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A group of up to 20 unmasked and uninvited visitors to a small local commemorative event during the weekend to mark the centenary of the Mourneabbey ambush were told they were not welcome by local councillor, Liam Madden. The event had been organised by the local Community Council, of which Cllr Madden is chairman since 2011, to mark the ambush by British forces of a local IRA unit, an engagement which left four IRA men dead. The small event which went ahead saw a wreath being laid at the ambush memorial on Sunday afternoon and every house in the parish had a lit candle in the window.

While Covid restrictions have had a huge impact on organised events since last March, communities have still been recognising the events of a century ago that have shaped the Ireland that we know today. Over the weekend of Feb 13 the community in Mourne Abbey will recall one such event, an ambush that was to cost the lives of six IRA volunteers whose sacrifice is enshrined on a monument at the ambush site. On February 15, 1921 more than 50 volunteers under Commandant Jack Cunningham, 43 of whom were from Mourne Abbey occupied a position roughly one-mile from Mourneabbey with the intenti...