Dublin’s Slavery Mansions

As part of the Trinity Talks: Dublin’s Hidden Histories series, a new collaboration between the Trinity Long Room Hub and Near FM.

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Dublin’s connection to slavery, though complex, remains largely absent from its public memory, according to Ciaran O’Neill, School of Histories and Humanities, who in this live recording will reveal Irish merchants’ involvement across various colonial contexts. Dubliners played a more extensive role than often acknowledged, acting as secondary suppliers, traders, planters, and importers within the broader Atlantic economy.

Despite this, there is limited public recognition of Dublin’s economic links to the trade in enslaved people, partly obscured by postcolonial removal of British and imperial landmarks in the city. Ciarán Murray, Near FM will ask Dr O’Neill about Ireland’s role within the slave economy including sectors such as sugar refining, banking, and linen production, which profited from colonial networks. The global reckoning on monuments and public history, driven by movements like Black Lives Matter, underscores Dublin’s need to confront this hidden aspect of its past.

Dr Ciaran O'Neill is Ussher Associate Professor in Nineteenth-Century History, at Trinity College Dublin where his work covers the long nineteenth century and diverse themes such as the social and cultural history of Ireland and empire, the history of education and elites, colonial legacies, modern literature, and public history. He is author of Power and Powerlessness in Union Ireland: Life in a Palliative State (Oxford University Press, December 2024) and editor with Finola O’Kane Crimmins of Ireland, Slavery and the Caribbean; Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Studies in Imperialism (Manchester University Press, 2023).
This talk will be subsequently broadcast on Near FM. You can listen to Near FM online www.nearfm.ie/livestream or on 90.3FM.
Performances by An Góilín Traditional Singing Club.

These events and subsequent radio series are supported by Coimisiún na Meán with the Television licence fee.

Please let us know if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: tlrh@tcd.ie