The Limerick Boycott in Context

A panel discussion organised by the School of Languages, Literatures & Cultural Studies and the Centre for Jewish Studies.

This panel brings together the editors of, and contributors to The Limerick Boycott in Context (Oxford, 2025), the first in-depth, critical study of the history and historiography of the events of 1904 and their afterlife. In conversation with Dr Zuleika Rodgers, the panelists will explore the significance of the Limerick Boycott and its cultural memory for Irish, Irish Jewish, and British Jewish history and historiography. Panelists include the editors, Dr Natalie Wynn (TCD) and Dr Seán Gannon (Historian) and contributors Katrina Goldstone (independent researcher) and Dr Trisha Oakley Kessler (Woolf Institute).

The economic boycott of Jewish traders instigated by the Redemporist Fr John Creagh in Limerick in 1904 is one of the most infamous yet least-understood episodes of Irish Jewish history. As Ireland’s only serious and sustained outbreak of anti-Jewish prejudice, this Limerick Boycott is cited by some as evidence of exceptional Irish tolerance, a singular disruptive event to be situated outside the ‘regular’ harmonious pattern of Jewish/non-Jewish relations. Others, however, present it as emblematic of an exceptional antisemitism innate in Irish society, most recently during the controversy surrounding the decision to close the Israeli embassy in Dublin in December 2024. 

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: rodgersz@tcd.ie