THEY gathered at Dublin Port for a different purpose this time. Two donkeys, with oiled hooves and in their best harness, as a reminder of the thousands that were shipped weekly from the same dock to become part of World War I’s equine army.

It was all part of an excellent WWI seminar organised last Saturday by the Dublin Port Company to commemorate the centenary of the end of the ‘Great’ War. Everything from recreated Jacobs wartime biscuits at coffee break to the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Nial Ring, unveiling a plaque to commemorate the Dublin women who worked in the munitions factory, churning out 18-pound shells.