The O'Meachairs / Mahers / Meaghers
"Mightily have they filled the land,
The O'Meachairs, the territory of UI Cairin,
A tribe at the foot of the Bearnan Eile;
It is no shame to celebrate their triumph."
Gilla-na-naomh O'Huidrin
(c) Ruins of Clonakenny Castle, Chief Seat of the O'Meachairs
Above shows the Arms carved at the entrance to the ruins of Clonakenny Castle, in Irish, "Cluain an Chaoinigh" which translates as The Meadow of St. Canice.
The ruins of a monastery cell are to be found to the west of the Castle which was believed to be founded by St Canice, a saint who was a contemporary of St Cronan in nearby Roscrea and who founded a great monastery in Kilkenny further south along the River Nore.
Thomas Francis Meagher (1823-1867)
The modern tricolour of green, white and orange was unveiled by Thomas Francis Meagher in March 1848 in Waterford. The flag would become the symbol of the Irish Independence movement and in 1937, it was formally adopted as our national flag.
Born in Waterford as son of the first post-reformation Catholic Lord Mayor in Ireland, Meagher became a founder member of the Irish Confederation which was dedicated to Irish Independence. Following a failed attempt at election to Westminister, Meagher was later sentenced to death for his activities in the rebellion of 1848. Thomas Francis was eventually deported to Tasmania and escaped to New York where he later became a Brigadier-General in the US Army during the American Civil War forming Company K of the New York 69th Infantry regiment.
After the war, he had an illustriuos career in politics culminating in his serving as Governor of Montana playing a key role in witing the Constitution of that State.
For Meagher, the tricolour symbolised his dream of Irish freedom and unity.
He presented the Irish Tricolour in a speech to the citizens of Dublin at a banquet in April 1848 with the words:
"The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the 'Orange' and the 'Green', and I trust that beneath its folds the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood."
The O'Meachairs of Ikerrin: A history
Compiled from multiple sources by Tim Maher