Cinema

Located in Dromcollogher, County Limerick. The Cinema was a makeshift affair situated above a hardware store with access via a ladder from the ground floor. Films had been previously shown in the hall, but on 5th September 1926 during a show a candle ignited a roll of nitrate film leading to the biggest cinema disaster in Irish history in which 48 people perished. The somewhat restricted access to the hall had contributed to the toll being so high. The show was organised by a local hackney cab driver William Forde with reels of film brought from Cork where films were not screened on a Sunday. The films being shown according to one source were “Baby Be Good” and “The White Outlaw” although another says “The Ten Commandments”. The dead were buried together in the local churchyard where a gravestone gives details of their names. The site of the building is now covered by a memorial library. The last remaining survivor of the tragedy, Mary O’Flynn lived until at least 2012.

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