The 14th annual Dublin Festival of History officially kicked off on September 26, 2026. It offers more than 300 free public events, guided tours, and historical discussions across the capital. Running through October 11, 2026, the festival is brought to you by Dublin City Council and organized by Dublin City Libraries in partnership with the Dublin City Council Culture Company.
Organizers launched this year’s extensive program with a packed Big Weekend reading list and a diverse schedule. It covers major historical anniversaries, local heritage, architectural tours, and sports history. Events span multiple venues throughout Dublin’s neighborhoods, providing residents and visitors with widespread access to cultural programming.
The Big Weekend Highlights and Local Sports Heritage
The festival opened with a decentralized Big Weekend on September 26, bringing events directly into local communities. Participating venues included the Central Library, Coolock Library, Cabra Library, Pearse Street Library, and Richmond Barracks in Inchicore.
At Cabra Library, a unique panel of historians representing Dublin’s major football clubs-Bohemians, Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers, and St Patrick’s Athletic-explored the history of the city’s great football institutions and their role in the social fabric. Meanwhile, Richmond Barracks hosted Sonja Tiernan for a discussion on the life of poet, pacifist, and political activist Eva Gore-Booth.
Other Saturday events featured:
- Gerard Shannon discussing revolutionary-era IRA leader Rory O’Connor.
- Connal Parr examining the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement.
- Kevin Rafter looking back at Magill magazine, Vincent Browne, and Ireland in the 1980s.
- The fast-paced Dublin History Dash, where Dublin City Council’s Historians-in-Residence uncovered urban stories through individual objects and documents.
At the Central Library, a featured talk and panel analyzed the history of prominent public monuments. They specifically focused on public art icons unveiled during the 1988 Dublin Millennium: the Anna Livia Fountain and the Molly Malone statue.
Mansion House Sessions and Major Centenaries
On Sunday, September 27, the festival moved to the Round Room in the Mansion House for a full day of high-profile talks. Bestselling author James Hawes discussed his recent non-fiction success, The Shortest History of Ireland, while Antonia Senior detailed the espionage operations of the Cambridge Five.
Sports and international history also took center stage. Former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland footballer Kevin Moran reflected on his career alongside broadcaster Roy Curtis. Historian Katja Hoyer examined the lasting political and cultural impacts of the Weimar Republic.
The Sunday program marked several significant centenaries:
- A panel featuring Cormac Moore, Margaret Ward, and David McCullagh, chaired by Ronan McGreevy, explored a century of Fianna Fáil following its founding in 1926.
- Historian Aoife Bhreatnach reviewed the establishment of the Committee on Evil Literature and the subsequent censorship culture in early independent Ireland.
- Dr. John Gibney, Prof. Terence Dooley, Dr. Ruth McManus, and Dr. Ida Milne examined the first census of the Irish Free State in The Story of Us: Dublin in the 1926 Census, utilizing newly released National Archives returns.
European History Day and Closing Events
The festival will conclude on Sunday, October 11, with a special European History Day at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. This event is held in connection with Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The closing program features international and Irish scholars exploring broader European themes:
- Catharine Edwards on Cicero and the end of the Roman Republic.
- Rory Carroll on Roger Casement, Germany, and the events of Easter 1916.
- Helen Graham on the Spanish Civil War as a national, European, and global conflict.
Partnering with over 90 cultural and community organizations, the festival delivers content in both English and Irish. Highlights include a Dublin tour with 1798 expert Fergus Whelan conducted in Irish, a talk on radical author Máirtín Ó Cadhain, and a dedicated strand of children’s workshops and young adult tours.
Speaking at the launch, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr. Darryl Barron, emphasized the accessibility of the program: “The Dublin Festival of History reminds us that history is not something that exists only in books or museums; it is all around us, in our streets, our neighbourhoods and our communities.”
While all festival events are completely free of charge, advance booking is strongly recommended to secure entry. The full schedule and reservation details are available through the official festival website.
