Volunteers are saluted in Carriganima
CARRIGANIMA paid tribute to Padraig Pearse and his Volunteers who gave their lives in pursuit of Irish Freedom at a dignified and colourful ceremony last Sunday.
Exactly 100 years earlier on Easter Sunday in 1916, Irish Volunteers assembled in Carriganima as part of the ‘manouevres’ planned, but later cancelled, on the eve of the Rising.
Pearse had visited Cork the previous August in 1915 just a couple of weeks after his now-famous “the fools, the fools” speech at the graveside of Cork Fenian Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa.
And while returning from a Feis in Millstreet on Sunday, August 22, the group accompanying him stopped off at Carriganima, Pearse spoke with young local men during the break in the journey.
That visit and the strides from the 1916 Rising were commemorated in Carriganima on Sunday and drew a large attendance. Historian James O’Leary outlined the pursuits of Pearse and the Volunteers with a focus on the Carriganima involvement and the Rising.
“Those present always said that Pearse made mention of the achievements of An tAthair Peadar Ó Laoghaire, a schoolboy from Carriganima who received the freedom of Dublin in 1912 as a result of his literary achievements in the Irish language. Pearse spoke of his admiration for Art Ó Laoghaire who rebelled against the penal laws”, he said.
Padraig Pearse, performed by Declan Sheehan, made an appearance in horse and cart accompanied by his bodyguard, Donal Corcoran and driver Liam Ruiséal (Jackie Spillane).
Adding to the colour were the Mná na hEireann group from Cobh, Cumann na mBan Group, Volunteers and Millstreet Pipe Band.
The staging recalled Carriganima as the intended rallying point for hundreds of Irish Volunteers from Cork city and county on Easter Sunday, 1916. One hundred years on, a daughter of one of the local volunteers, Monica MacDonagh (nee Cotter), unveiled a plaque in memory of Pearse.
Also re-enacted was the mobilisation of the volunteers and Cumann na mBan.