This article is from page 11 of the 2006-03-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
CLARE’s three main towns are putting final touches to their ceremonies to commemorate the 1916 Rising.
Ennis Town Council will hold a civic ceremony to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the rising, on Easter Sunday, April 16. The ceremony will take place at the 1916 Monument, Club Bridge, Abbey Street, at noon.
The civic ceremony will involve the attendance of the Army Reserve to raise the National Flag followed by a reading of the 1916 Proclamation in English and Irish. Ecumenical Prayers in English and Irish will be said for all those who died. Ennis Mayor, Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind), will lay a wreath at the monument. The Ennis Brass Band will also be in attendance and will play the Last Post, Reveille and the National Anthem.
Kilrush will also honour the men and women of 1916 with a special ceremony. At 1 pm on Easter Sunday, independent TD James Breen will give an oration before a wreath is laid at the Town Hall. Shannon will put the final touches to its plans tonight. Unlike the other areas, the people of Shannon will pay tribute to those who died on the actual anniversary of the Rising, April 24. Early indications suggest the ceremony will take place in the early evening, with the raising of the flag. Once again the Last Post and Reveille will be played before those attending adjourn to the library to listen to speakers on this date in Irish history. Local children may then play a short film followed by some poetry.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced at the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis that the Government wanted next Easter to “be an expression of our pride as a nation in all those who took part in the Rising and the subsequent War of Independence”.
“As far as I am concerned, Collins, DeValera, Griffith and many of their leading contemporaries, were all great Irishmen, who played an equal and honourable part in winning Ireland’s independence, as did many distinguished women patriots,” he said.
“It is my firm intention to mark, in the most inclusive possible manner, the passage into history of both these great achievements and deep wounds associated with the transition to political independence.”