The Irishtown Butcher, the Strike and the Courts: Six Months of Turmoil in 1927 Dublin

 

In 1927, a dismissal at a small Irishtown butcher’s shop sparked a bitter industrial dispute that would drag on for six months, bring trade unionists and police into conflict, and repeatedly land its central figures before the courts. Behind the picket lines and courtroom confrontations lay a story of working-class Dublin, family livelihoods and the growing power of organised labour in a young Irish state. But the troubles of butcher Edward Coogan were far from over, and five years later, another court case would see him challenge the authorities over an entirely different matter.

 

Early in 1927, as the country wrestled with political instability and two general elections, industrial relations were still a thorny issue. In early January a small local industrial dispute found itself before the courts on numerous occasions as tensions flared between owners and strikers.

 

Edward Coogan owned two butcher shops, one at 15 Irishtown Road, now home to the very popular RICYS Café and 24 South Lotts Road on the corner of Gordon Street. Thirty-five-year-old Edward lived in Stella Gardens with his wife Teresa and three sons and a daughter.

 

In early January, Coogan decided to sack part-time worker Chrisopher Dunne. Coogan later told the courts that he sacked Dunne, who was working just 5 – 6 hours per week, because he believed that he was being dishonest. Immediately the Workers Union of Ireland trade unions placed pickets on both of Coogan’s shops. The Workers Union of Ireland had been formed in 1924 after a split from the ITGWU, the split led by James Larkin and his brother Peter. Chris Dunne was a married man living on Rock Lane with his wife Mary and three sons. The 1926 census indicates that he was a ‘butcher’ but also a ‘casual worker’. Rock Lane was a small laneway of tenements located immediately off Lower Baggot Street. Rock Lane was the lane beside the Old Henry Grattan’s pub on Baggot Street.

 

Tensions flared as the pickets’ attempted locals from using these two popular local butchers. The shops remained opened but the tension between Coogan plus the employees who still worked in the shop and the trade unionists escalated. In April, Coogan sought an injunction under the Protection of Property Act against Frank Cluskey, a trade union delegate and a butcher himself. He was the father of Frank Cluskey who would lead the labour party from 1977 to 1981 and would later serve as Minister for Trade, Commerce and Tourism in Garret Fitzgerald’s coalition government.

 

In June it was Coogan before the courts when local Irishtown Garda Thomas Collins, a native of Kerry, charged the butcher with assaulting Peter Redmond of Thorncastle Street, who was still working for Coogan but that tempers had flared. The pressure was building and now the strike was six months old. It wasn’t until July 2^nd that news finally emerged that the industrial dispute had been settled amicably and that all the striking workers had been reinstated. The strike had lasted six months.

 

In 1932 Coogan found himself before the courts once more. By now he had disposed of the shop on South Lotts Road and was only operating at Irishtown Road. Judge Davitt imposed a fine of twenty shillings for having used a slaughterhouse at the rear of 39 Westland Row without a Department of Agriculture license. He argued that the house was licensed by Elizabeth Long from 1879 until her death in 1884 and then the premises was operated by William Cahill who sub let it to Coogan. The prosecution maintained that the licence died with Mrs. Long but the defence that as no physical evidence could be produced relating to the paperwork that the licence was still in effect, but the Judge found Coogan guilty and issued the fine. Coogan appealed the decision and forced the Department of Agriculture to tighten up both controls on and the enforcement of licensed slaughterhouses.

 

In 1932, Irishtown Road was sold to Chris Farrelly who ran the butchers until 1947. His butcher’s shop on South Lotts Road later became Kelly’s Grocery for many decades.

THANKS ONCE AGAIN TO OUR SPONSORS OF THIS BLOG INCLUDING THE SLAINTE BAR, CHAMPNIERS & ALAN DOYLE SOLICITORS