GPO Witness History Opening
The epicentre of the 1916 Easter Rising is the home of a new interactive learning experience, writes Ciaran Byrne
The GPO was the venue on February 23 for the opening of the first ever permanent exhibition on the National Flag. To commemorate the 170th anniversary of the tricolour, the exhibition can be viewed at GPO Witness History Visitor Centre in Dublin.
On March 7 th, 1848, Thomas Francis Meagher, flew the Irish tricolour at 33, The Mall, in Waterford city.
Meagher wrote at the time: “The White in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the Orange and the Green, and I trust that beneath its folds the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may be clasped, in generous and heroic brotherhood.”
The opening was a great day for the Thomas F. Meagher Foundation. Chairman Reverend Michael Cavanagh said the flag represented a “struggle for freedom over the centuries which came at a personal and collective cost that we must not forget”.
Foundation co-founder Senator Mark Daly said the exhibition “embodies all the aims of the Foundation, to promote pride in and respect for the Irish flag and its message of peace, to educate the school children of Ireland of this message and to assist them in being active citizens in their community”.
An Ceann Comhairle Seán O’Fearghaíl officiated at the launch. He said the ‘Flags for Schools’ initiative, which saw the flag delivered to most primary and secondary schools in the country, was one of the biggest events of the Easter Rising commemoration year in 2016. Meagher’s original design was a call to “fair play, tolerance and respect” and the permanent exhibition was “long overdue”.
He believed the motivations behind Meagher’s original design was a call to “fair play, tolerance and respect” and the permanent exhibition was “long overdue”. The opening of the exhibition was attended by special guests as well school students who had applied for a scholarship for the 2017 Thomas F. Meagher Foundation Flag Day. Kate Lynch, a fifth-year student from the Regina Mundhi College in Cork City, received a scholarship of €3,000 from the Foundation for her work in promoting the values of the flag.
The exhibition embodies all the aims of the Foundation, to promote pride in, and respect for, the Irish flag