Watch: Laois company features in Irish Army Civil war monument project

Stradbally stone company McKeon Stone features in short film by the Defence Forces about the rededication of the National Army Monument Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

The Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar T.D., the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Micheál Martin and the Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces Lieutenant General Seán Clancy, attended a ceremony to rededicate the National Army Monument in honour of soldiers of the National Army who died during the Civil War in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin at 11.00 am, on Sunday 30th July 2023. WATCH VIDEO ABOVE OR READ MORE TO FIND OUT MORE.

The National Army plot contains the remains of some 160 of the estimated 810 National Army soldiers who died in service to the state during the Civil War. The remains of the others lie in graveyards across Ireland.

There has been no dedicated national memorial to their memory. Today’s rededication takes place on the Sunday nearest to the centenary of the enactment of the Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923, which provides the modern legal basis for Óglaigh na hÉireann.

Part of the video tells the story of McKeon's involvement in the project. The stone is blue limestone which was extracted from Kilkenny, prepared and carved in Stradbally.

The monument takes inspiration from the national flag, following its proportions and tricolour division. Central to the design is the Óglaigh na hÉireann emblem, which represents the sunburst of the Fianna and encapsulates Ireland’s long martial traditions. The emblem has been darkened in mourning, a tradition dating to the funeral of General Michael Collins and continued to this day. 

The primary inscription is in Duibhlinn, the font used to draft the 1937 Irish Constitution. The English text has been rendered in Gaillimh, a font designed for the Galway City of Culture programme in 2020. The quotation on the reverse of the stone is from ‘The Municipal Gallery Revisited’, by William Butler Yeats.