New Roger Casement Statue book launched

A new book, The Casement Memorial Statue, was launched on Friday in the dlr Lexicon by An Cathaoirleach Lettie McCarthy and Brazilian Ambassador H.E. Mr. Marcel Biato.

The beautifully illustrated book by historian Angus Mitchell includes a foreword by Michael D. Higgins, Uachtarán na hÉireann.

An Cathaoirleach welcomed the publication which explores the life and legacy of Roger Casement who was born in Sandycove in 1864. 

Speaking at the launch, she said; ‘Roger Casement is of course best known for his involvement with Irish nationalism and his role in the Easter Rising. But it is his humanitarian work that is increasingly being celebrated. His work in Africa and South America highlighted the abuses of Indigenous peoples in those regions and those works justifiably led to him being described as the ‘father of twentieth-century human rights investigations’.”

Formally launching the book, H.E. Mr. Biato explored the links between Casement and Brazil, speaking about how “Casement takes his place in the long humanitarian tradition of Iona, of St. Columba.” Welcoming the new statue of Casement, he concluded it overlooks the bay “serenely, in the conviction that his legacy lives on.”

The Casement statue by sculptor Mark Richards was commissioned by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council as part of the Dún Laoghaire Baths restoration project.