Northern Ireland

Commemorative event in south Armagh marks what would have been 100th birthday of murdered Sinn Féin vice president Máire Drumm

Roisin Drumm lays a wreath at the Monument to her late Grandmother on the Centenary of her birth. Pic Philip Walsh
Roisin Drumm lays a wreath at the Monument to her late Grandmother on the Centenary of her birth. Pic Philip Walsh Roisin Drumm lays a wreath at the Monument to her late Grandmother on the Centenary of her birth. Pic Philip Walsh
By Bimpe Archer

A COMMEMORATIVE event in south Armagh last night marked what would have been the 100th birthday of murdered Sinn Féin vice president Máire Drumm.

Born in the village of Killeen, Co Armagh, the mother-of-five was shot dead in October 1976 by gunmen dressed as doctors as she lay in her hospital bed in the Mater Hospital where she was recovering from an operation.

The attack was claimed by the Red Hand Commando.

The commemoration begins at McKevitt’s Petrol station at 7.30pm before walking to the Kelly’s Road monument for wreath laying by her granddaughter Roisin Drumm.

Afterwards, a book about the life of the "iconic figure in Irish republicanism" by former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams was launched.

It contains a previously unseen photograph taken at a Sinn Féin rally on August 8, 1976, two months before she was murdered at the age of 57.

Well-known for her defiant speeches at rallies and in courtrooms, she was jailed twice and spent time in Armagh prison.