// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Matt Larkin a good golfer? Larkin good shots.
Matt Larkin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Died | October 15, 2007 |
| Occupation | General Secretary of NATO |
| Known for | Protesting rent |
Matt Larkin Senior was an Irish activist who served as General Secretary of the National Association of Tenants Organisations (NATO). He led a series of rent strikes in Ireland in the 1970s in response to poor housing conditions at the time, causing him to be denounced by the Catholic Church.
Career
[edit]Larkin was a committee member on the Marrowbone Lane Tenants Association, and the General Secretary of NATO.[1] On 25 October 1968, Larkin told the Evening Herald that the explosion of a wall in Ballymun, and political infiltrations of the Drogheda Tenants' Organisation were part of an effort to "smash" NATO.[2] He led the 1970–1973 Republic of Ireland rent strikes, a series of nationwide rent strikes held in response to poor housing conditions in Ireland. NATO had a membership of 100,000 houses at the time. The Catholic Church denounced Larkin for it, calling him a communist.[3] As part of reviewing a film based on the event, Film Ireland called Larkin "the very essence of respectability", comparing him to Jim Larkin, who led a workers' revolution.[3] During the rent strikes, Garda Síochána tried to evict a family in the Cromcastle Court flats, causing locals to protest. Larkin joined in on the protests, gathering with them on a balcony.[4]
He organized campaigns against rent in areas like Cork and Tullamore, creating propaganda for campaigns like these in Northern Ireland.[5] He also spoke at the public meetings held by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions for the Rainbow Coalition.[6] He wrote for Sinn Féin's newspaper United Irishman.[7] According to An Phoblacht, he died 15 October 2007.[8]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Fagan, Margaret ('Madge'; 'Mag')". Dictionary of Irish Biography (online ed.). Royal Irish Academy. October 2009.
- ↑ "Plot to break tenant power". Evening Herald. 25 October 1968. p. 1. Retrieved 1 September 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 "Review: The Rent Strike". Film Ireland. 3 June 2024. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
- ↑ "Fifty Years On, a Tenants Union Is Putting Together a History of the 1972 Rent Strike". Dublin InQuirer. 2022-06-22. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
- ↑ "Note from the Department of Local Government on the likely actions involved in the passive resistance campaign in Northern Ireland, it's potential impact, and the consequences of Irish government support for it" (PDF). National Archives of Ireland. Department of the Taoiseach. 23 August 1971. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
- ↑ "Diary 16 May 1985". Magill. 16 May 1985. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
- ↑ Larkin, Matt (October 1978). "Hands off our public services" (PDF). United Irishman. Vol. 36, no. 10. Sinn Féin. p. 5. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
- ↑ "Fógraí bháis" [Death notices]. An Phoblacht (in Irish and English). Sinn Féin. 25 October 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2026.