Tapestry to commemorate centenary of 1913 lockout

President Michael D Higgins has unveiled the first pieces in a tapestry to commemorate the 1913 Dublin lockout.

The 1913 Lockout Tapestry, commissioned by Siptu, is expected to be complete in time for the anniversary of the start of the seminal strike, in August next year.

Some 20,000 Dublin workers came out on strike in Dublin, between August 1913 and January 1914, in what is regarded as the most severe and significant industrial dispute in the history of the State.

A central point to the workers’ demands was the right to organise into trade unions.

Painters Cathy Henderson and Robert Ballagh will work with the National College of Art and Design to create a visual narrative over 30 panels, measuring 2ft by 2.5ft each, telling the story of the dispute.

They will be made by community and voluntary groups.

The President, in his address yesterday, said it was apt that the project was a collaborative one.

“It is through the power of collective action that the workers of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union sought to establish their right to organise to secure a better deal for the ordinary workers of Dublin.

“The Lockout fits awkwardly into the mainstream narrative of Irish history. The workers were generally nationalists, but so too were many employers, including William Martin Murphy,” he said.

“The strikers’ greatest ally was the British Trades Union Congress, without whose aid the strike could not have been sustained.”