10 July 2014: Launch of booklet on Kilcoole gun-running, National Museum, Collins Barracks

The Kilcoole gun-running of 2 August 1914 occurred a week after the far more prominent landing of arms for the Irish Volunteers at Howth, and saw an additional 600 rifles being landed in Co. Wicklow under cover of darkness. The Kilcoole Heritage group are running a two day ‘living history’ weekend on the 26-27 July, and have also produced a 32-page booklet on the history of the gun-running operation entitled Forgotten History: The Kilcoole gunrunning.  According to Dr. Ruan O’Donnell of the University of Limerick, ‘this account of the Kilcoole gun-running provides a fresh perspective on an important episode in Irish history. The arming of the Irish Volunteers transformed the quest for Independence’.

The booklet was launched on Thursday 10 July at 2.30pm in the Asgard exhibition at the National Museum, Collins Barracks, and will be on general release soon. For further details contact Gregori Meakin, PRO, Kilcoole Heritage Group: [email protected]

From UCD HistoryHub: The correspondence of Mary Spring Rice and Michael Joseph (‘The’) O’Rahilly on the early planning of the Howth and Kilcoole gun-runnings, May 1914.