Ireland Shed a Tear? Michael Collins’s play is a response to the Carrickmines fire tragedy
The tragedy brought a public outpouring of grief, and, it seemed at the time, a lot of soul searching about the way Travellers are treated by mainstream society and the state. People lined the streets during funerals. Politicians and religious leaders wringed their hands. Newspapers gave blanket coverage. But it was no wake-up call, Collins now wryly observes. It did not reset a dysfunctional relationship.
Ireland Shed a Tear? will be staged during the Dublin Theatre Festival, almost a year to the day since the tragedy. But in that year, says Collins, things have returned to a familiar pattern. “This was one of the biggest tragedies, where so many people lost their lives in a fire, since the Stardust,” he says, referring to the 1981 fire at a nightclub in Dublin. “And at the time, there was a genuine outpouring of grief from both the Travelling community and the settled community. A year later, these people are still not accommodated properly.”
