President and Sabina Higgins implement 1919 Dáil Resolution in honour of those executed after the Easter Rising
Date: Wed 18th Dec, 2019 | 12:12
A resolution by the first Dáil Éireann, meeting on the 20th August 1919, has now been given practical effect through an initiative by President and Sabina Higgins.
The minutes of Dáil Éireann, assembled in the Mansion House 100 years ago, record the approval of a report recommending, as an anniversary commemoration, that 16 memorial trees be planted in memory of those executed in 1916.
A century later, in a brief ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin today, President and Sabina Higgins unveiled commemorative plaques with the names of those executed after the 1916 Easter Rising. The plaques were installed along 16 birch trees planted by President and Sabina Higgins in the gardens of Áras an Uachtaráin, to mark the Centenary Commemoration of the 1916 Rising.
The trees are arranged in a crescent, complementing the nearby “Dearcán na nDaoine” installation, created by artist Rachel Joynt and commissioned by President and Sabina Higgins as part of the State 1916 centenary commemorations.
The seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic are in the front row:
James Connolly, Patrick Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, Thomas Clarke, Sean McDermott, Thomas McDonagh, Eamonn Ceannt.
The nine others executed form a semi-circle behind them:
Michael Mallin, Willie Pearse, Edward Daly, Michael O’Hanrahan, John McBride, Sean Heuston, Con Colbert, Thomas Kent, Roger Casement.