After a lovely weekend down at the end of the road in Garnish, West Cork, we found ourselves passing through the village of Béal na mBláth. Taking the opportunity and being so close we decided to visit the site of the the ambush of Michael Collins and his subsequent death at a bend in the road just outside Béal na mBláth. The ambush site is marked by a huge celtic cross and an interpretative sign located approximately where Collins was shot in August 1922. A small marker (which I show here) marks the spot where Collins expired.
Michael Collins was one of the leaders in the movement that resulted in Irish independence and was tragically assassinated on an inspection tour of his home county of Cork during the Irish Civil War.

The ambush site is located on what is still a small and winding road surrounded by hills on either side – a superb choice for an ambush. A large celtic cross is surrounded by a well maintained ironwork fence at the bend in the road. There are yearly commemorations of the anniversary of the tragic loss of Michael Collins to the future of Ireland. The siginificance of the loss is still the subject of conjecture and has much to do with the colour of one’s political stripes. Fine Gael hail Collins as the forefather of the party and sees the anniversary as a spiritual annual event. Fiana Fáil supporters on the other hand may be a little more tight lipped on their opinions about the event. In either case, the significance of the event is of unquestionable importance in Irish history. An article from the Independent published in 2007 eloquently expressed the significance of Michael Collins to modern Ireland.
Interestingly, the cross itself is littered with coins. I presume they are left as good luck tokens, but found this a curious practise. Maybe tribute to Michael Collin’s role as finance minister?

Although a rather ‘soft’ day yesterday, circumstances demanded a flying visit to Glasnevin Cemetery. The occasion was the public opening of the crypt of Daniel O’Connell, one of the great Irish figures of the nineteenth century. I felt compelled to make the journey, and with a small group of weather braving souls we paid a sort of tribute to the Great Liberator.

I have been wanting to visit Glasnevin since arriving in Ireland and it had, until yesterday, eluded my grasp. The cemetery as you can read from the linked wikipedia article is the largest nondenominational cemetery on the island and it contains the last resting spots of some of the most notable public figures of the last two centuries. In fact, the article claims it contains the remains of over 1.5M souls. That seems a rather heady claim, but bears consideration. Existing during famine times the cemetery existed during a period when roman catholics were not permitted to maintain their own cemeteries and had to conduct what rites they could in protestant graveyards.
Certainly Glasnevin is on par with a place like Pére LaChaise in Paris as the national cemetery. However, the cemetery in Paris is rather lush and you have a feeling of creeping organic decomposition and a sense that you are at the portal to the underworld. At Glasnevin, there is a sense of reaching out towards heaven. The vast collection of monuments soar upwards and you feel surrounded and amongst the concrete remembrances, but clearly on a worldly plain.

The cemetery is hard to miss. As you approach you can see the magnificent round tower erected over the crypt of Daniel O’Connor for a great distance and on closer approach the towering walls and guard towers at the corners make the site unmistakable. Even on a dreary day one is in awe on approach. This feeling of great appreciation that one is in a special place is all the more heightened as you walk amongst the markers of figures that you may only be familiar with from the pages of history books or spoken in reverence. Casement, Boland, Devoy, Brugha, Collins, Maud Gonne Macbride, to but name a few. And only a few as the weather was filthy and I now look forward to heading out on a sunnier occasion to pay proper respect to the memory of the many more that are buried here.

The President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, gave a very thoughtful and extremely poignant speech (in the driving rain) paying tribute to O’Connell as one of the first human right activists and connected his legacy directly to the ideals of the Irish people today. The visit was brief, but we did manage to get down to the crypt and actually touch O’Connell’s sarcophagus. The vault itself is decorated with motif’s rooted in the nineteenth century, fine celtic knot work and bold statements of the accomplishments of the great man. I hope that the pictures that I share can do this justice.

On another note there is a huge shiny new visitors centre nearing completion which promises to ‘tell the story’ of the souls buried at Glasnevin…I look forward to seeing the interpretation.

If you choose to visit Glasnevin, Bus 40 leaves from Parnell Square quite frequently and drops you right at the gates to the cemetery. Bus 140 is even better as it comes right from UCD down the dual carriage way, Leeson Street, Stephen’s Green and across the river right past the cemetery as well, so it is very easy to reach. For myself, I hope that I can find a nice dry day to revisit and experience the cemetery.

Well, after a long hiatus here’s a quick blog post. Won’t try to cover all that has changed since the last one…now married and living in a fine house in Dublin. I do feel driven to cover the vote on Lisbon tomorrow.

When I started here last year I just missed the No vote. I did witness the multitude of signs on all the street posts (resoundingly no) and I have a collection somewhere. This time around the Yes side is determined not to be caught napping. Tomorrow will tell the tale.

On the absolutely esoteric side, I wanted to share a couple posters. This first No poster, I simply don’t get, but then maybe I am missing all the subtle hints. There are actually two versions. One is dated 1945-2009 – the other 1916 -2009 and the tag line – European/Irish Democracy? What the hell do they mean? They both feature the same little girl’s face with the eyes changed in colour…a lovely green tint for the nod towards the Easter Rising. I just have no clue. Is a poster like this supposed to make me want to vote no? Am I defending the poor waif’s shattered dreams? The poor wee thing.

Just to be somewhat even handed though, here’s another crap poster (there are good ones out there too) by the yes side entitled ‘Yes in the City.’ Almost enough to vote No. Not sure what this one is trying to convey either, but all it says to me is that Yes means materialism and whiny navel gazing. I feel compelled to protected my country of residence from that sort of thing.

All the signage does make for the most colourful street scenes, so to make up for the fine autumnal colours that I expect that I am missing in Canada, I am finding my enjoyment on street lamp foliage rather than maple trees this season.