Dunlavin Green martyrs remembered
On the day he was shot in Ballymun Larry O'Toole was looking
forward to the following day when he was due to speak at the 1798
commemoration at Dunlavin, County Wicklow. As a native of West
Wicklow, the Dunlavin event was very special for Larry and from
his hospital bed he urged that the commemoration should go ahead.
So it did, and it turned into a tribute to Larry as well as to
the 36 patriots done to death by British forces on Dunlavin Green
in May 1798.
The parade included a 50-strong contingent from Larry' O'Toole's
Dublin North East constituency and followed the route along which
the 36 prisoners were marched by British troops. On the village
green where a memorial now stands, the 36 were made to kneel down
and then shot dead.
Gerry O'Neill of Wicklow Sinn Féin chaired the ceremony and
called on Derek Sweetman of Dublin, recently released from the
H-Blocks, to lay a wreath. A lament was played on the bagpipes by
Michael Foy and Ann Osborne read the names of the dead. SF Dublin
City Councillor Christy Burke then addressed the crowd and drew
applause when he paid a warm tribute to Larry O'Toole's role as a
SF representative and an anti-drugs activist.
The main oration which should have been delivered by Larry
O'Toole was given by Mícheál MacDonncha. He described the
Ballymun shooting as ``an extreme example of the type of
intimidation which communities in Dublin endure daily from those
involved in the drugs trade''. He said anti-drugs activists would
not rest ``until our communities are liberated from this scourge''.
Referring to the 1798 bicentenary MacDonncha said that when the
marching season came around this year it should be remembered
that the Orange Order was established as a sectarian response to
the democracy and non-sectarianism of the United Irish Societies.
The Dunlavin massacre was an attempt to terrorise the community
into submission at the very outset of the `98 Rising. Despite
recent difficult decisions by republicans their central aim
remained:
``We say it loud and clear - our struggle is not over and will not
be over until we have won the complete unity and independence of
Ireland, free from the last remnants of British rule.''
A recently published book The Dunlavin Massacre by Chris Lawlor
tells the full story of the events of May 1798 in West Wicklow
and is now available in all good bookshops.
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