éirígí Easter Commemorations

Dublin Remembers 1916

éirígí Baile Átha Cliath organised three separate commemorative events over the Easter weekend to mark the 94th anniversary of the 1916 rising. The first of these took place on Saturday (April 3) at Mount Street Bridge on Dublin’s south side. This location witnessed some of the bloodiest fighting of the entire 1916 rising as a small detachment of republican volunteers inflicted huge casualties on a numerically far larger British force. Up to twenty people listened on Saturday as the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic was read aloud before a wreath was laid at the monument which pays tribute to those who took part in the heroic stand at Mount Street.

More then a hundred people took part in the main éirígí Baile Átha Cliath commemoration which took place on Easter Sunday. Led by a colour party the crowd walked the short journey from Hart’s Corner in Phibsboro to Glasnevin Cemetary.

The commemoration was chaired by éirígí activist and Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan, who introduced the first three speakers, who read out the 1916 Proclamation as well as writings from Nora Connolly and Pádraig Pearse. Ciaran Heaphey then laid a wreath before a minute’s silence was observed in memory of all of those who have given their lives for Irish freedom. éirígí Ard-Rúnaí Breandán Mac Cionnaith then gave the main oration before a rendition of Amhrán the bhFiann was played.

On Easter Monday it was west Dublin which hosted the final commemorative event of the weekend. Here Cathaoirleach éirígí, Brian Leeson, laid a wreath at the memorial plaque for Fianna Hughes, Holohan and Rogers on Monastery Road in Clondalkin. Up to a dozen people joined the minutes silence in memory of the three young republicans who were murdered by the Free State army in 1922.

1916 Remembered in Arklow, Newry and Sligo

éirígí activists in counties Down, Sligo and Wicklow marked the 94th anniversary of the 1916 Rising with a series wreath laying ceremonies. In Newry wreaths were laid at four separate monuments as well as the republican plot in St Mary’s graveyard on Saturday (April 3).

As part of éirígí’s ongoing Reclaim the Republic campaign copies of the 1916 Proclamation were distributed for free to households in the town over the weekend and a number of national flags and éirígí flags were also erected as part of the 1916 celebrations.

Meanwhile in Arklow on Saturday éirígí activists were also distributing free copies of the 1916 Proclamation to pedestrians on the town’s main street. A large banner encouraged people to not only ‘Remember Ireland’s Dead’ but also to continue to ‘Resist British Rule’.

On Easter Monday éirígí activists crossed the border into Wexford to lay a wreath at the grave of legendary socialist republican Liam Mellows in Castletown.

In the north-west éirígí activists took part in a ceremony at the republican plot in Sligo cemetery on Easter Monday (April 5). Once again the words of the 1916 Proclamation were recited, as well as the 1919 Democratic Programme and Declaration of Independence. A wreath was also laid at the monument in memory of those locals who have given their lives in the struggle for Irish freedom