In July 150 years ago this part of Tipperary was at the centre of our nation’s history. These events represented Ireland’s participation in a European-wide series of risings. 1848 was the Year of Revolutions. The monarchy was overthrown for the last time in France. An all-German Parliament sat for the first time in Frankfurt. In Ireland, the rebellion that broke out here was a protest at the appalling degradation of the Famine, which was decimating a population of 8 million people in 1848 through starvation and emigration against a background of much official neglect and indifference, and where the goodwill that existed was simply not enough.

The 1848 Rebellion in Ballingarry was as rich in symbolism, as it was deficient in military organisation and prowess. William Smith O’Brien was never cut out to be a general. 1848 was the year that the tricolour, approved for the first time, symbolising peace between the traditions of the Orange and the Green, was brought home from Paris and flown by tradition in the village of The Commons as well as in Dublin. After the United Irishmen, Young Ireland was an important and a noble attempt to unite the two traditions in support of national independence.

The names of the men of 1848 shine through the pages of history: Thomas Francis Meagher ‘Meagher of the Sword’, John Mitchel, Michael Doheny, Charles Gavan Duffy, John Blake Dillon, Thomas d’Arcy McGee, James Fintan Lalor and Fr John Kenyon. The next generation of leaders, the Fenians were present as young men, like James Stephens, Charles Kickham, and John O’Leary. All these names live on. Sharing in their honour are all the people who lived in this district at that time who followed them. The leaders of Young Ireland, like O’Connell, had sought for many years to pursue constitutionally Ireland’s demand for her nationality to be restored, but the door was kept firmly shut. In 1848, they asserted the right of rebellion. The warning was not heeded.

This was a poor but heavily populated part of the country 150 years ago. The hopes of participation in the industrial revolution built around the mines, as revealed by names such as New Bermingham, were never realised. A generation earlier, this part of Tipperary witnessed the battle of Slievenamon in the 1798 rebellion.

Dr Tom McGrath and other historians have reconstructed step by step what happened in Ballingarry and The Commons, and the route that O’Brien and his followers took. I would like to congratulate them and the Slieveardagh Development Association, particularly their Chairman Seamus Troy and Secretary Peg McGarry for all the effort that they have put into this project over a number of years.

For ever associated with the fray is the image of this house, where the police were put under siege. While O’Brien parleyed, wanting no violence, shots rang out and two died. The house today and its outbuildings, with the exception of the wall, remain, and as far as the exterior is concerned, are exactly as they appear in contemporary prints. It is situated on a high point overlooking a wide vista of the surrounding countryside with a fine view of distant mountains.

This house is an important historic monument, and is part of our national heritage. Accordingly, in this the 150th anniversary of the 1848 Rising, the State seeks to purchase the house and a small amount of the surrounding land. It would be our wish that the house would be refurbished and made the site of a permanent exhibition commemorating Young Ireland and the events of the Famine Rebellion of 1848 in this area.

I would like to thank the Minister for Defence, Michael Smith, Deputy Michael O’Kennedy, Ministers of State Noel Davern and Martin Cullen for their interest in and commitment to this project.