Many people of the Irish independence movement had been lodged in Kilmainham Gaol as political prisoners at one point. After the creation of the Irish Free State, half of the people who at one point had been lodged in Kilmainham re-lodged the other half.

This staircase seemed very familiar to me, like I had seen it in a movie. In the Name of the Father, perhaps, or maybe The Italian Job. At which point the tour guide says the place has been used as a movie location in such films as In the Name of the Father and The Italian Job.