Dublin's 1913 Lockout recalled in Kilcullen

A fascinating introduction to the real stories behind the 1913 Dublin Lockout was given this morning in Kilcullen Heritage Centre by the project manager of the 1913 Committee, Padraig Yeates, writes Brian Byrne.

It was the feature public part of the annual general meeting of the Kildare Federation of Local History Groups, attended by delegates from around the county as well as a number of local people.



The presenter drew on his long-held interest in that period of Irish history and the Lockout event itself, about which the former Irish Times journalist wrote a book — Lockout - Dublin 1913 — published in 2000. Yeates has researched the background to and the effects of the Lockout not just in Dublin, but around Ireland and in Britain, where the Dublin situation was bound up both with the trade union movement there and major British employers.

It was very much a case of giving those present a taster of the level of knowledge held by the meeting's guest, who will be speaking further this evening at a keynote event of the County Kildare Readers Festival, in the Riverbank Centre in Newbridge.

He was welcomed to Kilcullen by Nessa Dunlea, chair of the Kilcullen Heritage Group, and Mario Corrigan, Executive Librarion of the County Kildare Library Service.