The Irish National League in Dingle, County Kerry, 1885–1892

Donnacha Seán Lucey

A public meeting held in Dingle town on 5 May 1885 led to the establishment of a branch of the Irish national League. By the following December there were five active branches within the area of the Dingle Poor Law Union. This book examines the League’s involvement in the Parnellite general election of 1885; rent strikes; boycotting; and the subsequent emergence of ‘League courts’.

The author also looks at the League’s influence on the local government of the time, the board of guardians, and at the League’s decline, culminating with the bitter Parnellite split in 1891. These turbulent years and events offer an insight into late nineteenth-century local politics and society in the Dingle area.

Donnacha Seán Lucey, educated in St Brendan’s College, Killarney and NUI Maynooth, graduated with an MA in History in 2002.