A SPECIAL edition stamp has been released marking the centenary of a tragic cinema fire which devastated a village in Co. Limerick.
On September 5,1926 a blaze erupted in a makeshift cinema in the village of Drumcollogher when nitrate film caught fire after a candle was accidentally knocked over.
Some 48 people who were inside the building lost their lives.
The tragedy wiped out 10 per cent of the local community and effected almost every family in the village.
The centenary of the Dromcollogher Cinema fire fell on September 5This month a series of events have been planned to mark the centenary of the tragedy, which have been planned by a Centenary Commemoration Group formed in 2025.
Within that programme An Post has released a stamp to mark the 100-year milestone.
“Our stamp, honouring both the dead and those who have united to commemorate their lives, features a contemporary photograph of the aftermath of the disaster,” a spokesperson for An Post said.
“It shows Church Street in Dromcollogher, thronged with a sombre crowd, paying their final respects.”
Elsewhere over the weekend a commemoration event was held in Dromcollugher, which was attended by Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin laid a wreath during the commemoration eventThe Taoiseach said it was “an honour” to attend the event, which he described as a “dignified and moving national centenary commemoration of the Drumcollogher Cinema Fire”.
“History is not just about the big national events, it is also about the families and communities in towns and villages across the country,” he added.
“There is an important lesson to take from the disaster, I believe, and that is on the fragility and preciousness of life,” the Taoiseach told those gathered at the event.
“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,” he explained.
“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.”
Patrick O’Donovan led the commemorations over the weekendCulture Minister Patrick O’Donovan led the commemoration on September 5, during which he and the Taoiseach laid wreaths in memory of those who lost their lives in the fire.
The wreaths were laid at the mass grave where 46 of the victims were laid to rest at St Bartholemew’s Church.
A plaque was also unveiled and a tree planted in their memory during the event.
The Taoiseach and Minister O’Donovan also visited the graves of the two other victims earlier in the day.
“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,” Minister O’Donovan said.
“I extend my sincere thanks to all those who made this event possible.”
He added: “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 unveiled 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.”
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