Former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will be among the speakers at The Robert Tressell Festival taking place in Liberty Hall, Dublin on 11 May, 2024. President Michael D. Higgins is also set to deliver a keynote address.

Also featured at the event will be British-Irish trade unionist Mick Lynch, independent Senator Linda Ruane, MEP Clare Daly, Bohemian F.C COO Daniel Lambert and Lankum’s Daragh Lynch.

Now entering its second year, the festival is named after Robert Tressell, a radical Irish writer who is best known for his novel on exploitative employment, The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists.

Tressell spent much of his early adult life in South Africa, where he was drawn into socialist politics and became involved with leading Irish nationalists. Tressell later returned to England to work as a painter and decorator in Hastings, where he wrote his most well-known work.

I'm doing a gig with Michael D Higgins, Jeremy Corbyn, Mick Lynch, Liz Gillis and Chris Smalls on the 11th of May.
Tickets: https://t.co/9UXBWuklIz
Some fucking line up..
xox https://t.co/ehbYF4bzKn pic.twitter.com/aUGrAPxCkc

— Daragh Lynch (@daraghIynch) March 20, 2024

“The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists has had a massive influence on so many people in our movement and in wider progressive and left wing politics,” said Festival organisers on their website.  “The book tells a story that mixes pathos and comedy with realism but ultimately puts fire in the belly and that’s the feeling we want people to come away from the festival again this year with.”

Events for the Robert Tressell festival are ticketed – for more information click here.