President recalls Roger Casement as ‘great humanitarian’

President Michael D Higgins has used a visit to London to pay tribute to Roger Casement, describing him as the embodiment of the complex relationship between Ireland and Britain.

A British colonial civil servant who highlighted human rights abuses in the Empire and beyond, Casement was executed for his role in importing German weapons for the 1916 Rising.

“From his membership of the British colonial administration to his most fundamental critique of the commercial abuses of empire, Roger Casement’s journey is a very inspiring one – it is the journey of an Irish man who is remembered fondly and respectfully across the world as one of the great humanitarians of the 20th century,” said Mr Higgins.

The President was speaking ahead of Imagining Ireland, a concert at London’s Royal Festival hall, described as “a musical conversation between Ireland and Britain”. Part of the 1916 centenary commemoration, the event was managed by Culture Ireland and supported by the Irish Embassy in London.

House band

It featured performances by Paul Brady, Camille O’Sullivan, Cáit Ó Riordáin and James Patrick McMorrow. Pianist Barry Douglas performed, as did traditional musicians Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, and English folk singer Martin Carthy.

The house band for the evening included Roger Eno, Neill MacColl, Callum MacColl, Ben Nicholls, Jack Pinter, Kate St John and Liam Bradley. Kevin Rowland, of Dexys Midnight Runners fame, performed several songs, including his version of Carrickfergus.

“Growing up second generation Irish, with Irish parents in England, is quite a unique experience really. I decided to do an album with six Irish songs because it just felt like the right thing to do and they’re part of me. I’m not flying the flag for any country, for either Ireland or Britain, but these songs are a big part of me,” said Rowland.

“When I go to Co Mayo, where my parents are from, I feel something deep. I don’t know what it is. But these songs are part of me and I just want to sing them.”

Rowland’s father worked in construction in the English midlands and he noted the role that second generation Irish in Britain played in popular music.

“Boy George, John Lydon, the Gallagher brothers, all these different people, they’re all of Irish parentage. I think they’re very different culturally to Bono or Bob Geldof, completely different, and that’s part of British culture. All I know is there’s something about that experience. I don’t know what that is but all of our fathers were working on building sites and yet a lot of these guys came to the front culturally in England.”