Daniel O'Connell Monument

  • Free to visit
Known as the 'Liberator', Daniel O'Connell was born in Carhan, Caherciveen in 1775. After securing the passage of the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829, he was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin. There are numerous memorials to him around Dublin City.

Known as "the Liberator" for successfully campaigning for the right of Irish Catholics to become Members of Parliament, Daniel O'Connell is celebrated by the O'Connell Monument on the street which bears his name. O'Connell himself stands surrounded by a frieze of figures depicting elements of Irish society. Immediately underneath O’Connell is the Maid of Erin, symbolising Ireland, who is pointing at the Liberator and holding in her other hand the Act of Emancipation, while her former shackles lie broken at her feet.

Nearly thirty other figures surround the drum representing the Catholic Church, the professions, the arts, the trades and the peasantry. Below these are four winged women representing Patriotism, Courage, Eloquence and Fidelity.

Remnants of the 1916 Rising and the Civil War of 1922/23 are still visible on the statue in the form of round bullet holes. Look for them on the angels - on a wing, an arm or the chest of one - and on the man himself.

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