Tragic cinema fire in Limerick village to feature on RTÉ's Nationwide

NEARLY 100 years on from the fire tragedy that claimed the lives of 48 people in county Limerick, RTÉ's Nationwide programme will, this Monday night, dedicate a special segment to those who died in the blaze. 

A makeshift cinema that caught alight in the small west Limerick town of Dromcollogher, close to the Limerick/Cork border, on September 5, 1926 goes down in Irish history as one of the country's worst fire disasters.

Now, there is a play inspired by the night's events called The Bell Ringer, which Nationwide explores. 

Coined as the Dromcollogher Burning, the fire wiped out one tenth of the local population at that time, with 46 of the individuals whose lives were claimed that night buried in a communal grave.

New play recounts one of Limerick’s worst tragedies

In the episode, which will be broadcast on RTÉ One at 7pm people in the community now speak out about the tragedy in 1926 and some relatives to those who passed away in the accident share their stories. 

Newspapers around the world carried the news of what happened in the rural Limerick town on that evening, including President W.T. Cosgrave, who later travelled down to attend the mass funeral service for the victims.