County Galway saw the greatest level of activity in the 1916 Rising outside Dublin, and the Galwegians who stood up for Ireland’s independence will be honoured with a memorial stone to be unveiled this week.
The Mervue 1916-2016 Commemorative Stone, located at Connolly avenue, will be officially unveiled this Thursday at 7pm. The guest speaker will be newly-elected Sinn Féin TD for Offaly, Carol Nolan, who will talk about the importance of commemorating the Easter Rising.
SF Galway City East councillor Mairéad Farrell said a “huge amount of work” has been put in by the organisers to get this 1916-2016 stone in situ for the centenary commemorations.
“It is a huge statement that it will be unveiled not only on Connolly Avenue, a street named after the leader of the Irish Citizens’ Army on Easter Week 1916, but on the 95th anniversary of Louis D’Arcy’s murder by Crown Forces in Merlin just a few kilometers away,” she said. “D’Arcy was only 23 but he, like many of his generation, took up arms against British imperialism in 1916 and the subsequent Black and Tan War. It is important to remember that Mervue is located in the old Parish of Castlegar, a hotbed of Republicanism during the Rising. I would encourage as many people to turn out on Thursday as possible.”
