A State centenary commemoration is taking place in Dromcollogher, County Limerick, to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1926 cinema fire that claimed 48 lives, one of the deadliest disasters in modern Irish history.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister for Culture Patrick O'Donovan are officiating at the ceremony held at St Bartholomew's Church in the west Limerick village. The event pays national tribute to the victims, survivors, and families affected by the tragedy, which wiped out approximately one-tenth of the local population at the time.

On the night of September 5, 1926, around 150 people gathered in an upstairs loft above a local store that was being used as a temporary cinema hall. The fire erupted when a candle flame ignited highly flammable nitrate film reels, rapidly spreading through the timber structure. Limited access and blocked exit points trapped many inside as panic ensued.

Forty-six people perished at the scene, with two further victims dying from their injuries later that year. Of the 48 who died, 16 were children, including two seven-year-olds. Forty-six of the victims were buried in a collective grave in the grounds of St Bartholomew's Church, marked by a Celtic cross bearing their names.

Minister O'Donovan noted ahead of the service that it was fitting for the head of government to return to west Limerick a century after leaders of the fledgling Irish Free State visited the community to support grieving families. The site of the former hall now houses the Dromcollogher Public Library, standing as a memorial to the event known locally for generations as "The Burning."