On the evening of 2 September 1913 two overcrowded tenement buildings at 66 and 67 Church Street collapsed. The two buildings were situated opposite the Capuchin Friary on the street. Of those trapped in the buildings, seven died (including three children) and many others were left seriously injured. Over 100 people were left homeless and destitute. The tragedy, occurring at a time of heightened political and labour unrest, highlighted the dreadful conditions of many of the buildings in Dublin, both in terms of the physical fabric of the dwellings and the endemic overcrowding in inner city tenements. A report on the disaster was presented to the British Parliament in February 1914, but with the outbreak of war in the summer of that year housing conditions in Irish capital ceased to be a political priority.
The subseries contains material assembled with a view to undertaking a beatification process for Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The files include evidence and investigations into cures attributed to the intercession of prayers at Fr. Mathew’s grave in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Cork.
The sub-series comprises a collection of publicity material relating to primarily to Sinn Féin victories in parliamentary by-elections in 1917. The sub-series also includes election fliers from the trade union and labour movement.
The subseries comprises a small collection of papers of Frank Fahy, a revolutionary, Irish language activist, teacher, and politician. Born in County Galway in 1879, Fahy was a founding member of the Irish Volunteers and an active member of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League). He married Anna Barton (1885-1974), a Kerry-born Cumann na mBan activist, in 1908. He worked as a teacher in St. Vincent’s College, Castleknock, Dublin (1906-21). As a captain in the 1st Battalion of the Dublin Brigade of the Volunteers, he commanded the contingent that occupied the Four Courts during the 1916 Rising. He was subsequently sentenced to ten years in prison and spent terms in several British jails. He was released in the general amnesty of June 1917, and was later involved in the reorganisation of the Volunteer movement. He went on to have a long career in politics, serving as a Teachta Dála for thirty-five years, first for Sinn Féin and later as a member of Fianna Fáil. He was elected Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann in 1932. He resigned as Ceann Comhairle on health grounds in 1951. He died in Dublin on 12 July 1953.
A collection of pamphlets and reports covering the national movement principally from c.1915-1921. The sub-series comprises printed ephemera such as fliers, handbills, and other publications.
