Molly O’Reilly and the Rising

Posted by Jim on December 19, 2015

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We are on the eve of a momentous year, writes Gerry Adams. This time a
hundred years ago republican men and women were planning the overthrow
of the British Empire in Ireland. (For Leargas).
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For those of you who have never heard her name Molly O’Reilly was a
young teenage girl who marched with the Citizen Army to the GPO on
Easter Monday April 24th 1916. Molly was born around 1900 in Gardner
Street in Dublin. At the age of 11 she joined Clann na nGaedheal the
republican girl scouts movement. Two years later she was so appalled by
the living conditions in the Dublin tenements that she volunteered to
support the workers and their families during the Lock-out. At the age
of 13 Molly helped organise a soup kitchen in Liberty Hall.

And it was there one week before the Easter Rising she raised the Irish
flag (the gold harp on green) for James Connolly.

Molly was hugely influenced by Connolly and was an active member of the
Citizen Army. In July 1914, after hundreds of rifles were landed by the
Asgard at Howth, she brought dozens of the rifles to her home in Gardner
Street where they stayed until they could be distributed throughout
Dublin.

During Easter week and in the midst of heavy rifle and machine gun fire
and the artillery shelling of Dublin City centre she fearlessly carried
dispatches for the leaders out of and into the GPO.

Later during the Tan War she was a member of the Cumann na mBan and as a
worker in the United Services Club in St. Stephens Green – a club for
British soldiers – she gathered intelligence for Michael Collins.

Molly opposed the Treaty. During the Civil War she was held in prison by
the Treaty side and went on hunger strike. As a result she and 50 other
women were released in November 1923. Molly remained a stalwart of the
republican struggle until her death in October 1950.

Molly O’Reilly was an exceptional woman; a courageous woman; a strong
woman.

I give you this short account of her exceptional life experience because
the Sinn Fein exhibition to celebrate the Easter Rising – REVOLUTION
1916 – which will open on Saturday February 27th 2016 – is largely
centred around Molly’s story. The visitor will experience the Rising
through Molly’s eyes.

The exhibition promises to be one of the highlights of the centenary
celebrations. It will be held in the historic Ambassador Theatre on O
Connell Street. It is part of the Rotunda complex which saw the founding
of Sinn Fein in 1905 and the Irish Volunteers in 1913. Over seven
thousand joined the Volunteers at that inaugural meeting and on the same
night a special section set aside for women was also full.

The organisers of the exhibition are going to extraordinary lengths to
make REVOLUTION 1916 an event not to be missed or forgotten.

It will host the Irish Volunteers Commemorative Organisation (I.V.C.O.)
collection of artefacts covering 1916 and afterwards. It will also
include an original 1916 Proclamation – one of only 50 known to exist.
This week another of the original Proclamations sold in London for
#300,000.

The exhibition will also have on display three Single Shot Mausers which
were part of the consignment of 900 brought in as part of the Howth
gunrunning episode. These were used during the Rising. One of the single
shot Mausers is a “Black” one – a one off rifle – that was said to have
been given to the veteran Fenian and 1916 signatory Tom Clarke. It was
only recently identified and the brass trigger guard has 20 notches
carved on it. It also has a British sappers serrated bayonet attached.
Only 12 of these Mausers are known to still exist.

Other artefacts include Luger and C96 Mauser machine pistols, original
uniforms of Irish Volunteers, Cumann na mBan and na Fianna Eireann.

There will be over 500 artefacts on display, many of which have never
been seen before. Also included are other items from after 1916
including Michael Collin’s revolver, the first I.R.A. Thompson machine
guns brought to Ireland, and the Tricolour that flew over the G.P.O. in
1966 on the 50th anniversary of the Rising.

A significant part of the exhibition will involve lifting part of the
floor of the Ambassador so that visitors can look down into the network
of tunnels underneath. These were used by Michael Collins’s, ‘The Squad’
to carry out attacks on the British military. It is also believed by
some that the leaders who abandoned the GPO as it burned on the evening
of 28 April 1916 were trying to make their way to these tunnels.

Also on display are a wide range of artistic pieces from framed
portraits to stylised garrisons, large charcoal prints to life size
sculptures. Artist Robert Ballagh has created a set of iconic images of
the 1981 Hunger Strikers which will be on exhibition for the first time
to mark the 35th anniversary in 2016. And master mural artist Danny
Devenny is completing two 1916 murals in the lobby of the Ambassador.

Each day at midday a uniformed P.H. Pearse will read aloud the
Proclamation outside the Ambassador.

The exhibition is scheduled to run for at least 33 weeks.

International Women’s Day on March 6th will see the ‘Women of the
Revolution’ honoured by an event at the GPO.

Other events will include a parade of the Irish Citizen Army that will
take place from Liberty Hall to St. Stephen’s Green on March 26th.

Dawn Vigils will be held outside Kilmainham Gaol on the dates the
leaders were executed and in Cork on 9th May and Pentonville on August
3rd 2016.

And on Sunday April 24th 2016 the Citizens’ Initiative will be holding a
national march and rally to ‘Reclaim the Vision of 2016’.

So, a lot of hard work and planning is going into REVOLUTION 1916.
Whatever else you are thinking of doing next year as your contribution
to the centenary celebrations take the time to come to Dublin for a once
in a life time opportunity to see a unique exhibition of artefacts of
that period. See you there.