Easter Rising

Uh, when World War I broke out, many Irish Americans switched their allegiance from the, from the, um, the Home Rule Party of Redmond that supported the war to, uh, those who didn't support the war.

And in fact, um, it was, um, money that came from America, from Clontarf, uh, the Fenian affiliate in the United States, that helped to fund the Irish Republican Brotherhood that was able to prepare for the Easter Rising.

And as my professor at college in Cork in the 1970s, Joe Lee, put it in his own pithy way, he said, "No America, no New York, no Easter Rising.

Simple as that." Okay? And then in the aftermath of the Rising, Irish Americans sprang into action.

They founded, uh, the Friends of Irish Freedom, which had three hundred thousand members by 1921.

And Dublin councillor Janice Boylan chaired the event.

The panel included councillor Micheál MacDonagh, who's secretary of the trust, And Ray Bateson, author of The Battle of Moor Street, Kai Stroud-Iwaira, a bilingual history and a wonderful book of the final battle of the Easter Rising.

And Ray is a very entertaining and informative speaker, as was Michal and Janice.

But I would recommend Ray's book if you want to know about the uniqueness of Moor Street.

Ar éirígí le chéile.

A chairde, in the days that followed Easter week, Cork was a city living with the consequences of a rising that never happened there.

The confusion of the counterman, the failure of the German arms landing, orders given, cancelled and misunderstood.

And then, when it was all over, the arrests began.

MacCurtain was already an important organiser in the Cork Volunteers, a committed republican, and a man deeply rooted in the Gaelic and cultural revival.

MacSwiney was a teacher, a writer, an organiser, a drama writer, but a man whose political convictions were hardening.

Both had been involved in the preparations for rebellion, and both had lived through the confusion of Easter week in Cork.

And both now find themselves in British custody.

I've never seen a book that was shot.

It was shot in the Easter Rising in 1916.

And you can see the bullet going all the way through the book.

I was honestly like a child.

Eoin Kirby flicks through a history book.

It tells the story of the Laois volunteers, and their role in the 1916 Easter Rising.

Yeah, it was my grandfather, Mick Gray, Michael Gray.

In 1916, on the Easter weekend, they received, uh, notice, an order from Pádraig Pearse, and it was their task to, um, rip up the rail lines, and cut telegraph wires down in, in Portlaoise area, in order to prevent, or to stop at least, uh, any reinforcements coming up from, I believe it was Wexford, any British Army reinforcements.

For historian, Dr. Cormac Moore, he believes the actions carried out by all of the Laois volunteers is enough to warrant the military honor.

They were under direct orders from Pádraig Pearse.

The, it's actually one of the on- only remaining orders specifically given by Pádraig Pearse for the Easter Rising still in existence.

Um, they were told, uh, they had a specific job to do to try and prevent British troops from coming onto Dublin, to pr- prevent, prevent a, um, rebellion being successful.

And there is a reason for that.

Kilmainham is not simply a museum about the Easter Rising.

It is one of the actual places where the story happened.

The cells are there, the corridors are there, the stonebreakers' yard is there.

Now that date is worth looking at.

January 1916.

Only a few months before the Easter Rising.

So Kent had already been arrested for land agitation and imprisoned, and now in January 1916 he was arrested for nationalist activity, before Easter week had even begun.