Kevin Barry 1920/1989.
Donal O'Donovan lives in Dublin, he is a
nephew of Kevin Barry.
In 1989 Donal published the book "Kevin
Barry and his time" I invited Donal to launch the book in Carlow, he
attended a reception in Cee Gees where I interviewed him for The
Nationalist, here is extract from some notes I made on the day that
may interest some of our readers.
Rathvilly
had, and to some extent still has, an ethos quite different from
that of Hacketstown, three miles in the opposite direction from the
Barry homestead in Tombeagh. Rathvilly was a landlord's village,
owned and dominated by Lord Rathdonnell of Lisnavagh House. His
estate was the main source of employment, and the economy of the
village depended on his prosperity.
The site for the present-day Kevin Barry
memorial in Rathvilly was donated by Lord Rathdonnell of Lisnavagh.
In
1970 the president of Ireland, Eamon de Valera attended the fiftieth
anniversary of Kevin's execution the ceremony was held at the
memorial following Mass in the local church (I filmed this event on
my Super8 cine camera). The memorial by the sculptor Desmond Broe
was unveiled in 1958 by Mrs Kathleen Clarke, the widow of 1916
leader Tom Clarke. In 1938 the then Taoiseach and Minister for
Foreign Affairs Eamon de Valera unveiled a Plaque on a site in
Church Street but it disappeared some years later.
- Transcribed by M. Purcell c.2013.
- Old newspapers in the PPP.
- The information contained in these
pages is provided solely for the purpose of sharing with
others researching their ancestors in Ireland.
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