Free Ireland

"As I walked through the passageways in Kilmainham gaol, I pictured prisoners being lead through to their cells, and some being lead to their executions. The jail had housed prisoners long before the Rising in Ireland, but some of the most important people held there were prisoners from the war of independence and the civil war. We heard a lot of stories of people who had been there. The tour guide told us the story of Joseph and Grace Plunkett. They were married in Kilmainham the night before Joseph was executed. They could only be together ten minutes before he was killed. We also heard about 14 men who were executed because of their roles in the Easter Rising. Being in the place where all of these stories took place really helped me visualize the people who had been there, and gave me a clearer understanding of there stories. It was a good experience." Reflects Katie Marvel concerning her experiences in Kilmainham gaol.  

Another member of our group, Amanda Barry, wrote a poem to express her understandings and experiences there.

Locked behind these prison doors

Is where my love once was

We were married for 8 hours

When he was shot just cause

Being shot down as a soilder

Was more honorable than hanging

I will miss my Jospeh Plinket

It will be forever changing

Forgiveness is hard for me to give

Now my husband is dead

He left me a loving note

All my tears have been shed

The fight for independence

He will never see the end

They died for a good cause

Nothern Ireland still needs to mend.

Nicole Walker also reflected with me on her experience touring Kilmainham gaol.

"When we came to the East Wing in the gaol it was easy for me to visualize daily life for the prisoners.  Standing in the cells was unreal.  I spread my arms out as far as I could and my fingertips almost touched the walls.  As we took the tour and saw the places where the 14 Irish men were executed it became very solemn.

Although, when we were told to look up at the Irish flag it was evident that this part of history in Ireland is so important.  Because those men died for their country and because of the negative reaction the Irish had to the British, a new spirit of revolution was born.  When we saw the museum afterwards my favorite part was the Last Words of the men who were executed.  Reading the letter to the men’s family and friends it was easy to tell that they were honored and ready to die for their country if that meant obtaining a free Ireland."

After we visited the gaol, we visited Arbor Hill Cemetery where the fourteen men executed within the walls of Kilmainham were tossed into a mass grave. The Irish government recently constructed a memorial over mass grave's location. A large wall with the Irish constitution in both Irish and English stands behind the grave. A marble border edges the grave and is inscribed with the names of the executed.

Sam Alexander found those names particularly impacting. He also observed that the large gold cross signified that the men died not only for their country, but for their God.

I personally found the silence of the memorial interesting. It was a peaceful site. A quiet, still memorial for a time of cannon-fire and action and for the men who gave their lives for a free Ireland.

The Peace Process

The nice thing about our tours in the north were the varying perspectives we heard from both republican and loyalist sides and then an entirely neutral perspective from an outside observer.

The murals were particularly powerful and were an ever present force. They were everywhere, on businesses and houses. It is both frightening and interesting that the people of the north have held so tightly to their recent, violent past.

There was one mural of a little girl  killed in the Troubles. Brian told us that the girl's mother still lived up the street, passing the mural everyday. This shows just how close the Troubles still are to the people of the north. In fact, many of the faces of people in the murals are the faces of people who once lived or still live in those areas.

The large walls of Derry stand between the two sides even though they are separated by a river. Just how large they are shows how large the sectarian division was.

The most frightening thing about Belfast was the fact that the peace wall gates still close at times, particularly during marching season. The most frightening thing is that the north, though moving toward full reconciliation, still shows signs that they are balancing right on the edge of violence.

A thing to understand in regard to Northern Ireland, the south, and the peace walls in Belfast, is that there are divisions in America as well. An example of this is the border between the U.S. and Mexico. There are also sections of the cities in the U.S. where clear divisions exist.

Here are some pictures of a murals and the walls so that you can visually understand the division. The IRA letters painted on the sign are particularly interesting.