'˜Great humanitarian' Roger Casement honoured in Dublin

During a day of commemorations marking the hanging 100 years ago of Casement in Pentonville Prison, Charlie Flanagan said Irish people remain committed to the patriot’s ideals.

“It is very clear that, as an Irish nationalist, Casement was motivated by a deep sense of the injustice he witnessed in the suffering which affected many in Irish society and an equally strong belief in the right of the people of Ireland to decide their own futures,” he said.

Before helping organise the Easter 1916 rebellion against British rule, Casement was a distinguished British public servant, knighted for his ground-breaking work exposing cruelty against native labour in imperial colonies.

Born in Dublin and raised in Antrim, he later helped organise the uprising.

Arrested at Banna Strand in Co Kerry on April 24, 1916 amid a botched gun-smuggling operation from Germany, he was tried on charges of high treason and hanged at Pentonville Prison.

Nearly 50 years later his remains were repatriated to Ireland for a State funeral at Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin.

A plaque dedicated to Casement was unveiled during a ceremony at Glasnevin cemetery.