The arrival of the SS Hare into Dublin was reenacted on Saturday, 5th October, on City Quay. Following its one-day voyage from Liverpool, the ship was met on the Quays by volunteers reenacting the role of the workers and their families to whom the original SS Hare brought food packages during the 1913 Lockout. Among those on board the ship were SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor, SIPTU General Secretary, Joe O’Flynn, ICTU President, John Douglas, ICTU Assistant General Secretary, Sally Anne Kinahan, Unite Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly and Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey. Douglas spoke of the “bond of solidarity” between British and Irish workers that was represented by the ship. He said this solidarity was still strong today and had been particularly evident during the British Miners Strike, when Irish workers had raised funds to support strikers’ families. The original SS Hare provided desperately needed relief, which included “60,000 packages of butter, sugar, jam, potatoes, fish and biscuits”, to workers’ families during the 1913 Lockout. It was the first of several British Trade Union Congress shipments, which arrived during September 1913 to January 1914.
SS Hare docks in Dublin
