FIANNA Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív will be the guest speaker at the Kilmichael ambush commemoration will be held at the monument on Sunday November 26th at 1.30pm.
The Kilmichael engagement between the West Cork IRA flying column and British forces occurred on November 28th, 1920. The military success of the flying column at Kilmichael was hugely significant in the War for Independence. It was a forerunner to other notable victories by the IRA column at Crossbarry and Rosscarbery which eventually led to negotiations between Sinn Féin and the British in the summer of 1921. Deputy Ó Cuív is the nephew of Eamon de Valera.
At Castletown Kenneigh earlier on the same day, there will be a mass in Irish at 10am and this will be followed by a ceremony at the adjacent graveyard where the three volunteers Mícheál MacCharthaigh , Seamas Ó Suilleabháin, and Padraig Ó Déisigh who fell at Kilmichael are laid to rest. Also buried there is Diarmuid ó Mathúna who died a few months after the Kilmichael ambush.
Following the main commemoration at Kilmichael there will be refreshments and afternoon of music from 3.30pm at Barrett’s Copeen and everyone is welcome.
