Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald is to accompany relatives to the site at Knocknagoshel where five Free State soldiers were killed by an IRA trap mine in March, 1923.
eputy McDonald will first address her party’s centenary commemoration on Sunday [March 5] in honour of the eight Republicans massacred by Free State forces at Ballyseedy.
Many believe the Knocknagoshel incident was a reprisal and served as the catalyst for the atrocity where eight Republican prisoners, who less than 24-hours later at Ballyseedy, were tied to a land mine and blown up.
Speaking in advance of the event, Deputy McDonald said the Civil War was a brutal period in our history that must be remembered with dignity and respect.
“The Free State executions of Republicans, and subsequent denials of the truth, were a brutal betrayal of the solidarity, comradeship and togetherness that drove and galvanised the struggle for independence,” said Deputy McDonald.
“It is important to remember all of those killed in Kerry and further afield during the Civil War period,” she added.
The Sinn Féin commemoration is at 12 noon where Dr Richard McElligott will also speak and give a historical perspective of the period and the terrible events of March 1923.
