Galway's New Bridge Is Now In Place - It Must Be Named After 1916 Leader Julia Morrissey
Éirígí's Galway representative, Ian Ó Dálaigh, has reiterated the party's call for the city's new pedestrian and cycle bridge to be named in honour of Julia Morrissey, the Galway-born Cumann na mBan commander.
The call comes as the construction process for the bridge gathers pace, with the main span of the bridge lifted into place last month. Speaking from the City of the Tribes, Ó Dálaigh said,
Main span of new Corrib pedestrian and cycle bridge is lowered into place
"Last year Éirígí For a New Republic launched a campaign to name Galway’s new pedestrian and cycle bridge after Julia Morrissey, a forgotten leader of the 1916 Rising. Morrissey was a founding member of Cumann na mBan and commanded their volunteers during the Rising here in Galway
She has been largely written of history since then, which is why we feel it is important that her contribution is finally marked in Galway - just as the contribution of her close friend and comrade, Liam Mellows, was marked with a statue in Eyre Square.
As part of this campaign, we launched an online petition which so far has gathered over 700 signatures. We also held a well-attended public meeting in March of last year to discuss the campaign and its objectives.
Julia Morrissey Bridge public meeting, March 2022
There clearly is support here in Galway for the campaign to remember one of our forgotten 1916 heroes - a Galway native who, like so many other women, has been airbrushed out of history.
We were very conscious of this when launching the campaign, and saw it as an opportunity to both honour Julia Morrissey spark a conversation about the role of women during the revolutionary period and their place in the Ireland that followed the 1922/23 counter-revolution.
At a council meeting in December, Cllr Clodagh Higgins - the Mayor of Galway - stated her belief that the bridge should be named after Galway engineer Alice Perry. While Perry's achievements are indeed worthy of remembrance, this has already been done by naming the University of Galway's engineering building being named after her and the erection of a commemorative plaque in Newtownsmith.
Julia Morrissey Bridge information and petition stall
It would be far more appropriate for the council to honour a woman whose contribution has been written out of history. There is a huge opportunity to do so with this new bridge, so we are calling on Galway City Council to listen to the hundreds of people who are calling for bridge to be named after Morrissey.
I would strongly encourage people to sign the Julia Morrissey petition and for Galway people to contact their elected representatives to voice the support for the Julia Morrissey bridge campaign.”