Date of Birth: 13th January 1936

Place of Birth: 11 School Street, Wexford

Date Interviewed: 30th September 2009

Summary: Raymie McEvoy continues to live today in the Wexford townhouse he was born in. He was the 2nd youngest of 7 children. His republican father went on hunger strike while he was incarcerated in the Curragh – he died in 1938. Raymie remembers seeing people from the country coming into Wexford on their ponies and carts. He came from “generations of carpenters” and wanted to work with wood from an early age. He served his time making furniture in Slaney Industries starting at 15 shillings per week. Like many of his peers Raymie went to London in 1958 looking for work and got a job in a joinery. He did not get on well with one of his workmates and this caused problems for him. He also saw examples of an anti-Irish attitude in the UK at the time with signs in businesses and lodgings saying ‘No Irish Need Apply’. Raymie returned to Wexford after a few years in England. He worked again in Slaney Industries and stayed with the firm for the next 33 years. During those years he worked on projects all over Ireland. He spent several years travelling daily to Waterford where he did a lot of the joinery work at Ardkeen Hospital.