Community of Lusk where Ághas taught preparing for centenary of patriot’s death

LUSK Community Council has paid respect once more to Lios Póil and Kerry’s Tomás Ághas, having recently honoured ‘all he achieved in his short life’ at a local event commemorating the centenary of the 1916 Rising.

Ághas, who served as a principal at a local school, commanded Irish Volunteers from Lusk and neighbouring areas during Easter 1916.

A permanent memorial - which includes the names of all who volunteered at the time, as well as the 1916 Proclamation - was recently unveiled in Lusk by Mayor of Fingal Cllr Darragh Butler.

The memorial is located beside the Carnegie Library, where Ághas taught Irish.

Local woman Christina Conroy contacted The Kerryman this week to express ‘full appreciation’ on behalf of the village of Lusk to ‘a fine Kerryman.’

A member of the Gaelic League, the GAA, and the IRB, Ághas was also a founding member of the Irish Volunteers, and commanded the Fingal battalion in Ashbourne during the Easter Rising.

The Lios Póil man died at the Mater Hospital in Dublin on September 1917 as a result of the force-feeding he was subjected to by Mountjoy prison authorities. He had begun a hunger strike days previously.

A series of initiatives will take place in Lios Póil over the coming year to mark the centenary of Ághas’ death. The plans for these commemorations will develop over the coming weeks and months.

A booklet was released by Lusk Community Council in conjunction with the unveiling of the memorial, and contains Ághas’ renowned poem, Let Me Carry Your Cross For Ireland Lord, which he wrote while in prison at Lewes Jail.

It also includes a piece on Ághas by Lusk Community Council’s Paddy Fitzgerald, in which he describes the ‘revolutionary teacher’ as ‘a striking and charismatic leader who inspired those who fought alongside him.’

Lusk Community Council Chairperson Brian Arnold wishes to thank everyone from Kerry ‘who has supported, both financially and in kind, the construction of the 1916 Memorial.’

Photo supplied by Lusk Community Council ‘Volunteers’ of Lusk Community Council with Mayor of Fingal Darragh Butler and Fingal County Councillors at the 1916 memorial beside the Carnegie Library, where the great Kerry patriot Tomás Ághas. The community are now planning a major celebration of...