A MEMORIAL TO all who died in the 1916 Rising will be unveiled tomorrow – despite objections of relatives of those who fought.
An interfaith service will be held at Glasnevin Cemetery adjacent to the graves of Irish leaders tomorrow morning.
The service will pay tribute to all those who lost their lives during the Easter Rising fighting – Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army, British Army, Dublin Metropolitan Police, Royal Irish Constabulary – as well as civilians, including children.
The Taoiseach will lay a wreath and local school children will unveil the Necrology Wall, where the names of all those who died as a result of the 1916 conflict, in chronological and alphabetical order, are inscribed.
James Connolly Heron, whose grandfather was James Connolly, says the wall is part of an agenda of sanitisation of the Rising.
It’s an aberration. It ignores the fact that all didn’t die, some were executed. We’re ending up with a wall dedicated to British army because there were more of them killed than Irish volunteers.
“(Talk of reconciliation is) bunkum. It’s part of the guff going around that we have to celebrate everyone.
“The other parties are already remembered.”
Connolly Heron said the event was “strange” and came at the end of a week of generally “fitting” tributes to the event.
The idea of putting volunteers along with British soldiers responsible for the killing of them is very strange.
In general, it was a fitting commemoration, leaving aside new phraseology including “all who died”.
“I think most relatives would be against it. I would be surprised if they support it.
“We’ve come a long way in this country (with regard to remembering the Rising), but that’s not to say questions shouldn’t be asked.”
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