Galway Vigil to Honour Mellows, McKelvey, Barrett and O'Connor On December 10th
Éirígí Gaillimh have announced details of a black flag vigil to mark the centenary of the execution of the 'Four Martyrs' - Liam Mellows, Joe McKelvey, Richard 'Dick' Barrett and Rory O’Connor. The vigil will take place at the Mellows statue in Eyre Square on Saturday, 10th December at 2pm.
Speaking from Galway, local Éirígí representative Ian Ó Dálaigh said,
"The executions of the Four Martyrs represented one of the most cynical acts of brutality carried out by Free State forces during the Irish counter-revolution - which is more often, and less accurately, referred to as the Irish civil war.
These executions were justified as a ‘reprisal’ for the killing of Pro-Treaty Cork TD, Seán Hales, the previous day. But the truth is that these men were singled out because they were some of the most effective leaders of the anti-treaty Republican forces.
Éirígí For A New Republic activists lay a wreath at the Liam Mellows monument on Eyre Square, Easter 2022.
Not only that, but in executing a significant leader from each province, the pro-treaty Free State forces were sending a message that would reverberate across the entire country.
The Four Martyrs - and many others like them - stood by the Republican vision that was laid out in the 1916 Proclamation and 1919 Democratic Programme, but unfortunately the counter-revolutionary forces were successful and the Republic was crushed in a brutal counter-revolution.
The success of this counter-revolution led to the creation of two pro-capitalist, sectarian states - both of which set about the business of maintaining the status quo of domination by church and capital.
A century later, these failed states are still in existence and the Republican vision has yet to be realised - but still offers the route towards an Ireland that will undo the conquest and deliver meaningful change across all sections of Irish society.
So I'm inviting people from Galway and further afield to join our black flag vigil on December 10th as we honour Mellows, McKelvey, Barrett, and O'Connor - and rededicate ourselves to the building of a New Republic that will 'cherish all of the children of the nation equally'.
The vigil is taking place at the Liam Mellows statue in Eyre Square, at 2pm. Bígí Linn".
Further reading:
On The Shoulders Of Giants . . . 'The Irish Republic Is The People's Republic' - Liam Mellows
On the Shoulders Of Giants . . . 'Speech Against 1921 Treaty' - Constance Markievicz
On The Shoulders Of Giants . . . 'Social Programme for Republicans' - Seán McLoughlin
On The Shoulders Of Giants . . . ‘How The Republicans May Win’ - Seán McLoughlin