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Murdair Mhám Trasna

    • Director

      Colm Bairéad

    • Credits

      Producer:
      Ciarán Ó Cofaigh

      Writers:
      Colm Bairéad
      Seán Ó'Cuirreáin

      Cinematography:
      Colm Hogan

    • Principal Cast

      Dara Devaney
      Pól Ó Griofa
      Eoin Mac Diarmada

  • Category

    Documentary
    Irish Language

A feature length docu-drama centered on an infamous event in Irish history, the brutal slaying in 1882 of a family of five in the remote village of Mám Trasna in the west of Ireland.

A swift and severe response from the British authorities to this Victorian era act of ‘terrorism’ led to the conviction of innocent people, the hanging of some, and the imprisonment of others as a result of perjured evidence and bribery. The events were described by the prominent British historian Robert Kee as “one of the most blatant miscarriages of justice in British legal history”.

As the miscarriage of justice began to unfold and the perjury was admitted in the press, both nationally and internationally at the time, a refusal by Gladstone’s government to allow a public inquiry, contributed to the fall of that government in Westminster in 1885.

In 2018 a posthumous pardon was granted by President Michael D Higgins on the advice of Government to Myles Joyce [Maolra Seoighe] who was wrongly convicted on perjured evidence and the word of informers as a participant in the murders.

Ireland, 2018, Colour

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