Asgard Commemoration

dublin | history and heritage | event notice Friday July 23, 2010 10:57 by Nickleodeon - Sinn Féin

Asgard Commemoration
Assemble 6pm, Saturday 24 July
East Pier, Howth
Speaker: Lucilita Bhreathnach (Sinn Féin Irish Unity Task Force)
Social later in Waterside Bar

English Version

Asgard landing annual commemoration

On Sunday 26 July 1914 the Irish Volunteers landed 900 rifles and ammuntion from the yacht
Asgard on the East Pier in Howth, Co. Dublin.

This historic landing was one of the key events leading to the 1916 Easter Rising against British
rule in Ireland and the Proclamation of the Irish Republic.

The Irish Volunteers were founded after the Tory Party in England joined with the Unionists in
North-East Ireland in an armed conspiracy to prevent legislative Home Rule for Ireland. When the
First World War broke out at the time of the Howth gun-running Home Rule was postponed.

The skipper of the Asgard was Erskine Childers who later worked for Dáil Éireann and took part
in the Treaty negotiations in 1921. He opposed the Treaty and the Partition of Ireland and was
executed in 1922 by the Free State government during the Irish Civil War.

When the guns were landed on that day in 1914 they were taken back to Dublin City by the Irish
Volunteers. The British Army fired on a crowd of civilians in the city, killing three of them.
Every year Sinn Féin commemorates the Asgard landing in celebration of the spirit of Irish
freedom, in support of the demand for Irish unity and in remembrance of those who died.

Irish Version

Spanish Version

Polish Version