first President, Dr. Douglas Hyde, is installed. This newsreel from 1938 depicts the military procession that leads Douglas Hyde past the Grand Central Cinema and the GPO on O’Connell Street, Dublin, to the Phoenix Park where he is to be installed as President of Ireland. […]

A Million People Kneel in Worship

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The Eucharistic Congress, one of the largest public events to ever take place in Ireland, occurred between the 22nd and 26th of June 1932.  As part of the 31st Congress clergy and lay people from all over the world came to celebrate the ‘Holy Eucharist’ in Dublin. The vast scale of the final Congress mass […]

A Bygone Craft

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This 1931 newsreel depicts Irish men making a coracle, a hide-covered boat used for salmon fishing. The boat-making process is demonstrated to camera, from creating a base with twigs, to weaving the structure and covering it in animal hide for waterproofing. Men then push the coracle out onto the River Boyne and lay fishing nets. […]

Wonderful Western Islanders

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This short documentary depicts the lives of the inhabitants of the Aran Islands off the coast of Galway in 1924. This short film, made about ten years before Flaherty’s epic Man of Aran, is probably the earliest surviving film of the islands. It presents a multi-faceted portrait of island life showing locals going about their […]

Irish Co-Operative Gathers Peat

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In this 1920s newsreel, an Irish co-operative digs, stacks and gathers turf. It is an activity involving the whole community – even the local priest is involved in overseeing the sacks of turf loaded onto a barge before being transported by canal. ‘Rathangan’ is inscribed on the side of the barge and a man waves […]

John Henry Foley: Sculptor of the Empire

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John Henry Foley was one of the most influential sculptors in Irish history. The Dubliner’s breath-taking equestrian masterpieces strode across city squares and parklands from Dublin, to Kolkata and Virginia. Foley’s best-known Irish works include the Daniel O’Connell monument on O’Connell Street and the Henry Grattan statue on College Green, as well as the figures […]

James Gandon: A Life

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This Loopline documentary follows the life of  architect, James Gandon, whose plans were realised when Ireland operated under British colonial rule. James Gandon (1743–1823) is recognised today as one of the leading architects to have worked in Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century. His neo-classical buildings still dominate Dublin’s urban landscape, […]

A Terrible Hullabaloo

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The story of young Vinny Byrne, a fourteen-year-old boy who found himself fighting for Ireland in the Easter Rising. An eighty-year-old Vinny reminisces on his time with the volunteers, which took him around the city during the fighting. With Vinny’s Dublin brought to life by handmade miniature sets and puppetry, the film offers a uniquely […]