Left Archive: Wood Quay Documents 2

To download the above and other documents please click on the following links.

CITY NEWS: To download please click here.

LIST OF CANDIDATES 1: To download please click here.

LIST OF CANDIDATES 2: To download please click here.

POSTCARD: To download please click here.

STICKER: To download please click here.

Please click here to go the Left Archive.

Many thanks to the family of Leo Swan for forwarding these documents to the Left Archive. Over the Summer we will post up further related documents.

As noted in the first post in this series last month, the Wood Quay protests of 1978 and 1979 were not explicitly left-wing, however in the materials used to promote the protests and occupation there was an appeal to trade unionists and others. Individuals later prominent in the Labour Party and other groups were involved.

This posting includes includes the electoral materials relating to the campaign amongst other documents. There was, from these documents, a very clear effort to identify potential allies as well as those hostile to the campaign and to apply political pressure to them.

The first is a publication entitled City News which was issued early in 1979 and published ‘in associating with the Living City Group’. This included information on those who had voted for and against preservation the site. The contents though was considerably more wide-ranging and included information on Corporation redevelopment in Summerhill, transportation plans in Dublin, Art for the People and City Centre Hospitals. The publication is scathing about plans for ‘meeting the basic needs of the area’ in terms of housing. It also contains some useful statistics from a survey by the Prisoners Rights Organisation.

The second and third documents are lists of candidates for Local Elections in the Dublin Area in June 1979 – the month the site was occupied – and indicates those who are known to be either favourable or not to the campaigns goals. The fourth is a postcard issued during the local election that shows those who can be voted for and against. As can be seen at that stage the list of the former was yet to be formulated. The fifth is a sticker for the campaign.