Big names for Mellowes' Weekend in Wexford

This year sees the launch of the Liam Mellowes' Commemorative Weekend which seeks to celebrate the life and ideas of one of the great Irish Republican Socialist figures of the 20th Century.

Wexford County Councillor John Dwyer announcing the weekend events said: "It's a great coup to have one of the country's leading trade unionists, Mick O'Reilly, and one of the finest historians in Ireland, Dr Ruan O'Donnell taking part. It is the first of what is hoped will be an annual commemorative weekend. It is dedicated to the memory of our late friend and comrade, Daithí Forde, who first proposed the idea.

The theme of the weekend will be The Legacy of Liam Mellowes and the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil.

"We hope to involve a broad spectrum of opinion, including prominent figures from various political parties who lay claim to his legacy." In light of recent efforts by both parties to lay claim to the republican legacy Fianna Fáil has been invited to send a speaker and Fine Gael Wexford TD Dr Liam Twomey has also been asked to attend.

"Discussion and debate can only be healthy and we hope to have a broad spectrum of views aired," John Dwyer said. Continuing he said: "Most people in County Wexford have heard of Liam Mellowes — GAA clubs, housing estates and streets are named after him. Now people have an opportunity to find out who he really was and what he really stood for. Everyone is welcome."

Liam Mellowes has been described as one of the "most radical and intellectually questioning of the 1916-'22 political leaders". He was IRA Director of Supplies for the duration of the War of Independence and was a leading republican who strongly opposed the 1921 Treaty. A visionary, he wanted to see a radically different kind of society to that which developed post-partition. On 8 December 1922 he was taken from his prison cell, along with three others, and executed without trial by a Free State firing squad. His biography, Liam Mellowes and The Irish Revolution was re-published this year