Pictures: Major turnout for National Hunger Strike Commemoration held in Cork

Crowds in their droves gathered on Leeside this afternoon to attend a National Hunger Strike Commemoration organised by Sinn Féin. 

It marked the first time the annual event, described as an occasion to “remember Ireland’s hunger strikers from all generations of the struggle for freedom”, was held in Cork.

Attendees, who had come from all over Cork and further afield, assembled on Kennedy Quay before marching past City Hall, over Parnell Bridge and onto Parnell Place, along Merchants Quay and Patrick St before finishing on Grand Parade where Sinn Féin’s vice president Michelle O’Neill delivered the main oration.

Participants, many of whom held photos of republican hunger strikers, marched to the beat of music from the Belfast-based O’Neill & Allsopp Memorial Flute Band, with the weather mostly holding out for the event.

“We’re very proud to hold an annual hunger strike commemoration in Cork,” Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, told The Echo at the commemoration.

“It’s brilliant to meet families, to see people who have travelled from all over the county and all over the country and actually from different parts of the world who have come here today to commemorate all those hunger strikers who have died fighting for Irish freedom.” 

Mr Gould said it was fitting to have such an event in Cork and said family members he had spoken to were appreciative of the large turnout.

“With Cork having such a great republican heritage - with the likes of Terence MacSwiney, Tomás MacCurtain, Tadhg Barry - to have this commemoration in Cork today is a great source of pride to us.

“I met with families this morning…. and they’re delighted to be here and they’re delighted with the reception that they have received in Cork,” he said.

“It’s a really positive event to remember those hunger strikers, all of them. 

“Here we are now decades later commemorating them and their struggle and what they sacrificed and the sacrifice of their families,” he continued.

Mr Gould dismissed criticism ahead of the event that the commemoration was being held for Sinn Féin’s own gain.

“These are people who gave their lives for Irish freedom and if Sinn Féin hadn’t organised and supported the families in organising these events, they wouldn’t have happened,” he said.

“This an event to commemorate hunger strikers. 

“Everyone is welcome and it all ties into what we’re trying to do in relation to a referendum on Irish unity. Irish unity isn’t just a Sinn Féin aspiration.”