A tribute to the men and women of 1916, and a question about plans for Moore Street
dublin |
history and heritage |
news report 
Monday April 13, 2009 18:58
by konia
In Dublin today, the North Inner City Folklore Project organised a commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising by honouring the men and women who fought for Irish Freedom.
Starting at Liberty Hall at noon, the large crowd was told the story of the young girl from the North Inner City girl who ran messages for James Connolly, Molly O Reilly.
Little more than a child, Molly was mixed up with the group who broke a window playing ball outside Liberty Hall. She ran home and didn't come back, but eventually someone was sent to her house to tell her that James Connolly wanted to see her. She went, thinking she was going to be told off for breaking the window, but instead Connolly wanted to give her the the honour of hoisting the flag of outside Liberty hall, as the Citizen Army paraded on the Sunday before Easter 1916 and pledged their allegiance to the Republic. Today Susan Brennan Healy, a niece of Molly O'Reilly, received the flag from James Connolly-Herron, a great grandson of James Connolly, and re-enacted the hoisting of the flag.
The assembled gathering included many relatives of those who fought in 1916 then marched to the GPO led by pipers. Participants carried photographs of the men and women who took part in the Rising.
Wreaths were then laid at the GPO in honour of the men and women of 1916, by Constance Corcoran, a daughter of Molly O'Reilly. and Mrs Steenson, whose mother was a member of the GPO garrison.
After the reading of the 1916 proclamation, Noirin Byrne gave a short tribute with a call for the erection of a permanent memorial in O ‘Connell Street to the women who risked their lives for Irish freedom.
After a lament by the pipers the assembly then marched to number 16 Moore Street, the last headquarters of the 1916 garrison, to show their support for the retaining of that historic street.
Paddy Cooney of the Save 16 Moore Street Committee then gave a short speech on the current situation regarding plans for the national monument, and wreaths were laid, followed by a minute's silence.
A protest in the form of a human chain around Moore Street is planned for next Sunday, April 19th at 2.30PM.
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Comments (7 of 7)
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i attended this the other day. I found it to be a breath of fresh air, it was definitly non party political. in fact we could learn from projects like this. If only there could be a joint NON state commemoration every year, instead of the pathetic turn outs for the various splits and sects which makes them look like a small rabble. Most progressives I know rightly dont go to the state ceremony as we all now the vision and ideals of the Proclaimation is not fulfilled. The rest of us may differ on how we get to that goal, but we agree that the state one should not be seen to be the righteous one. it is one thing that all republicans, socialists progressives should link up on.
This particular venture should be commended secondly as it is an example of other areas and communities to take ownership of their heriatage, and value the oral tradition of passing down these local stories, and been able to share them and keep them for future generations. This safeguards them against the revisionists.
Anyway I hope everyone turns out to defend our national monument of 16 Moore St. the wkend.
- it was definitly non party political.
It was. The event was put together by the North Inner City Folklore Group, run by Terry Fagan, and was supported by people from all over the political spectrum (including from Fianna Fail) who made common cause on the day to pay their respects to the women and men who faught for Irieland's freedom in the past.
Sadly, the representative from the Workers Party decided to make money off the back of the event by selling Easter Lilies to the assembled crowd, many of whom believed he was raising funds for the event.
He did this in such a way that he wouldn't be seen by the organisers of the event. Maybe he is going to surprise them by making a donation towards their costs.
Is your objection his sale of Easter lilies or just the party he represents? I suspect it is the latter.
The objection would be to anyone selling lilies for their own benefit(whether sticky ones or pin on ones) at an event which was not party political.
Any money raised on Monday should have gone to the organisers. Now maybe it did but I doubt it.
I'm no fan of the Workers Party but perhaps Nathuram McGrath who took lots of photos and filmed the entire event has some photos of the minibus emblazoned with photos of Sinn Féin EU candidate Mary Lou that was parked directly in front of Liberty Hall during the course of proceedings there.
It seems strange that whatever WP do it's wrong, its clear from the tin that the lilies are being sold for The National Commeration Committee. He also from what I saw seemed to be giving out more lilies than selling them, I got nearly a full sheet off him for the kids and only stuck a euro in the tin. I would suggest that the money raised was minimal.
Looking at the photos I can't see how you can conclude that he did this in such a way that he would'nt be seen by the organisers, he appears to be doing it quite openly.
I also noticed that doing my usual pub crawl over the weekend in Ballbough and Amiens Street, the only lilies I saw peopel wearing were sticky ones, the same more or less applied to the monday gathering.
I suppose Nathuram will also object to Malachy's 82 year old mother laying the wreath at the GPO for the Folklore group as she has done for a number of years.
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