The Easter Rising and Ballymun
DCU in the Community, along with local partners Ballymun Communications and the axis Ballymun theatre organised a successful weekend of events around the local relevance of the Easter Rising.
All of the local schools participated very actively in an art competition around the theme ‘what does 1916 mean to me?’ The individual competition winners were:
- Category 5 years old and under: Alexandra Michlic (Virgin Mary GNS)
- Category 6-7 years old: Adam Ta (Our Lady of Victories BNS)
- Category 8-10 years old: Ellie Lynn McQuillan Stuart (Our Lady of Victories GNS)
- Category 11-12 years old: Kacey Boyd (Our Lady of Victories GNS)
The winning school was Virgin Mary GNS which received an iPad kindly donated by the North West Area Office of DCC. Other prizes were donated by O’Brien’s Books and catering was kindly provided by Nan’s SuperValu in Ballymun.
The centre-piece of the programme consisted of two round tables, one around the history of regeneration in Ballymun going back to its origins in 1966, also of course the 50th anniversary of 1916, and the other with local political representatives (TDs, Senators and Councillors) on the relevance of 1916 for their party and an inner city area such as Ballymun. Both round tables saw vigorous but respectful debate and keen participation by local residents and others working in the area over many decades.
Dr John Buckley from DCU provided a most informative multi-media introduction to the classic ‘1916’ film Misé Éire, focused in particular on the musical score of Sean Ó’Riada showing its modernist European roots as well as its Irish roots. Traditional music recovering the iconic ‘1916’ labour and socialist songs and tunes was also provided by the Rooney Clan at the GAA club in Ballymun.
Joanna Ozarowska of DCU in the Community commented after the event: “It was very exciting to see such a wide range of people attending this event and contributing so actively. The mix of community regeneration issues, politics and music was challenging but invigorating. DCU in the Community truly feels part of the community now”.
Presentations and debates from the weekend will be made available on www.dcu.ie/community.