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From:Department of Culture, Communications and Sport

A Thaoisigh, a Mhéara, a Chomhaltaí den Oireachtas, Comhairlí Contae, agus a phobal an cheantair, is mór an phribhléid dom mar Aire Cultúir, Cumarsáide agus Spóirt agus mar Theachta Dála ar Dháilcheantar Chontae Luimnigh, fáilte a chur romhaibh anseo go Drom Collachair don ócaid stairiúil seo.

Ar an lá seo céad blian ó shin, cailleadh ocht nduine is daichead i dtubaiste pictúrlainne anseo, agus táimid anseo inniu chun comóradh a dhéanamh orthu siúd agus chun cuimhneamh orthu siúd a gortaíodh ar an lá uafásach sin.

Taoiseach, Mayor, Members of the Oireachtas, Councillors, the community here in Dromcollogher, and most importantly the relatives of those who lost their lives 100 years ago today, I am honoured as your local TD and Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport to host you all here today to mark the centenary of the Dromcollogher Cinema Fire where 48 local people lost their lives, and many more were injured on the night.

Can I start with a special welcome to our MC (Master of Ceremonies) for the day, who I know is no stranger to any of you, Bryan Dobson. Bryan accepted my request to be the Chair of the Expert Advisory Group on Commemorations in our Department and very graciously agreed to serve here today and I know with his deep love of our history, he brings a wealth of talent to this role and today’s occasion and I thank him for that.

On the night of the 23rd of January 2025 after being appointed in Áras an Uachtaráin to this role as Minister with responsibility for Commemorations, I had my first conversation with the Secretary General of the Department, Feargal Ó Coigligh, and we set in motion the plans for today’s event.

I wanted to ensure, as someone who grew up here in West Limerick and has represented this area for 23 years, that we would have a fitting and appropriate national state event to remember Dromcollogher’s 48 of 1926.

It is fitting that we are joined here today by An Taoiseach Micheál Martin as our head of Government, because in 1926 his predecessor was our first head of Government of an Independent Ireland, WT Cosgrave, and he came here also and led the state’s response at the time for what was a horrific event for the fledgling Independent Ireland to come to terms with.

Taoiseach you’re welcome here to Limerick and to Dromcollogher and I want to thank you and our cabinet colleagues for the support given to my proposals for these events and to pass on the gratitude of our Department team for the collective support from the rest of the Government and its agencies.

The events of 1926 here in Dromcollogher are in many ways tragically similar to those 55 years later in the Stardust in Artane, where again 48 would die on a social night out. We are joined here today by some of the relatives of the Stardust Victims, and really more than anyone here today, you understand the scale of the devastation and trauma that the families of Dromcollogher endured 100 years ago today. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making what we know is a very difficult journey here to Limerick. I know that the people here really appreciate your presence and that by being here you have united two communities, separated by distance, but bound by a sacred bond of loss and tragedy through their 48’s.

The establishment of the first co-operative in Ireland here in 1889 by Horace Plunkett and Percy French’s song "There's Only One Street in Dromcollogher" undoubtedly gave the town National Prominence, however it was unfortunately the 5th September 1926 that not only sent the name of this town rippling across the island of Ireland but also sent it further afield as well.

Details from the National Archives, an agency of our Department, who have been very supportive of this event, show that the tragedy shocked people all over the world. Government Buildings would receive expressions of sympathy into WT Cosgrave’s office as the world learned of the enormous loss of life here. The equivalent of 10% of the population of this small Limerick town with another 100 or so left with horrific, and in some cases life-changing, injuries in many ways and hospitalized in places like Croom.

The correspondence from the NI PM James Craig to the Irish Free State, the first of its kind, showed how such an enormous tragedy could transcend political differences as people appear from the records to be totally numbed by the events in West Limerick. That sense of shock and numbness resulted in ordinary people raising money all over the place to try to help. The fundraising efforts raised an equivalent of €1.3million administered by General Richard Mulcahy on behalf of the Government. Funds flowed in with the equivalent of €90k in individual voluntary contributions from members of An Garda Síochána. Smaller sums from all over the country are also to be seen with one from Latchfords Cinema in Newcastle West showing £25 10s (Shillings) and 1d (Pence) and a dance in the Temperance Hall in Longford just some examples of the dozens of efforts that was made to try to do something for the people of this community.

Empty school desks, empty chairs at the dinner table would stalk so many in the area as the full scale of what happened here across the street became clear. The abandoned bicycles, the first signs of just who might be dead or injured.

Just a few months earlier this community like all others was entered into the first census of the Irish Free State, an event that the Taoiseach and I marked the centenary of. Little did they know when they were entered into those returns what was up the road. Young, old, mothers fathers, sons, daughters, neighbours, friends, helpers, all gone before their time from a shattered community.

Growing up in this area I was fortunate to have a teacher, Seán Kelly, who loved local history and taught us about Dromcollogher 1926. For the survivors there was no psychological service, just a permanent physical reminder here on this street which finally found a new and fitting use in 1953 with a branch of the Co Limerick Library Service on the site which I know the Council have invested in.

The then Bishop of Limerick David Keane gave permission for 46 of the 48 to be buried here in front of St Bartholomew’s Church and I was honoured earlier this morning to visit the graves of the other 2 to lay a wreath to mark their passing as well.

Today is the culmination in a great deal of work led by my Department in association with the Defence Forces, An Garda Síochána, the National Archives, OPW, the Council, An Post and especially the local community.

During the week I was delighted as Minister for Communications with responsibility for Postal Services to launch a commemorative stamp at the GPO in Dublin and here in Dromcollogher to mark the centenary, and today we also open the exhibition provided by the National Archives, an agent of our Department.

It is the culmination of months of work and I thank everyone involved.

One hundred years ago today people from this community like so many all over Ireland went out for a night’s entertainment but 48 never came home. Those of us of this generation have a duty to remember them and to pass on their legacy and stories so that they are not forgotten. Their loss ultimately helped to herald new laws and regulations that would ultimately make places of public gathering safer for all. Cold comfort you might say for the people that died. And all of this loss coming so quickly after the tragic birth of the Irish State which only happened four years earlier, born from a tragic civil war, helped in some ways to bind a community across Limerick and North Cork in shock, united by grief and bound by the chords of loss.

There are so many locally and in the Department that worked on this, and definitely too many to name individually. But I would in a special way like to thank Conor, Muirne, Dan and Deirdre who led the State’s input into the event. I think you will all agree that they did an amazing job. Our partners in the other state and local agencies, the local volunteers and everyone else who made today happen, sincere thanks.

They never came home. So many of all ages and of all walks of life, young and old, men and women, they never came home.