Athy celebrates May Day

The Athy Branch of SIPTU celebrated May Day with a seminar in the new Athy Community Arts Centre on the history of workers struggle in the South Kildare area from the 1820s up to the agricultural labourers lock-out in 1947. Guests of honour were the Supple family, relatives of union leader Christy Supple - who was imprisoned by the Free State in 1923 because of his leadership of the farm labourers strike in 1922/23 - some of whom travelled from Canada and England to be at the event. The President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton – whose grandfather was a member of the Strike Committee during the 1922/23 dispute – also attended.

The day culminated in a concert by renowned singer and biographer of Woody Guthrie Will Kaufmann who performed 'The Woody Guthrie Story, ‘Tales from the Dust Bowl'.