Good Afternoon Lord Mayor, Honoured Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen! It is an honour to be present at this historic event and to be asked to speak. I must begin by thanking all who have done so much work to make this day possible. Thanks to all the museum staff, council staff and the "Blue Plaque" society and what a great pleasure it is to have Doreen here today, you are very welcome and may I hint that there are other buildings still standing connected to the "Harshaw Diaries"!

I consider this a day of celebration and great acknowledgement of the life of John Martin and I guess I will also have to say John Mitchel. I think it is also a time for looking forward and planning for more honours for them in the future.

I have spoken on several occasions about John Martin's life and it is on my website and our good friend Marjorie gave an excellent talk on him, just this past April, so you will forgive me, if I don't touch too much on his biography today.

It is quite significant that we are gathered here today on 5th Sept, because 3 days more is the date of his birth! ! There have been immense changes since that time, both during his own lifetime and since.

I guess in 1912, only his family & close friends remembered, he would have been 100 had he lived, sadly the country he loved so much was caught up in turmoil, mostly over his political view, which he had hoped would bring unity.

In 1975, 100 years after his death, John Mitchel was remembered and please correct me, if I am wrong; John Martin wasn't mentioned, certainly not in my vicinity. However once the year 2000 came an excellent exhibition was held on John Mitchel and John Martin was mentioned and I had the great privilege of having an article about him published in the local press. His life had been rediscovered, in no small measure to the "Harshaw Diaries", which Marjorie had brought to life. Our sincere thanks to you, Marjorie, for this. Another three years will bring us to 2012, in many parts of Ulster, the "Covenant' will be remembered. In Belfast the tragedy of the "Titanic" will be remembered. However please do not forget that here in Newry we can remember the 200th anniversary of the birth of the humble, benevolent, kind hearted, longsuffering and above all "Honest" John Martin. To quote from Mitchel's "Jail Journal", "the convict Jesus was hardly any purer", when he was describing Martin. So I would encourage All present, let's do something really big for John Martin for September 2012!

As two schoolboys, Martin and Mitchel met at Dr Henderson's school here in Newry and in the years that lay ahead, although they often quarrelled, they always remained the best of friends. Both suffering from asthma, fate decreed that their paths would always be intertwined. After John Mitchel had moved to Dublin, John Martin followed him there to join the "Young Ireland" movement for repeal of the Act of Union. After Mitchel was arrested, tried and sentenced to transportation for his seditious newspaper articles, in his speech from the dock he appealed for men to follow him. Almost immediately his loyal friend Martin began the "Irish Felon"; so he followed him, into the newspaper business and for his seditious articles received the same fate as Mitchel. Although he followed him into exile, it was Martin who first arrived in Van Diemen's Land, Mitchel coming later from Bermuda. John Martin didn't join him in his epic escape to America, as it is thought his health would not have endured the perilous journey. However in later years Mitchel would travel to Paris to meet Martin and he would later go to America to meet Mitchel, although he had made a similar trip in 1839. Roll on 1875 and John Martin has been MP for Meath for several years and although Mitchel had no faith in him as politician, he decides to stand for Tipperary. He is elected and already very ill, he dies here on 20th March. Martin in London, when he hears the news, at once returns to Newry. He, who so faithfully followed Mitchel into exile in 1848, collapses at his friend's graveside, having caught a severe chill, and follows him into eternity nine days later. The two men who had been through so much in life, are not even to be separated for long by the last enemy, death.

So it is very fitting that they are honoured together on this blue plaque and we look forward to more commemorations for them in the next few years! Thank you.

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