RT reveals 50 Witne Accounts of 96 Events on Interactive Map

RT reveals 50 Witness Accounts of 1916 Events on Interactive Map

25 January 2016: RT has today revealed video and audio footage featuring 50 personal accounts from men and women who lived through Easter 1916.

They Were There: RT reveals 50 witness accounts of 1916 events on interactive map

Watch and listen to stories from men and women who were there

Powerful and insightful personal accounts of the events from 30 Dublin locations

Interactive map of Dublin City facilities discovery of participants and their stories

Previously unseen and unheard video and audio footage

Public help sought to identify one unnamed contributor a Dublin jarvey

RT has today revealed video and audio footage featuring 50 personal accounts from men and women who lived through Easter 1916. These personal accounts, sourced from RT Archives and available on the RT 1916 website - www.rte.ie/1916 - feature men and women who were members of the Irish Volunteers, the Citizen Army, Cumann na mBan, the British army, the Dublin Metropolitan Police and citizens of Dublin. Together they help build a vivid picture of what was happening across Dublin city and beyond during Easter 1916.

To further connect these men and women and their memories of Easter Week 1916 to the streets and buildings where the events unfolded, RT has developed an interactive map that allows users to click on 30 locations and see or hear an individual describe an event they witnessed or took part in during the 1916 Rising. At present there are 50 personal accounts with more content to be added to the interactive map on www.rte.ie/1916 while many full interviews will be made available on the RT Archives website www.rte.ie/archives in the coming weeks.

The only individual who features on the map who is not identified is a Dublin jarvey who was at Fairyhouse racecourse on Easter Monday 1916. RT is looking to the public to help name the man who was interviewed for RT television in 1962 and describes a near miss with a bullet as he returned to the city:

"When I went into Dublin I was halted at the barricade and could go no further. Because if you did go any further, you could run the risk of a sniper. You d be shot. And a bullet did whiz by me forehead at the Broadstone."

Glen Killane, Managing Director, RT Television, said: We are genuinely excited about sharing these incredible and very vivid personal stories from the RTE Archives as part of RT 's 1916 programme. To see and hear these men and women describe their experiences adds a whole new dimension to our understanding of the events of 1916. That we can make these stories easily accessible online, through RT .ie and through the RT Archives website underlines the valuable role played by digital in connecting us in a very real way to the people and events of 1916 .I hope people will take time to explore these personal stories which are a wonderful addition to our programme of content and events.

RT television and radio has recorded the recollections of participants and witnesses to the events of Easter week 1916 as far back as the 1950s and while some have featured in RT output over the years, much of the footage is now being revealed for the first time by RT .

Among the 50 personal stories are:

Louise Gavan Duffy describes how on hearing the Rising had begun she made her way to the GPO on Easter Monday and demanded to see Padraig Pearse.

Min Ryan, the sweetheart of Se n MacDiarmada, along with her younger sister, Phyllis visited Se n while he was a prisoner in Kilmainham Gaol on the eve of his execution.

John Blimey' O'Connor, a member of the Kimmage Garrison and one of the many Irish Volunteers who had come from England and Scotland, recalls entering the GPO on Easter Monday.

Another Irish Volunteer Tom Walsh was in Clanwilliam House at Mount Street Bridge where some of the fiercest fighting took place and where the British forces suffered their heaviest casualties during the week .

Albert Palmer, a British soldier, was among the reinforcements sent from England to quell the Rising and recalls how they came under fire making their way towards the city centre.

While the majority of the accounts are from those who fought in the Rising, there are other stories:

Dick Cormac was a living in Church Street in 1916 and saw Sean Foster a two year old child being shot while carried in his mother's arms.

Christopher Brady printed the Proclamation in Liberty Hall and describes the challenges he faced in producing the document - We were stuck for the letter E'

Michael Carey a constable in the Dublin Metropolitan Police at Mountjoy was ordered to close all the local pubs and to take down the Proclamations that had been posted in the area.

A more detailed list of personal included in notes below.

Br d Dooley Head of RT Archives, said: In the 1950s and 60s, RT showed great foresight in recording the recollections of living participants and witnesses to the events of Easter week 1916 for radio and television. The collections have been carefully preserved by the RT Archives over many decades. The centenary comes at time of great opportunity with the digital world now enabling us to unlock this unique archive for current and future generations as never before. Some of the material featured in programming over the years, but many more of these recordings are being revealed now for the first time. The work involved in discovering these hidden gens in the RT Archives has been a voyage of discovery for us and we are committed to opening up and sharing these treasures with the public to facilitate their own journeys of discovery of this huge part of our shared history.

The release of these personal accounts from RT Archives forms a core part of RT 1916, an ambitious programme of content and events across television, radio, mobile and online. RT 1916 inv

LINK:	http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2016/0125/76283...
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