Editing Dublin lock-out (section)

===William Martin Murphy and employers===
[[File:Vulture of dartry hall.jpg|thumb|Cartoon of [[William Martin Murphy]] preying over [[James Larkin]]. ]] Among the employers in Ireland opposed to trade unions such as Larkin's ITGWU was [[William Martin Murphy]], Ireland's most prominent capitalist, born in [[Castletownbere]], [[County Cork]]. In 1913, Murphy was chairman of the [[Dublin United Tramway Company]] and owned Clery's department store and the [[Imperial Hotel, Dublin|Imperial Hotel]]. He controlled the ''[[Irish Independent]]'', ''[[Evening Herald]]'' and ''[[The Irish Catholic]]'' newspapers and was a major shareholder in the [[B&I Line]]. Murphy was also a prominent [[Irish nationalist]] and a former [[Irish Parliamentary Party|Home Rule]] MP in Parliament.

Even today, Murphy's defenders insist that he was a charitable man and a good employer and that his workers received fair wages. However, conditions in his many enterprises were often poor or worse, with employees given only one day off in 10 and being forced to labour up to 17 hours a day. Dublin tramway workers were paid substantially less than their counterparts in Belfast and Liverpool and were subjected to a regime of punitive fines, probationary periods extending for as long as six years and a culture of company surveillance involving the widespread use of informers.<ref>''Rebel City- Larkin, Connolly and the Dublin Labour Movement'', by John Newsinger, Merlin Press Ltd 2004</ref>

Murphy was not opposed in principle to trade unions, particularly craft unions, but he was vehemently opposed to the ITGWU and saw its leader, Larkin, as a dangerous revolutionary.<ref>Morrissey, Thomas, ''William Martin Murphy'', 1997</ref> In July 1913, Murphy presided over a meeting of 300 employers during which a collective response to the rise of trade unionism was agreed. Murphy and the employers were determined not to allow the ITGWU to unionise the Dublin workforce. On 15 August, Murphy dismissed 40 workers whom he suspected of ITGWU membership, followed by another 300 over the next week.