Sacred Ireland by Jon Michael Riley Ireland1 | Page 34

O’Connel Street, Dublin. Jim Larkin was a famous trade union leader and social activist in the years prior to the Easter Rising of 1916. The Larkin Monument stands near the General Post Office which was headquarters for the Easter Rising. Much of O’Connnell St. was destroyed then, but the GPO survived and is now a symbol of Irish Freedom. So is the 394 ft. high Spire of Dublin, erected in 2003 on the former site of the British Horatio Nelson Pillar. It was destroyed by the IRA on the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising, March 8, 1966. On August 22, 1922, Michael Collins, the brilliant and colorful early 20th century Irish freedom fighter, was ambushed and killed here at Beal na mBlath (Mouth of Flowers) in County Cork. His convoy was stopped about where the car is in this photograph. Fresh flowers can be found at this memorial every day of the year. And on August 22nd, there is a well-attended service held around this special memorial. 35