The 1916 memorial at

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, is one of many erected in the Republic of Ireland to commemorate the dead of the 1916

Easter Rising The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...

. Located at Sarsfield Bridge, it was designed by sculptor Albert Power but only completed in 1954 by his son sculptor James Power, after fund-raising efforts begun in 1931. The

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

statues at the top of the memorial represent three local participants in the Easter Rising: Tom Clarke,

Ned Daly John Edward Daly (25 February 1891 – 4 May 1916; ) was commandant of Dublin's 1st battalion of the Irish Volunteers during the Easter Rising of 1916. He was the youngest man to hold that rank and the youngest executed in the aftermath. Backg ...

and

Con Colbert Cornelius Bernard Colbert (; 19 October 1888 – 8 May 1916)D.J. Hickey & J. E. Doherty, ''A New Dictionary of Irish History from 1800'', Gill & MacMillan (Dublin), , Pg.75 was an Irish rebel and pioneer of Fianna Éireann. For his part in the ...

., alongside a figure representing Mother Ireland. The monument is configured around a stone plinth that previously held a statue of Viscount Fitzgibbon, of Mountshannon House, who was killed during

The Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a military action undertaken by British light cavalry against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in many casualties to the cavalry. On 25 October 1854, the Light Br ...

in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, and which was blown up by nationalists in 1930. The memorial was unveiled on Sunday 27 May 1956, by

Leslie de Barra Leslie Mary de Barra (née Price; 9 January 1893 – 9 April 1984) was an Irish nationalist and republican active during the Easter Rising of 1916, the War of Independence and the Civil War, becoming Director of Cumann na mBan. She went on to ...

, the wife of former Republican leader Tom Barry. In her speech, she paid tribute to the "weary and patient work" and the "courageous example" of those involved in the Rising.

Patrick Hillery Patrick John Hillery (; 2 May 1923 – 12 April 2008) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as the sixth president of Ireland from December 1976 to December 1990. He also served as vice-president of the European Commission and Europea ...

represented the Irish government at the 1966 Golden Jubilee commemoration in 1966, reviewing the troops who participated in the ceremony. However, by 2006, the memorial was in need of maintenance work, and

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

representatives were critical of the local authority, saying that the monument was in "a shocking state of disrepair".

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Limerick (city)