7 September 1948: The Taoiseach John A Costello announced in Ottawa, Canada that the Irish Free State would leave the Commonwealth by repealing the 1936 External Relations Act and declaring Ireland a Republic. This shock announcement at a Commonwealth Conference was greeted at home with some puzzlement, as he had given no indication before his departure that such an action was contemplated.

Rumour circulated that Costello had been piqued when at a Dinner hosted by Earl Alexander, the Governor General of Canada and dyed in the wool Ulster Unionist, the Taoiseach had looked down the barrels of table top sized miniatures of the guns that had held Derry in 1689! Chagrined at this insult he had called an a hastily arraigned press conference and announced his momentous decision.

Whatever the truth of the matter (and Costello denied this tale) when he returned home he brought forward a Bill that he claimed:

Was not conceived nor is it brought into this House in a mood of flamboyant patriotism or aggressive nationalism, nor in a spirit of irresponsible isolationism…

The Bill was passed and the Republic of Ireland came into being on 1 January 1949 with the State leaving the British Commonwealth as a result.

6 September 868: The Battle of Cell ua nDaigri on this day. This clash of arms was fought between the forces of the King of Tara, Aed Finnliath of the northern Uí Néill, and his dynastic rivals the Uí Néill of Brega [east Meath] who had as allies the Vikings of Dublin and the men of Laigin [south Leinster]. King Aed had for support King Conchobor of Connacht who seems to have contributed the bulk of the warriors. The northern king appears to have brought south with him just a picked force of about one thousand men. Aed was faced with what was an alliance by the kings of greater Leinster against his hegemony
 – as they all feared dominance by a king as powerful and as skilful as he.


In the event he defeated his enemies in what was probably a hard fought battle. It looks like the men of the East were the ones who opened the battle but were held in check. As both sides had more or less equal numbers its probable that the contest was a long drawn out affair. It certainly was a bloody one as the King of Brega and his ally Diarmait mac Etarscéle, the King of Loch Gabor were amongst the fallen. Many of the Vikings were also put to sword. But King Aed lost from amongst his own one Fachtna mac Mael Dúin, (the man selected to succeed him in the North) when he launched his own counter assault upon his enemies that day.

King Aed was one of the most successful kings to rule in Ireland in the 9th Century. He drove the Vikings out of the North and checked their power in north Leinster. He was also adept at keeping Irish rivals from usurping him from his throne. He died a peaceful death at the Monastery of Dromiskin in what is now Co Louth in the year 879.

Aed son of Niall, king of Temair, and Conchobor son of Tadc, king of Connacht, won a battle at Cell ua nDaigri on the 8th of the Ides [6th of September] against the Uí Néill of Brega and the Laigin, and a large force of foreigners, i.e. three hundred or more. 

Flann son of Conaing had five thousand and Aed Finnliath had one thousand, 

Flann son of Conaing, king of all Brega, and Diarmait son of Etarscéle, king of Loch Gabor, fell in this battle. 

Very many of the heathens were slaughtered there and Fachtna son of Mael Dúin, heir designate of the North, fell in the counterattack of the battle.

Chronicon Scotorum 868 AD

5 September 1926. The Drumcollogher/ Drom Collachair Cinema Tragedy on this day. The village of Dromcollogher is nine miles south-west of the town of Charleville, Co Cork but situated just to the north of the Limerick/ Cork border in the County of Limerick. On the night in question 48 people lost their lives when a candle overturned and caused film to ignite during a showing of The Ten Commandments. A room in the centre of the town, which was being used as a temporary cinema in Dromcollogher, caught fire when the candle ignited a reel of film carelessly left nearby.


'This was on the upper floor of a building used for storing hardware and access to it was by an external timber ladder, fixed to the wall to form a stairs. The hall, which had been used for meetings and entertainments for a number of years, was a rectangular room with a separate small dressing room area in the right-hand rear corner. The show began about 9.15pm after Benediction had finished in the local church, at which many of the audience had been present. Estimates of the attendance varied but it appears that at least 150 people crowded into the hall, many of them children. At around 10.00 pm as the second film was showing, one of the reels, which lay unprotected on a table near the door, went on fire when a candle on the table overturned and set it alight. The people immediately rushed to the single narrow door from which the ladder/stairs descended. Those seated nearest the exit escaped as the fire spread rapidly. Others fled to the rear of the hall where the two windows were located and crowded into the small dressing room area. Some got out through the window here but unfortunately it was blocked when a woman became trapped in it. Within min- the floor of the hall collapsed and the victims were hurtled to the ground where they died from the combination of burns, asphyxiation and shock. Forty six people were dead within 15 minutes. Two survivors later died from their injuries.'
https://sites.google.com/site/dromcollogher/cinemadisaster


The fire spread rapidly resulting in the deaths of 46 people, which included a family of six, with two more dying later in hospital. The 46 original victims of the tragedy—often referred to locally as ‘the Dromcollogher Burning’—and are buried in a large grave in the grounds of the local church. The bodies of the victims were buried in a communal grave in the local churchyard. A large Celtic cross was erected as a memorial to the victims of this tragedy.

4 September 1828: The Annaghdown/Anach Cuain Boat Tragedy. Eleven men and eight women were drowned in Lough Corrib aboard an old and decrepit boat the Caisleán Nua. The tragedy was the subject of a poem by Anthony O’Rafferty Anach Cuain. On September 4th, 1828 a boat left Annaghdown Pier bound for a fair at Galway City. On board were some sheep, which were for auction at the fair, and some thirty men and women who had intended to make a holiday out of the visit to Galway.

Its not quite certain what caused the boat to sink, but the story is told that one of the sheep on board got restless and poked his hoof through the floor of the boat. One of the men on board tried to stuff the hole with a piece of clothing but only succeeded in knocking a plank out of the boat which caused the water to pour in. Nineteen men and women on board drowned in the ensuing panic and scarcely a family in the village of Annaghdown remained unaffected by the tragedy.

The boat and passengers proceeded without obstruction until they arrived opposite Bushypark, within two miles of the town, when she suddenly went down and all on board perished except twelve persons who were fortunately rescued from their perilous situation by another boat.

Galway Advertiser 6 September 1828

3 September 1513: Gerald Mór FitzGerald, aka 'Gearóid Mór', 8th Earl of Kildare died on this day from wounds he received while on campaign. Known to his contemporaries as ‘Garret Mor’ - Garret the Big - he was the most powerful man in Ireland in his heyday.

Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare was born circa January 1455/56 He was the son of Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Kildare and Lady Joan FitzGerald. He married, firstly, Alison Eustace, daughter of Rowland Eustace, 1st and last Baron of Portlester and Genet Bellew, circa 1478. He married, secondly, Elizabeth St. John, daughter of Oliver St. John and Elizabeth Scrope. He succeeded to the title of 8th Earl of Kildare [established 1316] on 25 March 1477.

He was the Lord Deputy of the Kings of England on a number of occasions and despite backing the House of York both before and after the accession of Henry VII he was too powerful and able a character to be ignored by the Crown of England.

His base was the Castle of Maynooth in County Kildare.  He had a great library at Maynooth Castle with books of English, Irish, Latin and French. He also made plans for a college to be founded in Maynooth which was eventually built by his son, Garret Óg in 1518. It was only opened for a few years  until it was shut down by Henry the 8th during the Reformation.

He ruled with an armoured fist over both English and Irish alike and was as much akin to an Irish Chieftan as an Anglo Irish Lord in his methodology of governance. Such methods made him feared but not loved and he had to deal with many domestic rivals during his time in Power.

His greatest Victory came at the Battle of Knockdoe in 1504 in Connacht when he defeated the Anglo-Norman Burkes of that Province. It was probably the largest and bloodiest battle fought in Ireland for hundreds of years. However he did not always get his own way on the field of battle and in the year 1510 came off 2nd best at the Battle of Móin na mBrathar in County Limerick, when his army & that of his allies met that of Turloch lord of Thomand and was defeated.

In 1512, after entering O'Neill of Clandeboye's territory, capturing him and then taking the castle of Belfast, FitzGerald then for reasons now unknown proceeded through to utterly ravage the Bissett family's lordship of the coastal Glens of Antrim.

While on an expedition against the O'Mores of Laois, he was seriously wounded by a gunshot while watering his horse near Kilkea/Cill Cathaigh in Co Kildare. He was conveyed back to Maynooth Castle but never recovered. He died there on or around 3 September 1513. He was buried in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin.

Garrett, Earl of Cill-dara, i.e. the Justiciary of Erinn, i.e. the man of greatest fame, greatest in power and dignity, (and who achieved the greatest conquests over the Gaeidhel, and broke down the greatest number of the castles of the Gaeidhel—whose authority, law, and rule were the best—and who gave the most of his own property in presents to the men of Erinn), that had ever come of the Foreigners in Erinn, died after unction and penitence, in Cill-dara, and was buried in Christ-Church in the town of Ath-cliath, to the heavy grief of the majority of the Foreigners and Gaeidhel of Erinn after him.

Annals of Loch Cé 1513

2 September 1022 AD: The death of the King of Mide, Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, on this day. His passing marked the end of an era in Irish History. Since the Battle of Ocha in circa 483 AD the southern and northern O’Neill’s had shared the title of King of Temair (Tara) between them on a more or less continual basis. This made the holder of the title the most influential king in Ireland - if he had the wherwithal to make use of the status the title gave him. For it was believed that in ancient times Ireland had been ruled from the Royal seat of Tara. The O’Neills believed that any man who held that hallowed ground was the heir to a lost Kingdom. However Brian Boru of Munster in 1002 had pushed aside King Máel and had himself recognised as the superior king in his stead.

It was only with the death of King Brian at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 that Máel Sechnaill had regained his position. But by then he was an old man and Ireland had changed greatly since his predecessors had established their dual kingdoms all those centuries before. After him Mide(Meath) would no longer be the force it was in Irish Wars and Politics.

Mael Sechnaill son of Domnall son of Donnchad, overlong of Ireland, pillar of the dignity and nobility of the western world, died in the 43rd year of his reign and the 73rd of his age on Sunday the fourth of the Nones 2nd of September, the second of the moon.

1. (Nine score prime seats had the king— 

A lord in the abundance of cloaks and food bestowed— 

A weighty ól-measure for the King of the Elements 

Was in the middle of each of these citadels.

2. You are mistress for a splendid seven times six years, 

A king who draws from the foreigners a cry of fear; 

The supreme ruler of Cronn's stronghold 

Shall never die from a spear-point.)

Annals of Ulster 1022 AD

Mael Sechnaill son of Domnall, son of Donnchad, overking of Ireland, the

flood of honour of the western world, died in Cró-inis of Loch Aininne in

the forty-third year of his reign on the 4th of the Nones 2nd of September,

that is, on Sunday, the second day of the moon, the one thousandth and

twenty-second year after the Lord's Incamation, and died penitent and at

peace, with the successors of venerable saints Pátraic and Colum Cille and

Ciarán present and assisting him.

            1. Three hundred forts has the King,

               From which he gives clothes and food;

               There are guests from the King of the elements

               In the middle of each fort of them.

            2. The vat of the man of the Tulach in the west—

               If the King of Midhe feels any desire

               On Sunday, he quaffs a drink of it

               On Monday morning in Midhe.

Chronicon Scotorum

1 September 1701: The Irish Brigade in the service of France fought in the Battle of Chiari on this day. This clash of arms took place in Italy during the War of the Spanish Succession. The French Army was under the command of Marshal Villeroy who was opposed by Prince Eugene of Savoy who was in the service of the Austrian Empire. Villeroy decided to attack the town of Chiari as he felt it was his duty to fight for King Louis rather than just observe the enemy.

Villeroy ignored Catinat's warning that Eugene was in a strong position, remarking that the King, had not sent so many brave men just to look at the enemy through their spy glasses

The attack was however a fiasco as the French were cut down in droves. Amongst the regiments leading the attack was the Irish regiment of Galmoy (Its Colonel was Pierce Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoy), which suffered heavily in the assault. Eventually the attempt was called off and the surviving troops were told to retire.

The French losses were over 2,000 men killed or wounded while their enemies sustained a loss in the low hundreds. Some of the Irishmen who survived were badly wounded. Felix MacNamee, aged 35, a native of Armagh, had had his left arm taken off by a cannon ball and, put out of service, was admitted into the military hospital of Les Invalides, dying at Arras in 1726. The ensign of the Colonel’s company, Terence Sweeny, aged 33, was hit in the right thigh by cannon shot and across the body by a musket ball. He too, was admitted to Les Invalides and survived until 1750. Also hit by a cannon shot in the right leg was the reformed Lieutenant Thomas Meade, aged 31, a native of Kilmallock, who survived until 1736. John Conor, aged 31, a Kerryman and the sergeant of grenadiers, lost his right arm though a musket ball but lived until 1721.