The Emergency in Colour

The Emergency in Colour brings wartime Ireland to life in dramatic colour.

Through extensive research, the photos presented here have been painstakingly hand-colourised by photographer John O’Byrne, showing what life on the island was like in extraordinary times.

There are over 200 photographs from across the country, many of which have never been published before, all of them accompanied by fascinating and accessible captions from historian Michael B. Barry.