A GRAVESTONE has been placed at the burial site of a child who was killed in 1916 during the Easter Rising in a ceremony in Dublin today.
Family and friends of Eugene Lynch gathered at Goldenbridge Cemetery in the capital to unveil the tribute.
Also present were students from three Inchicore Schools and musician Declan O’Rourke, who sang his song The Children of 16.
The eight-year-old was playing outside his family home on Vincent’s Street in Inchicore, Dublin during Easter Week of 1917, when a trigger-happy British soldier shot into the crowd of children, fatally wounding Eugene.
His body was taken to his grandmother’s pub, where it was laid out on a table.
He was buried in an unmarked grave two days later, in a wooden box measuring 4 ft 10ins (1.5m) in length and at a cost of £2.
Broadcaster Joe Duffy, who wrote a book on the 40 children killed during the events of Easter 1916 entitled The Children of the Rising, became emotional as he spoke before family at the commemoration.
“Here he played and here he is laid,” Duffy said.
“At 11 o’clock on a Sunday morning as they carried that box through that gate, we reckon there were three people at his funeral.”
The headstone was provided by Glasnevin Trust, and is placed just metres away from the graves of the only father and son to lead the State, WT and Liam Cosgrave.
Hundreds gather for the unveiling of a headstone dedicated to one of the children killed during the #1916rising Eugene Lynch pic.twitter.com/cFW5ihdXLY
— Nicole Gernon (@nicole_gernon) March 23, 2018
