{"id":662853,"date":"2026-10-23T06:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T06:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/662853\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T06:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T06:10:17","slug":"exhumation-licence-sought-in-bid-to-re-inter-casement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/662853\/","title":{"rendered":"Exhumation licence sought in bid to re-inter Casement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A campaign group seeking to re-inter Roger Casement&#8217;s remains at Murlough Bay in Co Antrim has formally applied for an exhumation licence.<\/p>\n<p>Casement, one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising, was executed for treason at London&#8217;s Pentonville Prison on 3 August 1916.<\/p>\n<p>His body was repatriated to Ireland in 1965 following long-standing requests by the Irish government of the time and buried with State honours at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.<\/p>\n<p>However, Casement&#8217;s final wish remained unfulfilled.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A view of the plot at Murlough Bay\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/0025382f-614.jpg\"\/><br \/>\nThe plot at Murlough Bay in Co Antrim<\/p>\n<p>In the days leading up to his execution, Casement expressed a desire to be buried at Murlough Bay in the Glens of Co Antrim, where he spent parts of his childhood.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter on 25 July 1916, he wrote: &#8220;Don&#8217;t let my body lie here &#8211; get me back to the green hill at Murlough, by the McGarry&#8217;s house, looking down on the Moyle, that&#8217;s where I&#8217;d like to be now, and there&#8217;s where I&#8217;d like to lie.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This evening, the Roger Casement Commemoration and Re-interment Association (RCC&amp;RA) submitted a formal application to Dublin City Council and Glasnevin Cemetery to grant an exhumation licence to move Casement&#8217;s remains from Glasnevin to Murlough Bay.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Members of the Roger Casement Commemoration and Reinterment Association with copies of the application in Belfast tonight\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/00253860-614.jpg\"\/><br \/>\nMembers of the Roger Casement Commemoration and Re-interment Association with copies of the application in Belfast tonight<\/p>\n<p>Formed in 2013, the RCC&amp;RA is dedicated to honouring Casement&#8217;s legacy and carrying out his final burial request.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the group gathered at the Casement Social Club in Belfast alongside their legal team Phoenix Law solicitors, O&#8217;Neill&#8217;s Funeral Directors and Patrick McCarry &#8211; a man who has offered space on his property near the existing Casement monument for the re-interment.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign has also been backed by James Casement, a direct surviving relative of the revolutionary leader, who co-signed the petition.<\/p>\n<p>The RCC&amp;RA said exhumations are regularly granted across the Island of Ireland, however this is the first application of its kind in respect of Casement.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Roger Casement Statue and Application\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/00253861-614.jpg\"\/><br \/>\nThe application was marked at an event in Belfast this evening<\/p>\n<p>RCC&amp;RA Chairperson Alan Daly said: &#8220;This evening after many months of preparation, we have formally applied for the exhumation of Roger Casement to bring him home.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Casement always wanted to return home and today we hope to start the process to make that happen.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is historic to be co-signing this application with Roger&#8217;s direct and surviving relative, James Casement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We now look forward to receiving the necessary license from Dublin City Council so we can ensure Casement is returned without any further delay.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A campaign group seeking to re-inter Roger Casement&#8217;s remains at Murlough Bay in Co Antrim has formally applied&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-662853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}