Remembering pioneers of independence

The great-grandson of one of the men at the forefront of the Easter Rising has led tributes to the revolutionaries who fought for Ireland’s independence.

Gearóid Ó Briain is a descendant of Cathal Brugha, who fought in the 1916 rebellion and went on to be one of the founders of Dáil Éireann.

He was among family members invited to a state ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1916 Rising, led by President Michael D Higgins.

“It’s a very proud day for my family,” said Mr Ó Briain, a lieutenant at the air corps flight training school.

“We’re here as relatives and it is a great honour.”

The 25-year-old has attended the ceremony every year with his father and uncle since he joined the Defence Forces seven years ago. He said he was looking forward to the 100th anniversary in three years’ time.

A special Mass was held at the Church of the Most Sacred Heart at Arbour Hill to commemorate those who fought in the Rising 97 years ago.

President Higgins was joined by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Defence Minister Alan Shatter, and other ministers at the ceremony, which also included an armed guard procession, The Last Post played by the army band, a minute’s silence, and the raising of the Tricolour to full mast.

The President, who was accompanied by his wife Sabina, laid a wreath at aspecial memorial at the Arbour Hill military cemetery, where revolutionaries Pádraig Pearse and James Connolly are buried.

Mr Ó Briain made history himself when he broke a Guinness World Record on Sundayafter completing a full marathon with a 20lb (9kg) bag on his back.

He ran the Barringtons Hospital Great Limerick Run in memory of two colleagues — Capt Derek Furniss and Cadet David Jevens, who lost their lives in a plane crash in 2009.

The lieutenant said he has his ancestral genes to thank for his achievement.

“My dad always said Cathal Brugha was very sporty and I take after him.

“Maybe there’s a bit of him in me.”

The Taoiseach gave a reading during the special church service, before Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson preached a sermon.

He warned that conflict is “here to stay”, describing it as “a definitive place of creativity and compassion”.

“Too often in Ireland we have lived with the mirage of a better future beyond conflict,” said the archbishop.

“And we simply do not seem to be able to accept that conflict is part of our nature, of contemporary life locally and internationally.

“That is why we need armies who can be peacekeepers in the most horrendous of human tangles.”