There is some evidence that he was born in Tamnaharry, Warrenpoint, County Down on 21st of January 1876, whilst his mother Mary (nee McAnulty of Burren) was visiting her dying father. There are still family members in Northern Ireland who remember him. The ruins of the cottage where he was reputed to have been born, which belonged to his mother’s sister stand on land still owned by the family.

In 1909 Jim Larkin founded the Irish Transport & General Worker’s Union and in 1912, along with James Connolly in Clonmel, he founded the Irish Labour Party of which he was the first leader. From the foundation of the Worker’s Union of Ireland to his death on 30th January, 1947, Jim’s life was a continual struggle for the betterment of all workers both through the Union and through his service on Dublin Corporation and in Dail Eireann as a TD.