AIMSIR
Bhí sé fuar agus bhí beagán báistí againn for our 492nd Saturday in Moore Street but we only had to keep the leaflets dry under cover for awhile.
DAOINE
Bróna, Orla, Eileen and Emily for awhile agus Diarmuid were the foireann today and we were pleasantly surprised to see the private tent-market on the street this Saturday also.
Custom was mostly slow but we collected lots of signatures, especially in a rush towards the end of our weekly shift and interacted with people, Irish-born and not, some of them in town for the Palestine solidarity march so people from Cork, Galway and Wexford signed the petition.
As always we love to see the adults, seemingly parents and grandparents, encouraging the children to sign the petition. And we like to point out to children some of the still-visible marks of the 1916 battle here.
Two young lads passed by on their way to view the O’Rahilly Monument and we were delighted to have one of them say that the whole top-floors of the buildings in the terrace “should be a walk-through interactive museum” – something Diarmuid in particular has proposed for many years.
The displays could include not only 1916 Rising exhibits and holograms ‘awakened’ by electronic pressure pads (or beams) but also the same for the history of the centuries-old street market and its workers and small shopkeepers.
Kilmainham Jail, once planned for demolition by the Government, is now so popular that visits have to be booked in advance. That site is a bus journey away, while Moore Street is right in the city centre, very near to shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants.
One of our visitors with his teenager was Alan Gencheo from Wicklow Town, a Coxn on the Lifeboat service who told us he was a descendant of James Fitzharris, the getaway driver for the Invincibles assassination group who killed Cavendish (the Queen’s representative in Ireland) on his first day taking up his post. They also killed Burke, Permanent Under-Secretary, who was their primary target. Both representatives of the Crown were on their way back from Dublin Castle to their residences in Phoenix Park. Also Alan said he’s a relative of Maj-General Joseph Boyle.
Fitzharris is remembered in the “Monto” song as is Pat O’Donnell, who executed James Carey for informing on the Invincibles and sending patriots to the gallows. O’Donnell, who was hanged by the British was from Gaoth Dobhair (“Gweedore”) in Donegal and has his own ballad too, which Diarmuid has sung on Moore Street near the date of the patriot’s execution.
EILE (repeated from last week’s album text)
Our group is heading for its 500th Saturday on the street. In September 2014 Bróna Uí Loing, Vivienne Kelly, Diarmuid Breatnach and Mel Mac Giobúin met to begin a weekly presence on the street with a campaign table, leaflets and petition sheets. We consulted with other campaigners about the wording of the petition, of which the immediate objective was to prevent an exchange of DCC’s Nos.24-25 at the end of the 1916 Terrace to Joe O’Reilly for Nos.14-17 because otherwise he’d be able to demolish all buildings from No.25 to No.18.
Only Bróna and Mel had relatives who had fought in the 1916 Rising and/or the War of Independence but others with or without family connections to fighters in those two periods joined over the years for long or short periods, while others dropped out for health, employment or other reasons.
In November 2014 the objective we had set ourselves was achieved when the elected councillors voted to reject the speculator’s offer but we decided to continue our presence on the street until overall victory which is how we are now approaching our 500th Saturday, 10 years later.
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