REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE UNVEILING OF A MEMORIAL SEAT AT BALLINGLEN BRIDGE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE UNVEILING OF A MEMORIAL SEAT AT BALLINGLEN BRIDGE TO COMMEMORATE THE 1798 RISING
There is scarcely a place in Ireland that wasn’t touched - in some way – by the Rebellion in 1798. It was an event which saw a series of actions in many areas – as people answered the call from the United Irishmen – and echoed what had happened in America and France – in the drive for a new order – a new ideal of republicanism – which would embrace all classes and creeds in ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’.
What was happening in Ireland during the 1790’s was very much linked to those events on the international stage – and a part of the popular movement towards greater democracy. The United Irishmen drew on those events for inspiration – and promoted the ideal of a non-sectarian, democratic and inclusive politics - which could attract and sustain all Irish people in all their inherited complexities. Rather than grimly clinging to a divisive past, they sought to create a shared future. As they stated in their first declaration of principle - “We have thought much about our posterity, little about our ancestors”. In that process they succeeded in uniting Dissenter, Anglican and Catholic in a common political mission.
The events of 1798 echo to this day – and have only recently been recalled in the context of the Good Friday agreement – where the Republicanism and Loyalism of today – have their roots in that eventful period in this island’s history. The 1790’s is perhaps the pivotal decade in the evolution of modern Ireland – and because of that – the ’98 Rebellion - which precipitated the Act of Union in 1800 – and the divisions in Ireland along religious, political and ethnic lines - has continued to be invoked in Irish politics ever since.
Later I will be going on to open the Fr. John Murphy Centre – in Boolavogue – as the people there commemorate one of the main figures in the Rebellion. In many towns and villages there are other commemorations and events being organised - which will honour and recall incidents and figures who were engaged in that struggle – just as we are doing today in Ballinglen – as we honour the memory of Philip and Patrick Lacey – who tragically perished as they tried to return to their homes in the aftermath of the defeat at Vinegar Hill. It is timely – in the Bicentennial Year – to look closely at those momentous events – at the people who took part in them – at the influences and the underlying philosophies that brought the United Irishmen to rebellion in 1798.
Part of the process of commemoration involves looking back to the basic ideals of the United Irishmen – and divesting ourselves of the baggage and interpretations that have ‘enhanced’ our reading of history since then. Taken in its proper context – and not as a sectarian and agrarian peasant uprising – it is not ‘owned’ by one tradition or culture – it involved the Presbyterian tradition as much as – maybe even more than any other – and Belfast was the ‘cradle’ of the United Irish movement. It was exciting and breathtaking in its modernity – and is strikingly relevant to events in Ireland today.
Today – in unveiling this seat at Ballinglen - we are recalling and commemorating those who took part in the Rebellion in this area – and through the Lacey brothers to whom this memorial is dedicated – we reach back to the many who were touched by those events.
Many of the main names of the Rebellion come readily to mind – people like Theobald Wolfe Tone, Henry Joy McCracken, Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, Thomas Russell, Robert Emmet, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Miles Byrne, and Fr. John Murphy. They all played key roles in the events of 1798 – and are remembered in their areas. The Lacey brothers – who were farmers and ordinary ‘rebels’ at Vinegar Hill – represent the many who joined the leaders and whose stories have been largely unsung. This is a tribute to their memory – and to the impact they had on subsequent generations.
I commend you on this fitting recognition of their role in the Rebellion – and on your contribution to the process of re-discovery and re-examination. I hope that in the months and years ahead – the ambition of the United Irishmen for an Ireland comfortable with diversity – will be re-awakened and realised in the Ireland of the new millennium.