The Fianna Fail 1916 Easter Commemorations will take place on Sunday next, with the annual Mass at St Patrick’s Church, Forster Street at 11am, followed by a parade and wreath laying at the Liam Mellows statue in Eyre Square.
The families of the former Volunteers and Cumann na mBan have been invited as special guests.
As part of the 1916 Rising, more than 700 Volunteers and Cumann na mBan members, led by Liam Mellows, held an ambush at Carnmore Cross and attacked the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks at Clarenbridge and Oranmore.
They were stationed at the Farmyard, Athenry and controlled large areas of the countryside for most of Easter Week. They later withdrew to Moyode, and then Limepark, before disbanding due to the strong presence of the RIC and British army.
Many local people were imprisoned in jails in Ireland and Britain, including the infamous Frongoch prison in Wales.
Following the failure of the Rising, Mellows spent several weeks on the run, staying in safe houses in south Galway and north Clare, before finally making his way to New York in December 1916.
While in the US, he was elected a TD to represent Galway in the 1918 election and he finally returned to Ireland in October 1920.
In November 1922, he was chosen as Minister for Defence in de Valera’s anti-Treaty government.
His role during the Rising and his election as TD for Galway means that he remains an icon of the revolutionary period in the Galway and the West.
