Waterford marks 1916 with flag-raising ceremony on city’s Mall

Waterford commemorated its contribution to the 1916 Rising with a flag-raising ceremony on the city's Mall, yards from where the Tricolour was first flown by patriot Thomas Francis Meagher in March 1848.

Local Fianna Fáil councillor Eddie Mulligan, Naval Reserve CO, officiated at the ceremony, with Infantry Captain Stephen Molumphy of the Irish Defence Forces - a former captain of the Waterford senior hurling team - raising the Tricolour and reading the Proclamation to the 400-strong crowd.

Among the invited guests was Seamus Upton, son of Waterford-born journalist James Upton, who printed and distributed Patrick Pearse’s news sheet Irish War News during the 1916 Rising.

Upton was remembered in the speeches, as were John Graves and Liam O’Regan, from Ring, Co Waterford - members of the Maynooth Company of Irish Volunteers that marched to the GPO during the insurrection.

Mayor of Waterford City and County John Cummins, in his speech, also recalled Liam Raftis, a member of the Boland’s Mill garrison in 1916 who went on to serve as Waterford city manager, and Richard Mulcahy from Manor Street in the city, who fought in Ashbourne, Co Meath in 1916 and was later elected to the 1st Dáil in 1918 and became the country’s first minister for defence.

‘Continued to fight’

“After 1916, all of these men continued to fight for an independent Ireland,” Mayor Cummins noted.

Local and national public representatives attended the event, along with Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Most Rev Alphonsus Cullinan DD and David Bates, Christchurch Cathedral, who led the crowd in ecumenical prayers of remembrance.

Also present were representatives of the local Army and Naval reserves, the Order of Ex-Servicemen, An Garda Síochána, Waterford City Civil Defence and the county’s first responders, including full time and voluntary emergency services.

The programme included performances by four of the city’s marching bands, Cór Fear na nDéise and the Dungarvan-based VoiceOver Ladies Choir, who sang a specially composed piece inspired by JM Plunkett’s I See His Blood Upon the Rose.