Reports containing details of 30,000 arrests by the Dublin Metropolitan Police more than 100 years ago have been published online, writes Dan Buckley.

They contain details of prisoners during the Lockout of 1913, the outbreak of the First World War and the 1916 Easter Rising.

The records, which went missing when the force was abolished in 1924 and assimilated into An Garda Siochána the following year, recently came into the possession of trade union SIPTU after being discovered during a house refurbishment.

The series is comprised of daily reports produced by the DMP’s Detective Department on the movements and associations of pro-independence suspects.

They were compiled by Superintendent Owen Brien and submitted to the Under Secretary for Ireland, Sir Matthew Nathan, at Dublin Castle.

They describe Republican activity in Dublin during the 11 months leading up to the Easter Rising.

The report of June 1, 1915, the first in the series, traces the movements of a number of Professor Eoin MacNeill and 1916 leader Thomas J Clarke, among others.

A description is provided of the assembly of “about 34 Sinn Féin Volunteers in Rutland Square under the leadership of Joseph McGuinness”.

The final report in the series was written on 20 April 1916, just four days before the beginning of the Rising. It details intelligence gathered at a number of key city centre locations.

Major events which took place in 1915 and 1916 are recorded in the reports, including the funeral of the Fenian leader Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa (1 August 1915) and the Annual Convention of Irish Volunteers (31 October 1915).

There are over 230 individuals referred to in the reports, principally members of the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Republican Brotherhood and Sinn Féin.

More than 30,000 people were arrested during that period including James Larkin and James Connolly.

These files have now been handed over to An Garda Síochána.

To view them, go to