2015 Press Releases
2015 marks centenary of O'Donovan Rossa
Jememiah O’Donovan Rossa was arguably the most famous of all the Fenians and the public launch of his centenary commemoration will take place on Wed, 25 March, 7.30pm. All welcome.
The launch will be held in the West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen. The burial of Cork man, Jememiah O’Donovan Rossa in Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin on 1 August 1915 was one of the largest political funerals in Irish history. It was the occasion for Pádraig Pearse’s famous graveside oration that culminated in the words: ‘the fools, the fools, the fools! They have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace!’ Given the involvement of the entire leadership cadre of the 1916 Rising, and the prominent role played by the Irish Volunteers on the day, the funeral can be seen as marking the beginning of the count-down to the 1916 Rising itself.
This summer marks the centenary of the death in New York of O’Donovan Rossa, who, in life and death, represented one of the most important figures in the history of Irish republicanism between the Famine and the outbreak of the 1916 Rising.
To mark the occasion an ambitious programme of events has been devised, encompassing a variety of locations, in west Cork, New York, and Glasnevin cemetery Dublin, commencing with a visit by President Higgins to west Cork on 11 June, and culminating in a re-enactment of the original funeral in Glasnevin on 1 August 2015.
This programme of events contains educational, community, ceremonial, artistic, diaspora and ‘New Irish’ elements. As such, it anticipates all of the major themes that will be present in the national commemorative programme for 2016. Thus, in the same way as the O’Donovan Rossa funeral foreshadowed the 1916 Rising, so, too, will the centenary commemoration of his death act as a precursor to the centenary commemoration of the Easter Rising.
The launch will open to all members of the public and representatives from many of the participating local and national groups will be present on the night.
For further details contact Gabriel Doherty, School of History, University College Cork, and secretary to the organising committee, 021-4902783 g.doherty@ucc.ie