Mayor of Drogheda Councillor James Byrne officiated at the annual memorial ceremony for two Republican heroes who were murdered by the Black and Tans in 1921.
John Moran lived in Magdalene Street with his wife and baby daughter Maura. Shortly after midnight on 9th February 1921 a number of men entered their house and arrested him for questioning in connection with the killing of Inspector Percival Lea Wilson in Gorey in June 1920.
Twenty six year old Drogheda Corporation member Thomas Halpin, a married man who had been elected to the Corporation as a Sinn Fein representative the previous year, was arrested later on the same day.
Early the next morning the bodies of both men were found on the roadside at Marsh Road where the memorial stands today
Moran and Halpin are also remembered locally by the naming of two housing estates in Drogheda, Moran Terrace and Halpin Terrace, in their honour.
Mayor James Byrne told Drogheda Life that he was honoured to lead the annual Council-led commemoration and thanked Louth County Council for supporting the event and upholding the legacy of Halpin and Moran.
He also thanked all of the Councillors in attendance, Fr Colm O’Mahony of the Augustinian Church, the Drogheda and Slane Branch of the ONE, the Old Drogheda Society and members of the public including Bridie Maxwell who remembered the two martyrs in prose.
Pictured at the Halpin and Moran Annual commemoration ceremony at the monument on the Marsh Road yesterday were (from left): Cathaoirleach Pio Smith, Cllr Michelle Hall, Mayor of Drogheda James Byrne, Cllr Declan Power, Jim Fay O.N.E. and Cllr Kevin Callan. Photo: Jimmy Weldon.
