State Papers 1977 - Casement’s statue eventually unveiled

WHEN Roger Casement’s remains were returned to Ireland in 1965, the year before the golden jubilee of the Easter Rebellion, it was decided to erect a life-size statue of him by his grave in Glasnevin.

The sculptor Oisín Kelly was commissioned, and the statue was duly cast.

Initially it was hoped that President Eamon de Valera would unveil it in 1971 but the statue was essentially abandoned in the yard of the Office of Public Works in Ladd Lane, off Baggot Street, Dublin.