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Irish Independent

Monument unveiled at special ceremony in Kerry to mark mass meeting held by Charles Stewart Parnell

Mr Parnell, an MP who was the founder of the Irish National Land League, held one of his signature meetings in the field of Patrick O'Sullivan at Beaufort Hotel on Sunday, May 16, 1880. The gathering was held in defiance of the orders of the local landlord residing at Dunloe Castle, and it drew an enormous crowd. Padraig O'Sullivan of the Beaufort Bar, a direct descendant of the owner of the field where Parnell's meeting was held 145 years ago, addressed those who attended the ceremony and unveiled the new monument. The stone monument is located beside Beaufort Bar and was designed by Tomas O'Sullivan, an uilleann piper and artist who composed a piece of music called 'Parnell's Blackbird'. Some of the guests in attendance were also involved in researching the story of Parnell's meeting in Beaufort. The mass meeting was held following some 'misunderstanding' between local landlords and their tenants and attracted around 3,000 people, according to a report on the 1880 gathering in the Dundalk Democrat. The meeting was assembled to proclaim that the present land laws required a change and to punish the men who attempted to drive people from their homes, the newspaper report stated. Parnellite MP 'The O'Donoghue' told those in attendance that the scene of landlord tyranny was the proper place to hold a meeting. He soon introduced Mr Parnell, who was met with 'vociferous cheering'. Parnell told those gathered that the land meeting was the largest he had been at in twelve months. The nationalist leader said land agitation would allow for the end of the landlord system, and that the people of Ireland were united in a great movement of obtaining for the people the land of their native country. ADVERTISEMENT Parnell proposed that evictions should be suspended for two years in holdings valued under £20 and called for landlords who charged excessive rent to be punished. He said land agitation would increase tenfold in intensity if the legislature failed to step in. The politician had also commented on the difficulties and dangers faced by the Irish people, including the famine and unfair laws made by landlords, and this was met with great cheers by those assembled.