President Michael D Higgins to lead lockout commemoration

President Michael D Higgins will lead the centenary commemoration of the 1913 Lockout this weekend, which is hoped to be attended by up to 80,000 people.

The event on Saturday will mark 100 years since the events of Bloody Sunday and will consist of both a national and community commemoration. People interested in attending the event, which will be focused around the Larkin statue on O’Connell Street, are advised to be at the area from around 11.35am, with President Higgins arriving just under an hour later.

The 1913 Lockout is often referenced by President Higgins, who calls it an “important chapter in Irish labour history”. He will lay a wreath at Larkin’s statue on behalf of all Irish people at around 1.30pm. Screens will be located at various points around the O’Connell Street area for those who are not able to see the event.

Spokeswoman for Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ 1913 Lockout Commemoration Committee Sally Ann Kinahan said she would encourage as many people as possible to attend the event.

“This is the first time that the President and ministers will attend a formal commemoration ceremony dedicated to the 1913 Lockout and the struggle to improve the lives of working people over the past century,” she said.

“The entertaining programme of events will provide the public with an opportunity to celebrate the key role working men and women, their families and communities played in the creation of an independent Irish State.”

The Red Line Luas will not be affected by the commemoration and all pedestrian streets and city centre car parks, including Arnotts’, will be open.

Thousands of workers and around 300 employers were involved in the 1913 Lockout, which lasted from August 1913 to January 1914.

The 1913 Lockout was all about the heroic determination of the workers and their communities to achieve decent treatment and fairness at work and, ultimately, radical social change and advancement,” Ms Kinahan said.

“Critical to events of 100 years ago was the right of workers to organise through their union and to collectively bargain with their employers - an issue that has yet to be resolved, along with the timeless pursuit of decent work.”

Highlights from the commemoration:

12.58: ANU performance of 1913 Lockout by Lloyd Cooney, Cartiona Ennis and Eric O’Brien.

12.46: Readings from Strumpet City by Bryan Murray and Angela Harding, who both appeared in its television adaptation.

1.22: Recreation of Jim Larkin’s speech from atop an old-fashioned tram by actor Ger O’Leary.

1.31: Wreath laying ceremony with President Michael D Higgins which will be followed by a minute’s silence for those who lost their lives in 1913.

2.30 Community performance by East Wall Parents Education Group, depicting the arrest of Larkin, the baton charge and at 2.46pm there will be a freeze frame the famous 1913 photo.