Claire Halpin

This story is one my mother has often told me of her mother -

My mother had experienced unemployment, tenement living and poverty, common to many living in north innner city 1900’s Dublin. Tailoring was her job but work was scarce. She would be classed as an alteration hand and collected garments for adjustments. These were done at home in Mountjoy Square and returned completed to various outfitters – Kingstons, O’Beirne and Fitzgibbon etc.

It was on her way to work on Tuesday morning 24th April 1916 that she became aware of something strange afoot in Dublin. On that particular morning as she rounded the corner from Parnell St. onto O’Connell St. walking towards Findlaters she saw a dead horse on the road. As she told it herself “her dream was out” – attaching great significance to the recent ominous dream she had had of a fallen horse. This is how she first became aware of the unfolding events of the 1916 Rising.

Máirín Halpin (neé Taylor)