Ahern wants to render 'appropriate honour'

The burial tomorrow of the IRA volunteers is, according to the Taoiseach, about the "nation collectively, without distinction, paying honour to those 10 patriots who sacrificed so much on our behalf".

After 80 years of lying in the unconsecrated grounds of Mountjoy Prison, where they were buried after being tried and sentenced to death by military court martial, the remains of nine of the 10 men will be moved to holy ground in Glasnevin cemetery.

It is a ceremony which Mr Ahern hopes will "render to them appropriate honour in a dignified State ceremony". The Taoiseach made his observations in a letter to the leaders of Fine Gael and Labour, Michael Noonan and Ruair∅ Quinn.

It is seven years since the National Graves Association made an application for a licence to exhume the men.

The then Minister for Justice, Mβire Geogheghan Quinn, gave her consent in principle at that time, subject to the agreement of the next of kin of all 10 men, as it was considered difficult to exhume the remains of any of the volunteers without disturbing the remains of the others.

However, according to a Government spokesman, the agreement of all the families was not forthcoming at that time and Ms Geoghegan-Quinn "had no option but to withdraw her agreement".

He said State funerals were being held for the men because their families had sought this type of honour.

According to Kevin Barry, a nephew of the late Kevin Barry, much of the credit for the funerals taking place goes to the NGA.

He said he was just one of 14 of Barry's nieces and nephews, but was delighted that his uncle's remains were being moved from prison ground and reburied in a State funeral. "It was not a fit place for any of those men to be buried. If you wanted to go and visit you had to apply for permission and numbers were limited."

It had been considered, said Mr Barry, that his uncle would be buried in a local cemetery at home in Carlow. "But it would have caused problems in that it would have been a private funeral and there would have been various groups that would have got involved and there would have been very little the family could have done about that."

Last November, the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, invited the families to a special commemoration ceremony in Mountjoy Prison. He unveiled a plaque at the execution chamber in honour of the volunteers.

He said all the families appeared to be in agreement that they wished to transfer the remains of the prisoners to "a suitable resting place outside the prison, or would at least acquiesce in that process, in deference to the other families involved".

In March, the Prisons Service formally wrote to each of the families asking them to give their consent to the exhumation and choice of location for the reinterment.

Nine opted for the plot in Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin, and the family of the 10th man, Patrick Maher, decided they wanted him to be buried near home in Ballylanders, Co Limerick.

There has been considerable comment from the Opposition on the timing of the funerals, being on the same weekend as the Fianna Fβil Ardfheis.

In his letter to Mr Quinn and Mr Noonan, the Taoiseach said that as far back as February of last year, when his Department first became involved, a date in September was envisaged for the funerals.

It was thought better to arrange the funerals for a Sunday to minimise disruption "to business, traffic and so forth".

However his Department then came to the view that with all the sporting fixtures, particularly two All-Irelands, September would not be suitable.

"By July, after consulting my diary, they had settled on Sunday, 7 October and this was communicated by letter to the family representatives. I recall when consulted at the time indicating that I would prefer it not to be on 14 October as I would be occupied with the Fianna Fail Ardfheis."

However after further consultations with the President, Mrs McAleese, it emerged that she was due to be out of the country on official visits in October and it was for that reason that October 14th was selected.

November was considered too late in the year because of the shortness of the days.

Mr Barry believes that Mr Ahern "could have done without all this nastiness" in relation to the timing of the funerals. But the timing has not been the only cause of upset.

Mr Barry said his family had been angered by some of the articles which have appeared about his uncle in recent weeks.

"People are looking at it the same as if he was a criminal, that is the last thing in the world he was. You can't look at his death in present-day terms. It was a different time. The Dβil of 1918 was voted in by the majority of the people."

The men are not being buried in the republican plot in Glasnevin cemetery but in a specially designated plot, owned by the Office of Public Works, near where Roger Casement is buried.

The artist Robert Ballagh has designed a headstone which will have nine plaques on it.

Patrick Maher will be buried next Saturday.