The Easter Commemoration in Killeshin

A few of the Willie Brock members flock to the banner!

In honour of Padraig Mac Gamhna:

Padraig Mac Gamhna (Patrick Gaffney) was born in 1895 in Killeshin, Co. Laois and in 1910 he attended the Christian Brother’s School in Carlow. 
In 1913 he was apprenticed to Shackelton’s of Barrow Mills, Graigcullen, working twelve hours a day for six days a week. One particular night there was no wheat to grind & he obtained permission from the miller in charge to leave work at 8pm (an hour early). He spent the rest of  that night attending a local Sinn Féin meeting and for doing so he was dismissed from Shackleton’s and refused his indentures.

He began to organise the Trade Union Movement in Carlow and interested himself in politics. On the 15th August 1918 he was arrested for publicly reading out the Sinn Féin manifesto and taken under a heavy police escort to a military court in Portlaoise where he was sentenced to twelve months in a Belfast gaol. 
While there he went on hunger strike with other prisoners who were claiming Political Treatment; when a prisoner named Doran died after 24 days the authorities relented and the strike was called off. 
On Padraig’s release a great welcome awaited him in Carlow and bonfires blazed on the Killeshin Hills. He went on to help organise the I.R.A. where Padraig was assisted by Gearoid O'Suilleabhain, a professor at Knockbeg and by Eamon Price who both went on to become Adjutant General and Director General of the organisation respectively.

Following the shooting of an R.I.C. Sergeant in Carlow all of the local leaders were forced to go on the run forming an Active Service Unit of which Mac Gamhna was the Quartermaster. 
In April 1921 after an action with Crown Forces at Ballymurphy, Borris, in which M. Faye, a unit member was killed and several others wounded; Padraig together with his comrades were captured. 
He was tried and received a death sentence later commuted to penal service in Mountjoy Prison.

On the signing of the Treaty, Padraig was informed of his release, but he refused to leave until certain other prisoners were released who claimed they were non-political. He and a comrade, Dan Bolton, went on hunger strike and continued to do so until the following January when the authorities relented and Padraig together with his protégées left Mountjoy. 
Once again a tumultuous welcome greeted Padraig on his return home. 

Nominated as Labour Candidate for the second Dáil he was elected to the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency with an unprecedented majority. 
Padraig's career in the Dáil however was brief as he resigned his seat after refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown. 

As an ardent Trades Unionist Padraig started the Carlow I.T. & G.W. Union in 1917 and the following year, as chairman, he led the general one-day strike for  the release of political prisoners.
He was keenly interested in Irish Industrial Development. As part of the deputation to Belgium he pressed for Carlow's claim for a beet factory and for 30 years he canvassed for the development of the South Leinster coalfields.
On 25th February 1943 he led the Kelleshin Land Club and together with other members, was arrested and convicted of unlawful assembly.
The group were sentenced to six months imprisonment in Mountjoy which would not be imposed if the twelve men entered into a bond to keep the peace for two years. All the men refused to enter the bond.
This would be the last stand of Padraig Mac Gamhna. 
He fell ill and died in Mountjoy Prison on 23 July 1943.

The Parade being led by Brian Stanley TD

Various Cumann and Organisations of Co. Laois 

The Colour Party salutes Padraig Mac Gamhna's memorial

Brian Stanley TD

Brian Stanley TD:  "Today we mark the 97^th anniversary of the 1916 Rising and remember all Laois IRA Volunteers including those for this area such as Padraig MacGamhna and Michael Motley. The people of this area can be proud of them both. 
This year also marks the 100^th anniversary of the 1913 lockout of Dublin workers who were trying to organise the Irish Transport and General Worker Union and struggling to achieve better working conditions.  The lockout created a sense of unity among workers who understood that radical political change was required and it was no surprise that many union activists fought in the Easter Rising. 
Padraig McGamhna also understood the need for a 32 county republic and that this would require radical change such as land reform, workers rights, womens rights and industrial modernisation. He believed that the resources of this area and our country should be used for the benefits of our people. 

We particularly welcome the participation and support today from Trade Unionists. Never has it been more important for workers, whose wages are being slashed and conditions undermined, to be organised and Sinn Féin are actively encouraging workers to join Trade Unions. 
 FF gave away our oil and gas, privatised industries such as Eircom and closed the sugar beet industry which Padraig Mac Gamhna was instrumental in starting. They lined the pockets of developers, speculators and bankers and then saddled ordinary people with the debts they left behind. 
FG and Labour continue where FF left off by cutting the incomes of ordinary working people and imposing more charges, taxes and levies. To their shame Labour are pursuing the privatisation of profitable sections of Bord Gais and the ESB. They will charge every house for water next year, sell the harvesting rights for the trees in state forests and sell the franchise for the National Lottery. Is there anything that the Labour party will not sell? But then again they did sell their soul! 
The Meath East by-election was used to punish Labour for the U turns they performed. For our part we are happy with the results which increased our vote by 50%. The immediate priorities must be to stand with those on low and middle incomes in campaigns against the house tax and water charges and to promote our Jobs Strategy. 
Lets go from here today with a renewed determination to build a 32 county republic based on social justice as set out so clearly by the leadership of the republican volunteers in the proclamation.

Back Row left to right: Bob Gaffney, Jim Larkin, Aidan Mullins, Brian Stanley TD & Brendan Farrell.

Front row Left to right: Liam McDonald, Bea Ronan, Anne McDonald (Granddaughter of Padraig Mac Gamhna)who laid a wreath on behalf of the family, Mary Hennessy, JimmyBrennan(ITGWU)& Michael Browne(SIPTU Organiser).

In the background is the monument to Padraig Mac Gamhna.

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In a speech given by Mick Browne Siptu Organiser he said: Today we assemble to honour the memory & achievements of Padraig Mac Gamhna. Who was highly respected for his work on behalf of all the people that he represented, whether rural or urban. Resolute in his principles to which he steadfastly to throughout his Political & Trade Union campaigns.

From the Trade Union prospective Mac Gamhna was the driving force behind the organising of the I.T.G.W.U. in Carlow. He possesed an outstanding ability as an organiser and rapidly built a strong branch of which he was chairman from 1919 to 1943 the year of his death. He represented the South East on the National Executive Council of the Union and was arrested & imprisoned following a raid on the Union Head office at Liberty Hall in 1921. 

A quote from his election manifesto states: “where all who are willing to work and capable of work may find the opportunity to work and are ensured in exchange for their labour a decent livelihood.”

This is the Centenary Year of the 1913 Lockout which saw thousands of workers locked out of work because they refused to give up membership of the I.T.G.W.U.

The employers were led by William Martin Mrphy owner of the Irish Independent Newspaper. During the winter of 1913 the workers endured, but they and their families were starved into submission and the battle was lost.

100 years on and workers in Ireland still do not have a legislative right to collective bargaining despite it’s application in most European Countries.

There is a commitment to legislate in the current Programme for Government.
To drive this forward will require a concerted effort from all Political Parties and Groups who hold that worker’s rights are Basic Human Rights.

A colleague of Padraig Mac Gamhna and Labour historian Paddy Bergin said that Padraig was distinctive in that his Republicanism was as closely associated with the Labour tradition as it was with Sinn Féin. He also said that Mac Gamhna achieved as much as he did because he didn’t care who got the credit.

Mick Browne went on to say: That there is a lot to celebrate in the legacy of Padraig Mac Gamhna and unfortunately Ireland is now at the stage where progress made by Mac Gamhna and those who followed his Philosophy are under attack and that working people are once again struggling to find work and where they do, to maintain decent terms and conditions.

Jim Curran of Carlow