President Michael D. Higgins visited Ballisodare to perform the official naming ceremony of the ‘Martin Savage Bridge’.
The bridge was named after Martin Savage from Ballisodare, Co. Sligo., who fought alongside Pearse and Connolly at the GPO during the Easter Rising. He survived the fighting and was detained at Richmond Barracks in Dublin, and later incarcerated in Britain. On 19 December 1919, Martin Savage was fatally wounded in what became known as the 'Ashtown Ambush' of Lord French, Supreme Commander of the British Army in Ireland.