Come Here To Me!

Great credit is due to the North Inner City Folklore Project for its efforts to preserve, protect and cherish the history of its local area. Terry Fagan of the Project has written on everything from local republican women to the madams of Monto, and last year the group put a well deserved plaque on the home of the Connolly siblings of the Irish Citizen Army.

Yesterday, the group unveiled a new plaque, this time to Patrick Heeny who composed the music for The Soldiers Song. It can be seen on the side of the flat complex by Railway Street. Like the Connolly plaque, it’s great to see plaques outside of the city centre itself and in areas like this. The turnout of locals showed how appreciated the efforts of Terry Fagan and the North Inner City Folklore Project are in the area.

Prior to the plaque being unveiled, relatives of James Connolly and young Molly O’Reilly re-enacted the raising of the green flag at Liberty Hall. Writing on the decision to raise the flag over Liberty Hall in 1916, James Connolly wrote:

We are out for Ireland for the Irish. But who are the Irish? Not the rack-renting, slum-owning landlord; not the sweating, profit-grinding capitalist; not the sleek and oily lawyer; not the prostitute pressman – the hired liars of the enemy. Not these are the Irish upon whom the future depends. Not these, but the Irish working class, the only secure foundation upon which a free nation can be reared.

I couldn’t help but think of his words watching the government ‘parade’ on Sunday.

The likes of the Folklore Project empower ordinary people to read and research history. Long may it continue.

Our report from the unveiling of the Connolly siblings plaque in 2010 can be read here.