Terence MacSwiney anniversary to be marked at Cork library bearing his name 

The 104th anniversary of the death of one of Cork’s most revered patriots is to be marked on Friday in the city library that is named after him.

Terence MacSwiney was elected unanimously Lord Mayor of Cork on March 30, 1920, 10 days after his friend and predecessor as lord mayor, Tomás Mac Curtain, was murdered by the Royal Irish Constabulary.

Arrested on August 12 of that year, in Cork City Hall, he went on hunger strike and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in Brixton prison in London.

His case became an international cause celebre, and put the cause of Irish freedom on the front page of newspapers across the world.

Terence MacSwiney died on October 25, after 74 days on hunger strike.

More than 30,000 people filed past his body as he lay in Southwark Cathedral, and although his family had intended that he lie in state in Dublin, British authorities – fearing large-scale disturbances – had his coffin shipped directly to Cork.

Standstill

His funeral in Cork brought not just the city, but much of the country, to a standstill, and was marked around the world.

On Friday, the anniversary of his death will be marked at Cork City Library, which is officially named the Terence MacSwiney Library.

In an event originally planned for the centenary of Terence MacSwiney’s death, but held over due to the covid pandemic, a framed copy of an epic poem, A Triumvirate of North Mon Heroes, will be presented by the president of North Monastery PPU to the city librarian.

The poem will sit next to the commemorative plaque that was unveiled by then taoiseach Jack Lynch in May 1979.

The poem commemorates the centenary of 1920, when three past pupils of the North Monastery were elected, in sequence, to the office of lord mayor of Cork, each in turn making an indelible mark on the history of the city.

Tomás Mac Curtain was murdered by crown forces, MacSwiney died on hunger strike, and Donal O’Callaghan went on the run from the Black and Tans after the Burning of Cork.

At the same function there will be the formal handover of copies of “The Art and Ideology of Terence MacSwiney”, a celebration of his literary work, to the principals of the schools on the North Mon Campus.

The book is edited by Gabriel Doherty, Fiona Brennan and Neil Buttimer and published by Cork University Press in association with Cork City Council’s Commemorations Committee.

This handover will signal the beginning of this process and all second level schools in the City will receive a copy in the coming months.

The event starts at 3.30pm on Friday in the Terence MacSwiney Library on the Grand Parade.