The unveiling of an artwork in Ennis commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising was attended by members of the Defence Forces joined, politicians, musicians and the local community.
Located at Club Bridge adjacent to the Easter Rising Memorial Stone installed in 1966, The Centurial Sphere’ and its unveiling marks the centrepiece of an 80 event Centenary Programme in Clare.
Commissioned by Clare County Council, Kilkee-based sculptor Paddy Murray’s artwork is an internally-illuminated steel sphere that has been galvanised and lacquered to appear verdigris, while it is placed on a plinth provided by Pat McInerney and Noel O’Halloran of Ballykett Quarry. The Sphere carries lines from poems and songs about and from different parts of Clare celebrating the county’s cultural tradition, a tradition cherished by the men and women of 1916.
With the support of Ennis Civic Trust the surrounding site, which was developed in 1966 using stones from all over the county representing the involvement of all areas of Clare in the Easter Rising, has been upgraded.
Among the known Clare natives who directly direct participated in the Rising were Peadar Clancy (Cranny) Michael O’Dea, C O’Halloran and Joseph & Daniel Canny (Tulla), Timothy Kelly and J Malone (Feakle), Thomas O’Loughlin (Carron), Martin Lynch (Coolmeen), Martin Crowe and Herbert and William Hunt (Corofin), Patrick O’Connor (Killaloe), Patrick and Michael Brennan (Meelick), PJ Hogan, Jimmy Slattery and Denis Healy (Bodyke), Thomas Keirse (Kilnaboy), Mick Dynan (O’Callaghan’s Mills) and MJ Shannon (Quin).
In his last official event as Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, Cllr. James Breen described the commissioned work as “a fitting and lasting legacy to an event in Irish history that shapes us to this day.”
“We remember 1916, not simply out of national pride, but rather out of the knowledge that to forget is to lose sight of the principles of the 1916 proclamation,” he said.
Sunday’s ceremony was addressed by the Cathaoirleach, Michael O’Reilly from The National Ireland 2016 Project Office and Councillor Pat Hayes, chairperson of the County Clare 1916 Steering Committee.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.