An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 9 lowering the Flag by CQMS MICHAEL BARRETT, E COY, 7 INF BN RDF PHoToS by THE AUTHOR AND PTE DAVID HOGARTY, 2 BDE HQ O ne of the key public events of the centenary year of 2016 was the daily raising and lowering of the national flag outside Dublin's GPo, the building that was used during the 1916 Easter Rising as the HQ of the Irish rebels led by Padraig Pearse. These ceremonies, which only lasted minutes, always caught the attention of the public and passing tourists, and for many of these civilians it was probably the first time they had seen uniformed members of the Defence Forces involved in such a task. As the year drew to a close, this ceremonial task fell to a num- ber of senior members of the DF. On Friday 30th December Lt Col Brendan McGuinness (2 Bde HQ) and BQMS Dermot Gibney (7 Inf Bn) arrived by military transport into Princess Street, adjacent to the GPO, sometime after 1130hrs. They carried out a short recce to the flagpole to make sure there were no obstacles on the ground or other problems with the pole - a few days earlier the event could not take place as scheduled at 1200 hrs because somebody had parked a motorbike at the flagpole and gardaí from Store Street had to be called to remove it! However, this day the terrain was clear and just before noon the officer and senior NCO marched out of the GPO onto the pavement. The duty garda at the GPO walked onto the street and stopped all northbound traffic, at which point Lt Col McGuinness, with BQMS Gibney carrying the folded tricolour, marched up to the flagpole, catching the attention of the passing public on both sides of the street, many of whom began taking photographs with mobile phones and cameras. The flag was unfolded, mounted onto the cord attached to the flagpole, and slowly raised, as upwards of 100 civilians looked on. The two men saluted and marched back to the GPO as some members of the public applauded. The duty garda waved traffic on again, and so ended the ceremony. The honour of carrying out the final flag-lowering ceremony at sunset that day fell to two members of 7 Inf Bn, the CO, Lt Col Ray Murphy, and Sgt Maj Jim Ahern. on the Centenary Year

• Cover