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THE GOVERNMENT WILL give a state funeral to one of the men who was executed following the 1916 Easter Rising after DNA tests confirmed the identity of Thomas Kent.
Kent was an Irish nationalist who was one of 16 men executed by authorities in the wake of the failed uprising which will be extensively commemorated next year.
Often referred to as the “forgotten patriot” he was one of only two men executed outside of Dublin, the other being Roger Casement who was hanged in London. Kent also lends his name to Cork City’s train station.
The state funeral will take place in Castlelyons, north Cork on Friday 18 September after Kent’s family accepted an offer from Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
This resulted in remains being exhumed and undergoing extensive DNA analysis in order to confirm they were those of Thomas Kent.
“Thomas Kent was one of many young men who, in pursuit of the goal of Irish freedom, paid the ultimate sacrifice,” Kenny said in a statement today.
Kent and his brothers were among the nationalists who stayed at home after the Irish Volunteers leader Eoin MacNeill infamously countermanded orders to stage a Rising on Easter Sunday 1916 before it eventually went ahead on the Monday.
The Royal Irish Constabulary was dispatched to arrest Rising sympathisers and raided the Kent family home on 2 May 1916.
Despite fierce resistance from the family Thomas and his brother Willian were arrested while another brother, Richard, was wounded trying to escape and died shortly after.
Thomas and William were tried by courts-martial at Cork Detention Barracks. While William was acquitted Thomas, who was not married, was sentenced to death and was executed on 9 May 1916. He was 51.
His remains were buried on the grounds of Cork Prison where they were exhumed in June of this year as part of a project undertaken by the National Monuments Service, with assistance from the Irish Prison Service and the State Pathologist’s Office.
Given the passage of time and the lack of formal records, DNA testing was needed to confirm his the identity of the remains with the complex process involving the State Pathologist’s Office, the National Forensic Coordination Office at the Garda Technical Bureau, Forensic Science Ireland and the UCD Science Faculty.
The Taoiseach added that the funeral “will ensure that Thomas Kent is never again described as a forgotten leader of 1916″.
Most importantly from his family’s viewpoint however, his re-interment will ensure that he will finally be at rest with his brothers and other family members in Castlelyons.
Local Labour TD and junior minister Sean Sherlock said the holding of a state funeral is a fitting tribute to Kent’s sacrifice.
“Thomas Kent has a special place in the hearts and minds of all those from Castlyons and Cork and this is very welcome news for his family and all those who work to keep the Kent legacy alive locally,” he said.
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We really need a game now!!
Would love if another one was made
Gaa marketing is a joke. They still think preventing people from seeing the game on TV will grow the sports!
Almost every game is recorded but just the same games that are shown live will be shown in the highlights shows with the others ignored!
There is no place to even get proper up to date live scores, fixtures etc.
Disjointed competitions with large idle periods mean supporters never get into the feel of the tournament till all ireland series.
GAA, either get RTE to run all the games, no matter the quality of the recording, at night so people can record and show kids or better still start a GAA channel!! I’ll happily pay a yearly subscription and with the amount of content already there its a no brained e.g all games not involving the top 6 counties!!! Club, college, schools, underage, games from abroad. And that’s just current matches.
Keep trying to get EA sports to make a hurling game… A proper one with the actual players could be one of the best games ever. The reaction overseas to the hurling on Sky sports was very good and a game for gaa would spread the game worldwide even more. Need this game
It would be almost impossible to get right. I would love it too but think it’d be a disaster.
You could run the pitch and score a goal in easy mode!
The hurling game was quite enjoyable. Just the ‘minor’ flaw of it being easier to score goals than points.
For people who want a new Gaelic Video Game https://twitter.com/mojopinstudios is making a gaelic football game for the end of this year for next gen and pc.
I would be a pretty casual GAA fan, rugby would more be my sport, but one thing the two sports have in common is that there just isn’t a big enough market out there to justify a studio spending a load of money on developing a decent video game, thus we get served up this type of sh*t!
I never played this game, but it’s probably a bit of craic to play, the rugby games weren’t the worst either, but it’s just a shame there wont be a rugby or GAA game with the amount of detail and playability as there is for games like FIFA.
Maybe some day.
It would be a lot easier to make one now because of the level of gaming technology not just in the wrold but in ireland,look at gta if they can make that look as good as it looks and plays why not a gaa game
Problem is, GTA V cost £170 million to develop! It’s actually gotten progressively more difficult and therefore more expensive to develop a game with each passing console generation.
GTA has and always will have a huge budget (£170million for dev and marketing) which is insane. They could afford to spend the time polishing the game. I can’t see the GAA having a budget of that for a game with limited appeal currently.
As much as I think it’d be great, I can’t see it logistically being good for any parties involved.
The state of it – people actually bought this game??
Novelty value
The windows of perception in Dingle say Kerry will beat Dublin today :)
https://goo.gl/D7uepd
Shut up you clown
Ironic that the GAA can’t get a decent video game while the League of Ireland are now on EA Sports’ FIFA games every year, with official kits, names etc.
Would it not be a better idea to take the mechanics of GAA games, make a fantasy/sci fi themed sports game with those mechanics for the international market & then just re-skin the game as a GAA game?
Even better still, it’s a niche market, why try to build a AAA style game for it? how about they focus on a smaller target, keep it 2d or otherwise very basic looking and instead of trying to perfectly replicate football or hurling, focus on making a game that’s fun to play with a GAA theme. Most Soccer games don’t replicate soccer very well but are universally successful.
have your say