Tralee Memorial Hall rededicated to Ashe
A teacher from Lispole near Anascaul, west Kerry, Ashe was commandant of the Fingal Battalion of the volunteers which mobilised during the Easter Rising in north Dublin and Meath.
He led his unit at the Battle of Ashbourne, and was the last of the 1916 leaders to surrender, doing so on April 29, 1916.
While in Lewes Jail in England, he composed the poem, ‘Let Me Carry Your Cross for Ireland, Lord’.
He was released in June 1917 and spoke at the Roger Casement commemoration at Banna Strand on August 5. On returning to Dublin, he was arrested and jailed. He died on hunger strike in Mountjoy in September 1917.
Building began on Ashe Memorial Hall in 1924 and it was completed in 1928. “That this building was constructed in the years after the foundation of the State is extraordinary given that it was a time of few resources ,” Kerry County Council chief executive Moira Murrell said. It is now home to the county museum, tourist office, and sections of the revenue offices of the council.
Thomas Ashe’s niece, Eileen Quinn née Ashe , said the rededication ensured his memory and importance would be retained.
