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Dublin’s Hidden Histories is the latest series of ‘Trinity Talks’ from the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and Near FM. In this series of talks and radio programmes, we feature an exploration of sites in Dublin which are the subject of ‘difficult’ histories, from asylums to prisons. The series presents experienced researchers and compelling storytellers in their subject areas for this exploration of ‘history in the shadows’. The stories are accompanied by live performances by An Góilín Traditional singers.

Episode six – Dublin’s connection to slavery, though complex, remains largely absent from its public memory, according to Ciaran O’Neill, School of Histories and Humanities, who in this live recording will reveal Irish merchants’ involvement across various colonial contexts. Dubliners played a more extensive role than often acknowledged, acting as secondary suppliers, traders, planters, and importers within the broader Atlantic economy.

Despite this, there is limited public recognition of Dublin’s economic links to the trade in enslaved people, partly obscured by postcolonial removal of British and imperial landmarks in the city. Ciarán Murray, Near FM will ask Dr. O’Neill about Ireland’s role within the slave economy including sectors such as sugar refining, banking, and linen production, which profited from colonial networks. The global reckoning on monuments and public history, driven by movements like Black Lives Matter, underscores Dublin’s need to confront this hidden aspect of its past.

Dr. Ciaran O’Neill is Ussher Associate Professor in Nineteenth-Century History, at Trinity College Dublin where his work covers the long nineteenth century and diverse themes such as the social and cultural history of Ireland and empire, the history of education and elites, colonial legacies, modern literature, and public history. He is author of Power and Powerlessness in Union Ireland: Life in a Palliative State (Oxford University Press, December 2024) and editor with Finola O’Kane Crimmins of Ireland, Slavery and the Caribbean; Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Studies in Imperialism (Manchester University Press, 2023).

The episode is presented by Ciaran Murray. Produced by Dorothee Meyer Holtkamp. Sound design by Paul Loughran. Recorded by Gay Graham and Gabor Zajzon. Thanks to Mercedes Lopez for the production assistance. Thanks to Aoife King, Christin Hamilton and all the team in Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.

The series is made with the support of Coimisiún Na Meán’s Sound and Vision scheme, with the Television License fee.

The Trinity Long Room Hub is Trinity’s research institute for the Arts and Humanities. For more visit https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/about/

For more on An Góilín Traditional singers please visit https://goilin.com/