Bullet holes still scar The General Post Office in Dublin
Michael visits the General Post Office on O'Connell Street, where the Easter Rising began on April 24, 1916. He talks to historian Patrick Geoghegan, and to Deirdre Nic Eanruig, a proud member of the 1916 Relatives Association; both of her grandfathers fought for the rebels in The Rising.
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A man wearing a replica 1916 Irish Hibernian Rifles military uniform marches past the GPO (General Post Office) as part of the commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising, in April 2006. (Getty Images)
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Sunday Edition51:19Bullet holes still scar The General Post Office in Dublin
The General Post Office is an ornate Georgian building that dominates the broad shopping area of O'Connell Street, with its six huge ionic columns pockmarked by bullet holes. Outside the GPO, there are souvenir hawkers, daffodil sellers for a cancer campaign, Jehovah's Witnesses handing out pamphlets. Inside, groups of school children take in the 1916 displays.
"Birth of the Irish Republic" by Walter Paget, depicting the GPO during the shelling (Wikimedia)Michael talks to Patrick Geoghegan, a historian at Trinity College Dublin, and to Deirdre Nic Eanruig, an active member of the 1916 Relatives Association. Ten of her relatives, including both her grandfathers, were in the GPO during the Rising.
The version of Dr. Geoghegan's interview that can be heard in the 2-hour radio program, contains a reading of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic by Dr. Conor Mulvagh, Lecturer in Irish History, School of History, University College Dublin. Our thanks to Professor Mulvagh for permission to air his reading.
Soldiers inspect the interior of Dublin's General Post Office, viewing the complete destruction of the building after being shelled by the British during the Easter Rising 1916. (Getty Images)
