Republican News · Thursday 8 August 2002

Kerry honours Jack Lawlor's memory

In brilliant sunshine, a large crowd assembled in the seaside village of Ballyheigue, County Kerry on August Bank Holiday Monday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the execution of local volunteer, Jack Lawlor, by Free State forces in 1922.

The crowd, led by the Ballyseedy Martyrs' band, made their way from the Roger Casement Memorial at the top of the village to the Jack Lawlor Memorial in the old graveyard. The commemoration was chaired by the cathaoirleach of the local Jack Lawlor Cumann, John Nolan. Wreaths were laid by local republicans.

In his oration, Risteárd ó Fuaráin, deputising for Deputy Martin Ferris, paid tribute to the courage of Volunteer Jack Lawlor and others like him who, against the odds, took on the might of the British Empire and in later years, the might of the Free State. They were unwilling to accept the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, a treaty which did not deliver the Republic for which they had risked their freedom and their lives. Jack Lawlor and his comrades endured a lot of hardship and suffering, he said. They often had to go for days on end without food and sleep. Such was life as a volunteer.

ó Fuaráin called on all present to continue the struggle prosecuted by republicans like Jack Lawlor. "It is right and proper to commemorate our dead, but the only fitting tribute to the memory of Jack Lawlor would be to secure a Republic for which he fought," he said. "Unity in itself is not enough. We as republicans must also ensure that the New Ireland is a land of social justice and equality for all. Then and only then can we say that we have paid a fitting tribute to the memory of Jack Lawlor."