Barbaric Treatment of Irish Agricultural Laborers – Kirkintillock, Scotland, 1937.

the O Reilly connection

I came across this tragedy while on holidays in Achill when I was young. I was wondering does anyone know the full story? I heard there was some controversy at the time surrounding the event due to British newspaper reports of the tragedy describing the victims and their homes as being ‘primitive’ despite their working conditions.

It’s hard to get the full story of what happened but it has been suggested that the people who were burned alive in this tragedy were Irish speakers and that they had been locked into their living quarters at night possibly to avoid ‘prowling’. This was at a time when the law of negligence existed (see Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562). There is a short video clip of the tragedy below.

Another interesting fact was that the area in which this tragedy occurred had alcohol prohibition in place which meant it was unlikely that these boys were intoxicated - which was suggested at the time.

Some links covering the tragedy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALoYyu4GJ3w

https://www.theirishstory.com/2012/09/24/the-kirkintilloch-tragedy-1937/

https://www.rte.ie/archives/category/disasters/2017/0917/902699-kirkintilloch-disaster/