James Connolly. Executed 12 May 1916It is almost 95 years ago to the day that a mortally wounded James Connolly was strapped to a chair in Dublin's Kilmainham Gaol to face a firing squad. Despite the extent of the injuries he suffered during the Easter rising, for the British, his death could not come soon enough.
James Connolly was a Scotmans who came to Ireland to take a paying job as secretary of the Dublin Socialist Club, but he is remembered today with James Larkin and William O'Brien as the founders of the Irish Labour Party. But Connolly is perhaps best remembered as the leader of the Irish Citizen Army, who together with the Irish Republican Brotherhood, led the insurrection against British rule in Ireland that became known as the Easter Rising.
While Connolly paid the ultimate price in a failed insurrection that was not widely supported at the time, the actions of those in the Easter Rising would ultimately lead to the Irish republic's declaration of independence, and the war of independence that followed.
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The Tricolour lowered to half mast to commemorate Connolly's deathToday was the annual Commemoration of James Connolly's death, held at Arbour Hill military cemetery the last resting place of 14 of the executed leaders of the Easter rising.
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Eamon Gilmore, the Deputy Prime Minister, speaking at Arbour Hill
It was perhaps fitting that it was a dull, cold and overcast day. While the political speeches from An Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore (the deputy prime minister of Ireland) and Patricia King, Vice President of SIPTU were as might be expected for a country in severe financial straits, it was the mournful tones of a Dublin folk singer's rendition of the ballad of Jim Larkin that brought a feeling of emotional loss to the proceedings. While I had wanted to meet An Tánaiste, it was a folk singer whose hand I shook after the commemoration finished.
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A Dublin folk singer sings the Ballad of Jim Larkin
It is on occasions like this that the stories of my grandparent's involvement in Ireland's independence feel all the more visceral. The last hundred years of Irish history have had a profound effect on the country, and it is perhaps worthwhile to remember toady that iIreland's history goes back further than bailouts and corrupt politicians, and back to a time when the people of Ireland traded their lives for the future of their country.