The organisers of commemoration to mark the execution of four IRA volunteers during the Civil War have expressed their disappointment that the event will not take place in Roscrea Castle.
Tomorrows event is to mark the centenary of the execution of Frederick Burke, Patrick Russell, Martin O’ Shea and Patrick McNamara by the Free State forces in 1923.
This year’s commemoration will assemble at the old Tesco car park on Grove Street in Roscrea at 2pm tomorrow from where it will proceed to the castle where the Commemoration will take place.
This was the only official execution to take place in Tipperary during the Civil War.
Breandán O’Conchúir from the organising committee says they had hoped to hold the event inside the castle.
“We’ve been holding the commemoration every year and we’re always outside the gate where there’s a little monument to the men. But the executions actually took place inside the castle and that’s where the four men were actually buried.
“We were hoping for the centenary that we’d be let in. We’ve been engaging with the OPW for over a year on this but they kind of threw up the walls and said no – they kind of deemed it wasn’t an official OPW event and they weren’t going to let us in as it wasn’t an acceptable use of the castle.”
