ROTUNDA RINK MEMORIAL AT PARNELL SQUARE NEAR THE GATE THEATRE
Google Maps describes this as “1916 Site Of Rotund Rink” but on the copper plaque the date is 1913.
Unfortunately there is a lot of lens flare my photographs of this memorial because I used a very wide-angle lens and the sunlight was somewhat overpowering.
Oglaigh na hÉireann was founded in the Rotunda Rink and the neighbouring garden on 25th November 1913. The Rotunda Rink, was a temporary building in the Rotunda Gardens capable of holding 4,000.
25 November – The pro-Home Rule Irish Volunteers are formed at a meeting attended by 4,000 men in Dublin’s Rotunda Rink.
On 19th November 1913, James Larkin and James Connolly established the Irish Citizen Army as a force to protect workers from the excesses of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. It had a membership of about 350, the majority being members of Unions.
The Irish Volunteers, Óglaigh na hÉireann, was founded on 25th November 1913 at a public meeting held in the Rotunda Rink in Dublin. It emerged in response to an article, ‘The North Began’ written by Eoin MacNeill in the Gaelic League paper ‘An Claidheamh Soluis’. The Volunteers included members of the Gaelic League, Ancient Order of Hibernians and Sinn Féin, and, secretly, the IRB and its ranks numbered up to 100,000 at one point.
At the time of WW1 the Irish Volunteers broke into two distinct bodies. The National Volunteers, under the direction of John Redmond, went to fight in the Great War; the Irish Volunteers, under the direction of men such as Patrick Pearse and Eoin McNeill, stayed in Ireland and went on to join forces with The Irish Citizens Army in the 1916 Uprising.
THE RUSSELL MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN IN LIMERICK – THE JAFFEE FOUNTAIN IN BELFAST IS A TWIN
The Peoples Park in Limerick has a number of interesting items including an ornate drinking fountain which, according to Wikipedia, is one of only two on the island of Ireland but I do not fully agree with that claim
I have photographed three Victorian era fountains – One in Belfast (no doubt a twin of the Limerick fountain), one In Limerick and one in Dun laoghaire (which does appear to be much more ornate). There is also a possibility that the 1929 religious shrine at the junction of Reginald Street and Gray Street in Dublin started out as a similar structure.
The Richard Russell fountain, which had been overseas for many months undergoing restoration, was returned to the People’s Park in November 2009.
The fountain was originally erected in 1877 to mark the gratitude of Limerick for Richard Russell, a highly regarded employer. The official unveiling of the restored fountain, which was attended by some one hundred people, was undertaken by the mayor of Limerick, Kevin Kiely.
The restoration process, which retained the original red colour of the fountain, was carried out in Britain at a total cost of €80,000. Two plaques on the structure give due recognition to Richard Russell.
REMEMBERING DODO REDDAN A MURAL IN LIMERICK BY OMINOUS OMIN
Limerick City and County Council funded this large colourful mural which is located at Sráid an Ceoil, St John’s Pavilion in Limerick city centre.
Well known for her pram full of pet dogs Dodo, real name Hanora Quirke, was an animal lover and a huge rugby fan.
Born on Nelson Street in 1922, Dodo came from a working-class background. She was educated at the Presentation Convent, Sexton Street, and throughout her life she worked with the Limerick Leader newspaper, using its columns to speak about causes and topics close to her heart.
TOM BARRY MEMORIAL BUST AT FITZGERALD PARK IN CORK
In December 2008 a bust of Gen Tom Barry was unveiled at Fitzgerald Park in Cork by Cathal McSwiney Brugha, a grandson of Terence McSwiney, the former lord mayor of Cork who died on hunger strike in Brixton Prison in 1921. Tom Barry who died in 1980 and is buried in St Finbarr’s Cemetery.
MEMORIAL IN CORK – HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI 76th ANNIVERSARY
Today I was surprised when I came across this memorial because I had tried to locate and photograph it in 2019 when I last visited Cork.
Bishop Lucey Park is a public park located between Grand Parade and South Main Street in the centre of Cork in Ireland. It is one of few green spaces in the city centre and among the largest. It is often erroneously known as “The Peace Park” by locals, although this name actually refers to the area next to the River Lee at the junction of Grand Parade and South Mall where the National Monument, and the memorials to World War I and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings are located.
Each year, the anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remind us of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and what is at stake in our work to eliminate these weapons of mass destruction.
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