Since 1996, historian Lorcan Collins has brought visitors around Dublin’s most significant sights to tell them the story of the 1916 Easter Rising and its role in Ireland’s struggle for independence from Britain.

He also has a podcast called Revolutionary Ireland and has written The 1916 Handbook for O’Brien Press.

Derek O’Connor sat down with Lorcan for a chat to find out more. He discusses what to expect from his walking tour, the true blue Dublin and how he came to land his dream job.

In conversation with Lorcan Collins

I’ve been running the 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour for the past 20 years, bringing people around the city, showing them the sites of the Easter Rising. It’s not just for tourists, either.

Sometimes, these days, you’ll get 95% Irish people on the tour. It’s great that we take a real interest in our own history.

Helping people discover the real Dublin

I do feel like I have a responsibility to show the good and bad of Dublin; it’s a great city, and a safe city, and I like bringing people around and saying: “This is where it’s really at…”.

Places like Moore Street, that might not be the cleanest, most fabulously tourist-orientated places, but nonetheless they are the real Dublin. There is an alternative to Grafton Street and the Dundrum Shopping Centre.

A bit of interaction with the people on the streets is always fantastic fun.

The tour is a bit of a history lesson, but I love having a bit of craic with people – that’s the absolute reason why people come to Ireland in the first place. They want to enjoy themselves. They don’t just want a bunch of historical dates.

A bit of interaction with the people on the streets is always fantastic fun. There’s always some fella who wants to get involved. Inevitably, his grandfather had been in The GPO in 1916. Sometimes, I think everybody’s grandad must have been there, I hear it that often!

Stand at some traffic lights in Dublin for long enough with somebody and, eventually, you’ll both start to chat. We’re approachable in that way.

The city’s a village and the centre of that village is The GPO. And there are as many characters out there as ever.

Finding a calling and carving out a niche

Even after all this time, I love doing the tours. I love our revolutionary history – it’s a great David Vs. Goliath story. And I get to talk all day about my absolute favourite subject and call it ‘my job’. I can’t believe how ridiculously lucky I am to do that.

It took a long time and a lot of work to get to this point. I had to wait tables in the early years to keep everything going; you’re out doing a tour in the morning and that evening you’re serving the same people chicken wings in Elephant and Castle. They’re going: “Weren’t you our guide?” And you’re like: “No, that was my brother…”

We’re all crazy in our own little way.

I’m not lazy, but I don’t like working for anybody – being a self-employed tour guide is a nice way of being your own person and doing your own thing. I used to say to my career guidance teacher that I want to work outdoors and meet lots of people. And he used to say: “I’ll put you down for the bank”.

Once you get over the fact that we’re all crazy in our own little way – a nice way, I stress – you begin to appreciate everybody in this city. There’s no other town like it.

Discover more of the city with our guide to Dublin’s walking tours.