The History Show

This week: The tragic cinema fire in Dromcollogher in 1926; and how the 1926 Gaeltacht Commission sought to safeguard the future of the Irish language.
The Dromcollogher Cinema Disaster
We begin this evening in Dromcollogher, County Limerick, a town forever associated with one of the worst tragedies in modern Irish history. On Sunday, the 5th of September 1926, a fire broke out during a film screening in an upstairs hall. It was the first major disaster to strike the young Irish State.
At the state commemoration back in September, the devastating loss suffered by this small community was remembered, a century on. The list of names and ages of the dead were read out at that ceremony. This brought home the scale of this tragedy – many of those who died were children, and some households lost multiple family members.
A group of local residents have been working over the past several years, researching the disaster, which is known locally as ‘The Burning’.
Drawing on eyewitness statements, official records, and accounts passed down through the generations, they’ve produced a detailed account of what happened that night, and the lives affected by it.
Our producer Lorcan Clancy visited Dromcollogher, and found out more. He spoke to some members of the Dromcollogher26 research group: Gerry Keyes, Fr. Seán Ó Longaigh, Pat Lordan, and Gerard Greaney. Their book is called ' The Burning – Dromcollogher Remembers '
Then Myles is joined in studio by historian Gregory Walls, who has been going through the National Archives holdings related to this tragedy.
The 1926 Gaeltacht Commission
A hundred years ago, in 1926, the Irish Free State published the report of its recently concluded ‘Gaeltacht Commission’.
The Commission’s primary tasks were to map the extent of the Gaeltacht, and recommend ways to strengthen the Irish language, through education, public administration and the economy.
While the new state had committed itself to reviving Irish, the communities where the language was still spoken faced poverty and emigration, as well as schools and public services that often struggled to operate through Irish.
The Commission heard from a hundred witnesses and made recommendations. The evidence it collected reveals the pressures on Irish-speaking families, and the tensions between the ambitions of the language revival, and the priorities of the new state.
Ultimately, only some of the Commission’s many proposals were accepted, but several shaped policy and attitudes towards the Irish language for decades afterwards.
To talk about this, Myles is joined by Dr John Walsh, Associate Professor of Irish at the University of Galway. His new book, ' Ar Lámh Shábhála? Coimisiún na Gaeltachta 1926 ' examines the Commission’s work and its legacy.
It’s published by Cló Iar-Chonnacht
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This week: the life and legacy of revolutionary leader Cathal Brugha; and housing expert Lorcan Sirr on 200 years of housing in Ireland.
Cathal Brugha Remembered
Cathal Brugha was one of the leading figures of the Irish revolutionary period.
A veteran of the 1916 Rising, he helped rebuild the Irish Volunteers in its aftermath; presided over the first meeting of Dáil Éireann; and served as Minister for Defence during the War of Independence.
But his legacy has often been overshadowed by his bitter clashes with Michael Collins, and his opposition to the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
A new publication, Cathal Brugha Remembered, seeks to provide a fuller picture of the man, exploring different aspects of his life, career and legacy.
Myles is joined in studio by the co–editors of this collection of articles from the Military Archives, Liz Gillis and Gerard Shannon.
You can get hold of a free PDF copy of the book at the Military Archives website.
Two Centuries of Irish Housing
Housing has been one of the most persistent issues in Irish political and social life, from the great landlord estates of the nineteenth century, to the overcrowded tenements of Dublin, and of course the housing crisis of today.
A new book traces more than two centuries of Irish housing history, examining how land ownership, politics, religion and money have shaped where and how we live.
It's called Housing a Nation: Seven Generations of Irish Land, Politics and Power. The author is the academic and housing policy analyst, Lorcan Sirr, Senior Lecturer in Housing at Technological University Dublin, who joins Myles in studio.
The book is published by Hachette.
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On this week’s programme, we mark 300 years since the publication of one of the most famous books every written – Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.
A story of tiny people, giants, flying islands and intelligent horses, it’s also a biting satire of politics, war, scientific ambition and human nature itself.
We’ll hear the story of its secretive publication, explore what it has to say about the relationship between Britain and Ireland, and ask why Swift’s strange and unsettling masterpiece still speaks so sharply to the modern world.

One of the things being lampooned in Gulliver’s Travels is the genre of travel writing.
By the early eighteenth century, travel writing had become enormously popular. Readers looked to travellers for information about distant places – and had to decide whether the extraordinary things they described, could actually be believed.
Swift borrowed the familiar style and conventions of factual travel accounts, and pushed them to increasingly absurd extremes.
Our reporter Marc McMenamin spoke to Professor Daniel Carey of the University of Galway (an expert on the history of travel writing) about the tradition Swift was drawing upon, and how he turned it against itself.

Then, Myles is joined in studio by two guests.
Dr Brendan Twomey is an historian, and a researcher of all things Swiftian.
Gerry Mullins is a writer and the creator of the new musical And Then There Was Gulliver. Its World Premiere is at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, on Thursday 26th November at 8PM. That’s happening as part of the 2026 Jonathan Swift Festival. Tickets are available here.

The manuscript of Gulliver’s Travels arrived at the home of the London publisher Benjamin Motte in the dead of night, on the 8th of August 1726.
The story of how the book reached Motte, and how Swift attempted to conceal his authorship, was a decidedly cloak-and-dagger affair.
Back in August, at the West Cork History Festival, Myles discussed Gulliver’s Travels with two more expert guests.
Adam Tomkins is John Millar Professor of Public Law at the University of Glasgow.
Hester Grant is the author of the book The Twitnam Summer: Friendship, Satire and the Writing of Gulliver’s Travels, published earlier this year by HarperCollins.
We hear an extract from that discussion, about the unusual circumstances in which the book was published, and some of the many targets of Swift’s satire.
Our thanks to Simon and Victoria Kingston for facilitating that interview.
And if you want to see the full discussion with Hester and Adam, you can find it on the West Cork History Festival Youtube channel.
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As the United States prepares to mark its 250th anniversary, Myles Dungan and guests explore the people, the principles, and the institutions that shaped the American Republic. With Daniel Carey, Brian Phillips Murphy, Paul McElhinney and Stewart McLaurin.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Myles Dungan takes a tour of Ireland's National Cemetery at Glasnevin. With guests Ultan Moran, Brian Casey and Georgina Laragy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.