The monument is configured around a stone plinth that previously held a statue of Viscount Fitzgibbon, of Mountshannon House, who was killed during The Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War, and which was blown up by nationalists in 1930.

[1] The memorial was unveiled on Sunday 27 May 1956, by Leslie de Barra, the wife of former Republican leader Tom Barry.

In her speech, she paid tribute to the "weary and patient work" and the "courageous example" of those involved in the Rising.

[4] Patrick Hillery represented the Irish government at the 1966 Golden Jubilee commemoration in 1966, reviewing the troops who participated in the ceremony.

[5] However, by 2006, the memorial was in need of maintenance work, and Sinn Féin representatives were critical of the local authority, saying that the monument was in "a shocking state of disrepair".