1916 Commemoration Events – Morning Ticket

10.30am - Séamus McGabhann 

Forging Irish Cultural Identity: The scholar poets of Meath

The Easter Rising might never have happened were it not for the cultural revolution that preceded it. Meath historian Séamus McGabhann examines the impact of Meath’s scholar-poets from Gallegan to O’Growney, who helped salvage Ireland’s Gaelic heritage, which was a vital resource for the nationalist thinkers and writers who were to forge a new Irish identity in Irish and English in the modern era.

11.00am - Noel French

Noel has written widely on the local history of Meath. His most recent publication is entitled 1916 Meath and More. His talk outlines some of the influences that developed in Meath leading to the Rising, the many links the county has with the Rising, and its aftermath. Focusing on human lives, he examines some of the interesting individuals and incidents of the period.

11.30am - Las Fallon

As the British Army and the Volunteers – mostly the former – laid waste to Dublin during Easter week 1916, other lives were put at risk, including those of the firemen entrusted with the task of ensuring the city centre wasn’t razed to the ground. Las Fallon, himself a Dublin fireman, will talk about the history of the Dublin Fire Brigade during the Rising and the later Anglo-Irish and Civil wars.

12.00pm - Glen Gendzel The USA and the 1916 Rising

Crucial in the organisation of the Rising was the American input of Clan na Gael. But how did the US Government react to events in Dublin? Professor Glen Gendzel teaches American history at San Jose State University.

12.30pm - Paul Maher

Among the earliest casualties of the Easter Rising was Dublin Metropolitan Police Constable Michael Lahiff. Although unarmed at the time – as were all his uniformed DMP colleagues – he was killed in the Stephen’s Green area. Sergeant Paul Maher of the Garda Historical Society examines the role of the DMP during Easter Week.