A meeting is being called to organise an appropriate commemoration for an event surrounding the Easter Rising of 1916 in the Castleisland area.
It is being convened by Éamonn Breen and will be held in the Ivyleaf Art Centre on Monday night, March 21st at 8pm.
“With the 1916 Easter Rising to be celebrated over the coming weeks it is well to remember that the actual Rising took place on Easter Monday 24th April 1916,” said Eamon.
“It was also a time of chaos throughout the country for the Irish Volunteers with orders and counter orders being issued.
“In Kerry there was the ill-fated attempt by Roger Casement to bring German arms ashore at Banna Strand. We must also remember with pride that Castleisland answered the call to arms, as on Easter Monday evening 24th April 1916, up to a 100 men gathered at Dysert outside of Castleisland, five companies were represented Castleisland, Cordal, Scartaglin, Firies and Currans,’ he said.
An account by Jim Batt O’ Mahony a local captain in the Irish Volunteers states:
“Tim Leahy and M O’Connor, Knockeen were dispatched to Tralee for information and an order was received from Patrick Cahill to demobilise, to hold in readiness for service until further notice. The men were held under arms for a week and were dismissed with orders to hold in readyness.”
Plans are afoot to commemorate this event on Sunday evening the 24th of April 2016 at Dysert exactly 100 years after this historic occasion.
