Dr Ida Milne appeared on RTE’s Nationwide on Friday 3rd April talking about her book ‘Stacking the Coffins’ and how the 1918 Spanish Flu affected Ireland in it’s three waves and the effects on the Irish population at the time. Ida explains why the 1918-1919 influenza outbreak got it’s name the ‘Spanish Flu’ due to lack of censorship in Spain during the war. Other places such as Germany, the UK and USA all had censorship in place and didn’t want to unveil their hands to show their army’s were weakened.

Dr Milne talks about how the virus really begins spreading in Ireland in June 1918 in the north east of the country coming in through ports from Howth upwards to Belfast during the first wave and ends suddenly in July 1918. The second wave begins abruptly in October 1918 and hits the country quite viciously, probably the most aggressive of the three waves. The third wave runs from January to April 1919 and spreads to the west of the country.

You can watch the full episode here Dr Ida Milne on Nationwide.