‘They weren’t fierce people’: Memorial unveiled for Dubliners who fought fascism in Spain
A new stone sculpture has been placed at Richmond Barracks in Inchicore, commemorating seven men from the local community who travelled to Spain in the 1930s to fight Franco’s forces with the International Brigades.
The memorial lists Michael May, Tony Fox, Joe Haines, Paddy McElroy, Liam McGregor, Joe Monks and Bill Scott, and bears the three‑pointed red star that identified the Brigades. It was funded through the efforts of local activist Noel McEvoy, whose family connections tie directly to May’s story.
The ceremony, presided over by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, featured musician Christy Moore – author of Viva La Quinta Brigada – and actress Fionnuala Flanagan, whose own father served in the Brigades. Their presence highlighted the lasting cultural memory of the volunteers.
The choice of Richmond Barracks, a site that once held participants of the 1916 Rising, underscores the continuity of Dublin’s tradition of resistance. Residents of Inchicore, a neighbourhood shaped by railway work, trade‑unionism and a mixed religious fabric, see the stone as a broader tribute to Irish anti‑fascist solidarity.
For families like the McElroys, the unveiling is a personal reckoning with a hidden chapter of Irish history, a reminder that the volunteers fought not only for Spain but for a vision of a more egalitarian Ireland.