Terry’s tribute to 1916 Rising ‘mirrors’ Shantalla plaque

Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

The 1916 celebrations may be over, but the arguments about memorials continue to rumble on. A centenary monument was unveiled in Mervue just before Christmas. It was commissioned following a Notice of Motion submitted by Galway City Councillor, Terry O’Flaherty.

You’ll recall a spat earlier in 2016, when another commemorative plaque was unveiled at Connolly Avenue in Mervue.

There was a big kerfuffle about whether it was official or not, and whether it had permission to be installed (the Shinners got the blame) and there was a whole silly debate in the Council chamber about whether it should be taken down because it was an “unauthorised development”.

Thankfully, sanity was restored at City Hall and the unauthorised stone remains in place.

But that didn’t stop Polltopper from ploughing on with her ‘official’ and authorised memorial for Mervue, at the bus stop between McDonagh and Clarke avenues.

Terry is quoted in local media as saying how she “put a lot of thought into how the (Mervue) monument should look, spending a lot of time researching online about other memorials in England and Ireland and travelling around taking photos in Connemara and other areas to get some ideas”.

Sean O’Donnell and Ollie Burke, chairman of the Shantalla Residents’ Association, nearly choked on Easter Lilies when they read it.

“Isn’t it odd how the end result of all her research turns out to be a strikingly accurate replica of the 1916 memorial opened in Shantalla on Easter Monday, some nine months before,” they asked.

The duo added: “Perhaps Terry O’Flaherty got her final design by telepathy, but her Mervue monument copycats the Shantalla memorial quite inescapably. Its content is similar – it is the same sized Proclamation plaque; its plaque angle is similar, and so is the surround consisting of cut granite in each case.

“And while the Mervue effort stands somewhat taller, its bare outlook lacks Shantalla’s more civilised refinement of seven memorial trees, three flagpoles, and an elevated garden plot with Time Capsule buried underneath.”

We couldn’t possibly comment on which one is nicer, save to say, they do look quite similar close-up.  Copycat proclamation plaques, as the Irish Times might say, was it for this the men of 1916 died for?

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.