6 December 2001 Edition
Portlaoise honours the Hunger Strikers
A large crowd attended the recent unveiling of a new monument in Portlaoise in honour of ten hunger strikers who died in Long Kesh in 1981.
The monument was erected beside the existing Republican Monument in Portlaoise Cemetery. A Tricolour led a procession of people into the graveyard, where a number of prominent republicans addressed the gathering.
Brian Stanley, Town Commissioner and election candidate for the forthcoming General election in the Laois/Offaly constituency said: "It was fitting that this memorial has been erected by the local Cumann of Sinn Féin on this, the 20th anniversary of that historic year."
He paid special tribute to Johnny Rowe from Vicarstown, Laois, for making the memorial stone and for his work in restoring the republican monument to its former state. It was originally erected in the early 1950s.
Also present were the survivors of the original committee who had erected the monument, Paddy Rowe, Stradbally and Tom 'The Duffy' Dunne from Kilrory, The Heath, Portlaoise.
Keynote speaker Ella O'Dwyer, who spent 14 years in Durham Jail in England for IRA activities and is now living in Dublin, said: "Historical moments like The Rising and The Hunger Strike are in fact not about the past, but about the future. These are visionary moments that mark out the way forward and are the stuff of vision.
"The Hunger Strike was one such catalyst for change in relatively recent times. Events like the 1916 Rising and the Hunger Strike change mindsets and cultures in very fundamental ways and very many people at home and abroad were politicised as an outcome of these revolutionary acts."
Concluding she said: "As this beautiful monument indicates, the British didn't break the Hunger Strikers and they will never break the spirit of freedom at the core of Irish republicanism."
Prominent Belfast republican Brian Keenan, addressing those present, said the struggle for national self determination has taken on a different phase. He made reference to Laois's James Fintan Lalor and his vision for a united Ireland. He encouraged all in Laois to stand behind the Sinn Féin candidate, Brian Stanley and help out in any way they can.
The monument was erected beside the existing Republican Monument in Portlaoise Cemetery. A Tricolour led a procession of people into the graveyard, where a number of prominent republicans addressed the gathering.
Brian Stanley, Town Commissioner and election candidate for the forthcoming General election in the Laois/Offaly constituency said: "It was fitting that this memorial has been erected by the local Cumann of Sinn Féin on this, the 20th anniversary of that historic year."
He paid special tribute to Johnny Rowe from Vicarstown, Laois, for making the memorial stone and for his work in restoring the republican monument to its former state. It was originally erected in the early 1950s.
Also present were the survivors of the original committee who had erected the monument, Paddy Rowe, Stradbally and Tom 'The Duffy' Dunne from Kilrory, The Heath, Portlaoise.
Keynote speaker Ella O'Dwyer, who spent 14 years in Durham Jail in England for IRA activities and is now living in Dublin, said: "Historical moments like The Rising and The Hunger Strike are in fact not about the past, but about the future. These are visionary moments that mark out the way forward and are the stuff of vision.
"The Hunger Strike was one such catalyst for change in relatively recent times. Events like the 1916 Rising and the Hunger Strike change mindsets and cultures in very fundamental ways and very many people at home and abroad were politicised as an outcome of these revolutionary acts."
Concluding she said: "As this beautiful monument indicates, the British didn't break the Hunger Strikers and they will never break the spirit of freedom at the core of Irish republicanism."
Prominent Belfast republican Brian Keenan, addressing those present, said the struggle for national self determination has taken on a different phase. He made reference to Laois's James Fintan Lalor and his vision for a united Ireland. He encouraged all in Laois to stand behind the Sinn Féin candidate, Brian Stanley and help out in any way they can.