Sir, – It is no wonder we are called the “Fighting Irish” when we have so much interest in commemorating wars and battles and we ignore one of the most important events of world history which happened in Ennis on July 5th, 1828. Without any violence, the voters of Clare went to Ennis where they rebelled against the status quo, and Daniel O’Connell was elected as MP for Clare.
As O’Connell was a Catholic he was not permitted to sit in Parliament. The result of this was the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 which finally brought an end to the Penal Laws.
I am surprised that the Irish TV stations, which have a lot of great Irish history stories, have not made any programmes on this subject, especially because of the great characters involved, such as “Honest” Tom Steele and “The O’Gorman Mahon”. Poor old O’Gorman Mahon outlived all his generation, dying in 1891.
Even though he was considered important enough to be buried in “The O’Connell Circle” in Glasnevin, nobody ever erected a headstone on his grave – shame. – Yours, etc,