1916 Commemoration in Dublin (pics)

[Morlan]

1916 - "The first blow has been struck and Ireland will get her freedom" Tom Clarke

I thought it was really spectacular today. O'Connell St., The GPO, The Bridge, College Green all looked amazing. 120,000 people joined in and we were blessed with the fine weather.

I would describe it as just another Paddy's Day.. but without lots of drunk, messy people! Quite refreshing.

note: (RTÉ video - Military parade) & (GPO ceremonial) *realplayer

Anyway, some pics for you:


Thousands of Irish and other nationalities enjoying the sun on our fine bridge..




First lot of Irish army




View towards GPO -

It was practically impossible to get a first-hand view of the GPO ceremonial. There were also hundreds of tri-colour wavers standing along the barricades on the east side of O'Connell Street - they got a bit of a raw deal to be honest as all the marching bands and army were on the west side of the street.




Irish Air Corps




First lot of army vehicles roll through




Irish Air Corps




The monument looked fabulous today - extremely clean. The punters were hanging all over it!




Irish Air Corps




Typical Dublin aul'ones out for the craic!




An Capall Síochána

[Morlan]

Look.. no ads! It was also great to see the tricolour on all of the prominent buildings around the city. I've never seen so many.




Let's not foget the permanent scars of 1916 (yes, one in her tit )





Liberty Hall, an important site of 1916





As the crowd dispersed, many people flocked to the Liffey boardwalk and to the pubs and cafés around the city. I noticed many tourists sitting in the sun and having a good time. I'm sure many of them were happy to have this bonus event during their stay, many seemed quite impressed.




I was standing on O'C monument for most of it. My only gripe is that there was no tannoy on O'Connell Bridge to announce the arrival of the Taoiseach and the President so the bystanders were half clapping, not really knowing who was in the motorcades.

I'm not sure what the situation was on College Gr, Morland and Dame, but the people on the Bridge couldn't hear any of the speeches at the GPO - people were yabbering away during the 2 min silence.


All in all it was a great day. I certainly felt quite patriotic and proud about our country. It was nice to hear our language being used throughout the GPO ceremony also.

I will look forward to this event in the future.

Slán, a chairde!


ps. Highlight of the day was when the marching band played 'Finnegan's Wake'

[DublinLimerick]

Great pics, Morlan, and thanks for videos too.

[GrahamH]

Yes - great stuff there



Was there a fly past at the end Morlan? We were told at least twice on television that the small contingents of aircraft that kept going by would eventually combine at the end for a full fly past, but it doesn't seem to have happened!

From a vaguely more architectural perspective, you'd really have to question the use of giant wedding marquees at the GPO, which combined with horribly utilitarian and barricading galvanised metal fencing and supports looked completely inappropriate for such a ceremonial occasion. They looked like something rural parishes cobble together for the Community Games courtesy of the local FF big wig - embarrassing to be honest. And Dublin's Mayor gliding up to the portico in a silver Megane hatchback?! (:D)

But overall meticulously planned - it was refreshing to hear both Captains Murphy's and Ryan's articulate and confident clear English and Irish instead of the usual incompetent bluster of those in Irish public life we're so accustomed to. The parade also went off without a hitch.

One of the most significant yet simple changes made as part of the O'Connell Street IAP works really came to light during the proceedings - the simple pulling of the west pavement out beyond the columns of the GPO. No longer curtailed by the kerbline, the pillars now all stand on their own feet, landing confidently down on the ground as seperate architectural elements rather than being bundled together as a single unit as the roadway almost forced them to do in the past.
The other improvement that's not really evident on the street but is very apparent in television aerial views is the tightly knit cobbled surface of the Plaza roadways which is different to the wide paving slabs of the median and side footpaths. The setts are wonderfully evocative of the 1916 era cobblestones that lined the street up till around 1920-30 - they looked great. A pity though the central marquee couldn't have been moved back to the western roadway of the Plaza instead of straddling the median. The sense of a ceremonial space, the whole purpose of the design, was completely absent

[GregF]

Great shots of the parade. Was there meself and thought it was marvellous. What a great attraction for the city. The tourists there too loved it although they hadn'ta clue what it was all about. Got a good few photos too but not worth posting as they are mainly of the parade.
The finale was the best when the bands combined playing the very catchy Garryowen (a favourites jingle of General Custer too). Pity however that the viewing points for the spectators were hampered. Will they ever get rid of that fencing, it's everywhere. The people were penned in or hemmed in and the views were very resrictive. I took advantage from McDonalds window.
There were marches and events all over the weeekend in the city which added a wonderful liveliness. There was a pageant of sorts yesterday wity the Labour party paying homage to the workers and the Irish Citizen Army and the Shinners had their day out on Saturday with Gerry himself making an appearance and speech at the GPO.

The spin off of the commemoration was that it was truelly great for the city and tourism overall.

[jmkennedyie]

Was there a fly past at the end Morlan? We were told at least twice on television that the small contingents of aircraft that kept going by would eventually combine at the end for a full fly past, but it doesn't seem to have happened!

All aircraft did not combine into one mega flypast - but in fairness this would have required the Alouette helicopters (40+ years old???) to keep up with the government jets - and even if they could both fly at the same speed, turbulence etc. could be a problem...

Compatible types did fly together in large formations, and were a wonderful sight to see -

• Gulfstream / Learjet / Beechcraft Super King Air / PC 9's
• Cessna's / Alouette's / EC135

Great photos available here - be sure to click to the second page: http://www.irishairpics.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=1&t=1174

- John.

[Morlan]

Thanks for the comments. Graham, there was no final fly over, no. Pitty they couldn't fly lower - that pesky spire!

It also a pitty that they didn't use the whole plaza but I think they needed to have road access behind the ceremony to allow the marching bands to loop back, and also for emergency vehicles. I hope next time they will have more video screens and loudspeakers.

[Devin]

The jets flying over look good!

Are they mirroring the plan of O'Connell Street / D'Olier Street / Westmoreland Street here?

[Morlan]

The jets flying over look good!

Are they mirroring the plan of O'Connell Street / D'Olier Street / Westmoreland Street here?

Quite an observation!