Cloughjordan to host a weekend of events to mark the anniversary of the execution of Thomas MacDonagh
The schedule kicks off tonight with the launch of the eagerly awaited Cloughjordan Heritage Volume XI
Cloughjordan Honours Thomas MacDonagh 2022 events will commence on Friday, April 29, at 8.15pm with the launch by Eamon O'Shea of the eagerly awaited Cloughjordan Heritage Volume XI in the MacDonagh Museum.
The book can be purchased on the night in the Museum, and all are welcome to attend.
On Saturday, the MacDonagh Summer School will commence at 11am in the Museum with speakers Dr Joe MacDonagh (grandson of Joe MacDonagh TD), Sergeant John Reynolds and Patrick OSullivan Greene.
On Saturday evening at 7pm, a Tree Planting ceremony will take place in the 1916 Memorial Garden.
Joe MacDonagh will plant a tree to commemorate the centenary of the death of his grandfather, Joe MacDonagh TD, who died in 1922. Members of the Thomas MacDonagh Pipe Band from Templemore will perform in the Memorial Garden.
At 8pm, an informal session of music, poetry and storytelling will take place in the Museum with many well known local performers and personalities participating.
Activities for the weekend will conclude on Sunday with a guided walk on the boardwalk in Scohaboy Bog at 3pm.
Thomas MacDonagh Anniversary
Tuesday, May 3, is the anniversary of the execution of Thomas MacDonagh in the Stone Breakers Yard in Kilmainham Gaol for his part in the 1916 Rising.
Patrick Pearse and Thomas Clarke were also executed on the same day. Hours before his execution, Thomas wrote to his wife, Muriel;
" I am ready to die, and I thank God that I am to die in so holy a cause. My country will reward my deed richly. I counted the cost of this, and I am ready to pay it ".