National Library of Ireland

Locations featured in Solas: Awakening Ireland include the GPO and the Mansion House in Dublin, Trim Castle in Meath, Powerscourt Waterfall in Wicklow, Athenry Castle in Galway, Grianán of Aileach in Donegal and many more. These iconic locations and buildings will be illuminated with projections of reimagined, contemporary Irish imagery such as Ogham lettering, phrases and typography.
The displays will be captured on film and set to a specially commissioned spoken word performance and music composition, which calls on the nation to remain hopeful through these challenging times. These illumination films will be presented on SPF TV at stpatricksfestival.ie from March 12th to 17th.
Voiceovers : Aoibheann McCann & Patrick McBrearty
Director : Luke Leslie
Director of Photography : Andrew Cummins
Focus Puller : Sam Mulcahy
Second Camera Unit : Kev L Smith
Editor : Peter Madden
Composer : Jonathan Casey
Live Cellos : Ailbhe McDonagh
Script Writers : Leah Leslie, Luke Leslie & Gary Duggan
Aerial Unit : The Drone Guys
Festival Producer : Neil Burke
Project Lead : Callum Buchanan
Head of Production : Tony Killeen
Production & Logistics Coordinator : Darren Murphy
Production & Licensing Coordinator : Steph Farrell
Outdoor Event & Broadcast Coordinator : David ‘Spud’ Murphy
Lighting Design and Install : Tom Rohan, EventCo
Lighting Design / Powerscourt Waterfall : Conor Biddle
Project Assistant : Chloe Tully
Still Photographer : Donal Healy
Covid Compliance Officers : Siobhan Buffini & Niall Barrett
Site Managers : Ronan Conroy & Adam Fitzsimons.
Crew : Paul Kelly, Colm Robinson, Susan Collins, Keith Newman, Simon Kennedy, Keith Newman, Brian Murray, Gus McDonagh, Rob Usher Gunter Bleikss, Kevin Dermody, Tony Gunning, Paul Grace, Dougie McConnon, Matthew Kilmurry, & Ulick McAvaddey Lighting EventCo Session Hire With thanks to : Dublin City Council, Office of Public Works, Lord Mayor of Dublin’s Office, Monaghan County Council, Fingal County Council, Galway City Council, Galway County Council, An Post, Trinity College Dublin, Powerscourt Estates, Bunratty Castle & Folk Park, Shannon Heritage, Health 1st Pharmacy Monaghan, Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio, The Courts Service of Ireland
The Carrickmacross Workhouse was one of 130 Workhouses built throughout Ireland between 1841 and 1843 to house the poor, hence the Irish name of Teach na mBocht – The Poorhouse.
The poor had to apply for admission to the Workhouse and successful applicants had to surrender any land before entering as ‘inmates’.
Once admitted, they were subjected to a strict regime: families were segregated and forbidden from seeing each other without permission; their diet was meagre and unvarying; difficult, and often pointless, work had to be undertaken; there was little heat and no comfort.
These deliberately harsh conditions meant that Workhouses quickly became known as the Poor Man’s Jail, and the poor only applied for admission as their last resort.
Home is a deeply moving ‘imagining’ of a family’s experience in the Carrickmacross Workhouse during the Famine years. It describes their ‘fall’ as a result of successive crop failures due to potato blight, leading them inexorably to the Workhouse, and their lives within these walls.
The story also highlights the Earl Grey Scheme under which 4,114 girls between the ages of 14 and 18 were emigrated from Irish Workhouses to Australia as wives and servants of the settlers and convicts there.
This number included 38 girls from Carrickmacross Workhouse.
Client : Monaghan County Council
Voice Talent: Leah Leslie
Writer : Leah Leslie
Producer : Mark Leslie
Director : Luke Leslie
Illustrations : Holly Ingram
Storyboards : Matthew Shiell
Animations : Daniel McNicholl, Rafael Araújo de Medeiros & Luke Leslie
3D Models : Iván Pais Nieto
3D Model Textures : Alex Glenn Murray
Original Music : Jonathan Casey
Traditional Vocals : Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin
Violin : Anna Rice
Cello : Ailbhe McDonagh
Recording Studio : Red Box
Special thanks to : Mayo County Library Service, Maggie Land Blanck Collection, and Views of the Famine for their 19th Century Prints. With calligraphy by Christiane Foller.
Ormond Castle was the medieval stronghold of the powerful Butler dynasty. Thomas Butler 10th Earl of Ormond built an Elizabethan manor house onto the front in 1665, ostensibly to please his English wife. But the iconography of the decorative plasterwork suggests that ‘Black Tom’ Butler expected a visit from his royal cousin Queen Elizabeth I.
The exhibition room is a holding area for guide-led tours. The restored 16th-century ambiance is maintained by reproductions of period woodcuts, paintings, and tapestries. These are arranged in a sequence that follows the story of Tom Butler’s pivotal role in the downfall of the Fitzgerald dynasty. Interactive digital books on Tudor lecterns provide information in eight languages. Digital technology has been used to transform John Derricke’s famous woodcuts into two spectacular animated movies. The emotional tension between Tom Butler, and two Elizabeths – one his wife – the other his queen, is presented from contrasting standpoints, in two complementary audiovisual dramas.
Client : OPW – Ormond Castle
Voice Over : Tara Flynn
Director : Luke Leslie
Writer : Leah Leslie & Mark Leslie
Production Manager : John Raftery
Storyboard Artist : Matthew Shiell
Illustrations : Holly Ingram, Alan Dunne, Brian Gallagher
Horse Animations : Ivan Pais Nieto
Original Score : Jonathan Casey
Featuring Traditional Music by Kíla