News Story

A commemoration event has taken place to mark the centenary of the Dromcollogher cinema fire that killed 48 people.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin delivered the keynote address at the event before unveiling a commemorative plaque and planting a tree.

On September 5 1926, a fire broke out when a candle fell in a makeshift cinema in the Co Limerick village, killing 10% of the local community.

The commemoration was hosted by Culture Minister Patrick O’Donovan and attended by Mayor of Limerick John Moran.

The ceremony culminated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the mass grave where 46 of the victims were buried.

Earlier, Mr O’Donovan had laid a wreath at the graves of the two other victims.

Speaking at the event, the Taoiseach said: “There is an important lesson to take from the disaster, I believe, and that is on the fragility and preciousness of life.

“The fire was a terrible accident, with a candle knocked over in the worst possible place.

“It could have happened at any similar gathering at that time.

“A century on, I am honoured to join this community as it remembers those who lost their lives on one of the darkest days in the history of the state.”

Mr O’Donovan said: “I am very proud to host this special commemoration to mark the centenary of one of the most tragic events in the history of Limerick but also the state. I extend my sincere thanks to all those who made this event possible.

“The loss from the events of September 5 1926, has resonated for decades beyond 1926. It is not a thing of history, forgotten and resigned to irrelevance and dust.

“No, it is a thing of today, it lives among us still.

“In the plaque we unveil today we note that we commemorate all victims, both living and dead.

“We remember those who lost their lives so senselessly but also those who continued on with that burden and those who saw their loved ones labour under the same burden.”

Mr Moran said: “A century ago, on the night of Sunday September 5 1926, there wasn’t a soul in Dromcollogher who didn’t lose someone close to them. Forty-eight people, out of a town of five hundred. Whole families were taken.

“For decades afterwards, people called it ‘The Burning’ and left it there, seldom spoken of, even among themselves.

“In recent times, that has changed.

“The community choir and Finding Our Voice’, part of the Dromcollogher centenary commemorative programme, have given local people a way to express that losssomething their grandparents and great-grandparents could scarcely face.

“That act of remembrance takes courage: to sing about it, to write about it, to speak of it aloud after a century of silence; and to mark not just the lives lost, but the contributions each made during their time on earth.”