Mags Gargan
Citizen Army men on the roof of Liberty Hall during Easter Week. Photo Credit: Robert Hunt/ Windmill Books/ UIG via Getty Images. Cllr Denis Foley, Cathaoirleach of the Municipal District of Muinebheag officially unveiled the Carlow 2016 Memorial for the Municipal District of Muinebheag at Beachers Hill, Leighlinbridge Road, Bagenalstown.The memorial honours Fr Albert Bibby OFM Cap, Regent Street, Bagenalstown and Nurse Margaret Kehoe, Orchard, Leighlinbridge for their pastoral and medical care of those who fought in 1916.
After the unveiling the memorial was blessed by Fr Christopher Twomey OFM Cap., Guardian of the Carlow Capuchin Community.
The guest speaker was Dr Maurice Manning, Chair of Ireland 2016 Expert Advisory Group, who said Fr Bibby “attended the needs of Micheal O’Hanrahan, a fellow Carlow man and was present at his execution. He witnessed the last hours of Edward Daly, Willie Pearse, Joseph Mary Plunkett and four days later the executions of Michael Mallin, Con Colbert, Sean Houston and Eamonn Ceannt.”
He said Nurse Margaret Kehoe “spent her life working with the poor, the destitute and the mentally disturbed” and has been described as “the forgotten first victim of the Easter Rising”.
The unveiling was proceeded by a parade led by the Carlow Pipe Band along with members of the Muinebheag Organisation of National Ex-servicemen (ONE) and the Carlow UN Veterans Association.
Photo Credit: Robert Hunt/ Windmill Books/ UIG via Getty Images.