DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL has unveiled a plaque dedicated to socialist revolutionary and signatory of the 1916 Proclamation James Connolly outside a house the former leader once lived in.
The Lord Mayor of Dublin Daithí de Róiste attended the ceremony in Ringsend today, alongside Connolly’s great grandson James Connolly Heron.
Born in Edinburgh in 1868 to Irish parents, Connolly became a key figure in the Irish trade union movement and socialist politics.
From December 1910 to May 1911, Connolly and his family lived at 70 South Lotts Road, Ringsend.
The house is one of only two surviving buildings that Connolly lived in during his time in Dublin.
Connolly later served as the commandant of the Easter Rising’s Dublin Brigade and was wounded in the leg during the fighting.
He was sentenced to death by firing squad for his role in the Rising and had to be tied to a chair to be executed.
Speaking at today’s unveiling, de Róiste said:
“When we think of the great figures of our history, like James Connolly, we often forget that they lived their lives on the same streets that we do, making their way through our City day-in and day-out. This plaque will remind those who see it that he gave his life to improve the lives of his fellow citizens.”
The plaque was proposed by historian Dr Conor McCabe, Queen’s University Belfast, who said “Connolly was living here around the time that his most famous work, Labour in Irish History, was first published in book form. This plaque is a tangible link to both his life and his writings”.
Also speaking at the unveiling was the general secretary of SIPTU, Joe Cunningham, the successor trade union to the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) which Connolly was a part of.
Cunningham said:
“Connolly’s commitment to socialism and broad experience as a trade union organiser in Britain and the United States ensured that the interests of working people were incorporated in the 1916 Proclamation.”
“That, in his own words, at the raising of the Irish Flag over Liberty Hall in April 1916, ‘The cause of labour is the cause of Ireland, the cause of Ireland is the cause of labour.’”
The decision to erect the plaque was made by the Dublin City Council Commemorations & Naming Committee which aims to celebrate people, organisations, and events that have made a significant contribution to the life or history of Dublin.
The committee has also dedicated plaques to anti-slavery leader Frederick Douglass, the Beatles and Violet Gibson, an Irish woman who unsuccessfully attempted to kill Mussolini.
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