IRA – Paddy Duffy Collection

Por Vuestra Libertad Y La Nuestra

2026-08-312026-09-13Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“I ndíl [sic] chuımhne ar Eamon McGrotty 1911-1927, republican, socialist, anti-fascist. Killed fighting fascism in the Jarama Valley. Eamon attended the Brow Of The Hill school. ¡No Pasarán!” Derry man Eamon McGrotty was honoured with a plaque and a tree-planting during this year’s (2026) féıle (Derry Journal). McGrotty was one of about 320 Irishmen who fought with the International Brigades – specifically the Connolly Column of the XV brigade (DIB) – against Franco during the Spanish Civil War; there were also about 700 Irishmen fighting on Franco’s side during the war, in a brigade led by Eoin O’Duffy.

The new plaque is next to the memorials to “An Chéad Chathlán/1st Battalion Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann – Bogside, Brandywell, Bishop Street”.

Lecky Road, Brandywell, Derry

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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A Call To Young Irishmen

2026-08-022026-08-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

These are close-ups of the boards along the bottom of the D Company IRA board next to the Falls memorial garden. The two information boards at the extremes give brief biographies of the fourteen deceased IRA volunteers whose portraits flank the large map: Charlie Hughes, Jimmy Quigley, Daniel McAreavey, Patrick ‘Maguire’ Pendleton, Joseph McKinney, John Donaghy, Mundo O’Rawe, Michael Marley, Teddy Campbell, Martin Skillen, Bap Kelly, Billy Carson, Pat McBride, Paddy Loughran.

On either side of the large central plaque are two pairs of small boards. On the left are the Proclamation and the old information board (“Out Of The Ashes Of ’69”); on the right are an image of lilies and a reproduction of an “April 1933” “Call To Young Irishmen”, giving six reasons why they should enlist in the Irish Republican Army/Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann. The call came in response to sustained economic hardship in the country and Fıanna Fáıl’s wins in the general elections of 1932 and 1933. (Here is a pdf of the poster. And here is the IRA manifesto of 1933 (pdf).)

These boards were added c. 2020. Compare to 2013.

Falls Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Ireland’s Finest

2026-07-302026-09-15Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Óglach Billy McKee, Óglach Alex Murphy, Óglach Breandan [Brendan/Breandán] Hughes (The Dark)” are featured in a new D Company board on the anti-Agreement wall below the Falls Garden Of Remembrance.

In the bottom corners is the emblem of Glór Na hÓglaıgh (Fb), a new (March 2026) “revolutionary republican socialist political party”, associated with Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann and feuding with the RNU.

This board takes the place of a similar RNU board, seen in Unrepentant Republicans.

As in the previous board, Alex Murphy is included (on the left); Murphy was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of the two Signals corporals (Wood and Howes) in 1988 (UPI). He was released in 1998 under the provisions of the Agreement and died in 2019 (Pensive Quill). (The D Company board on the International Wall (Visual History) features Kieran Nugent rather than Murphy.)

Falls Road, west Belfast

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McBrearty

2026-06-282026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Bridie McBrearty (née Murphy) 1929 to 2024. A woman of devotion to God, family and country. Her light shines on within us.”

Bridie McBrearty passed away at home in Rathowen Park in June 2024 (Derry Now) and a plaque in her memory has been added below the mural to her son George, who was shot by the SAS on May 28th, 1981 along with Charles “Pop” Maguire, both of the IRA. On patrol in Creggan with two other IRA men, McBrearty and Maguire pursued and a car whose driver they suspected of being an SAS soldier and eventually stopped it at the bottom of Couch Road/Southway at the edge of the Brandywell. The driver shot McBrearty as he approached the car and Maguire was shot by the driver and/or by other undercover soldiers from 14th Intelligence who emerged from two other cars. A third volunteer was injured. (Lost Lives 2330)

The “Crann Na Poblachta”/”Tree Of The Republic” – a silver birch – was originally planted in front of the previous mural to George McBrearty mural in Rathkeele Way (see Freedom Fighter For The Republic) (Derry Journal). Both that mural and this one were painted by ‘Bogside Artist‘ Kevin Hasson.

There is a plaque to McBrearty & Maguire near the spot where they were killed on Coach Road/Southway (see M01544).

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Derry Volunteers Commemoration March

2026-06-282026-07-21Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Derry volunteers commemoration march, Sunday 28th June 2026, assembling at Central Drive, Creggan at 1 pm.”

On the railings in front is a hand-made placard reading “End occupation, end the genocide, end Zionism, saoırse don Phalaıstín. ÓSF Doıre [Fb].”

Also included is another image of the nearby RSYM [Fb] board: “The “crisis” is capitalism”.

Lecky Road, Derry, on the rear of Free Derry Corner.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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For What Died The Sons Of Roısín?

2026-03-102026-03-29Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is a pair of small boards at the corner of Balkan Street and Leeson Street, Divis, west Belfast.

Above, “Saoırse [freedom]” and “beır bua [seize victory]” and imagery of the four provinces and a lark in barbed wire are on top of the old Divis flats. The flats were built to replace the tightly-packed streets of the lower Falls. After the first three blocks were completed in 1969, there was a plan to have a mixture of flats all the way up to Dunville Park (“Phase 2” in this 30-minute BBC video on the flats, which also includes the story of its eventual demise.

Below, “For what died the sons of Róısín [Dubh]?” The Dogs of IRA D company, second battalion [Belfast brigade] are “unbowed” and “unbroken”.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Republican Clady

2026-03-082026-03-16Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“We salute all those who have fought, died and assisted in the fight for Irish freedom. Ar dheıs Dé go raıbh a n-anamacha. West Tyrone remembers.”

Above is a recent (2025-06) mural painted in Clady of IRA volunteers c. 1971 defending the bridge a stone’s throw outside the town, to prevent it from being blown up by the British Army. A history of the bridge, and the photograph which the mural reproduces, can be found at The Pensive Quill. The work of painting the mural and refreshing the window-boards of the building has been undertaken by the Joseph Plunkett 1916 Society Clady/Grebe (Fb).

The two monuments, to volunteers generally and Neal Lafferty (d. 1975) specifically (Fb), stand together at the junction with Cluney Gardens. There is also a memorial to James McPhelimy (d. 1988) on the other side of Urney Road, and one to Jim McGann (d. 1973) on the bridge.

Urney Road, Clady

Lily Of The Rift Valley

2026-03-012026-03-03Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A pair of wooden lilies – symbol of the 1916 Easter Rising – are painted in the colours of the Palestinian flag and are placed below Palestinian flags on the Greater Ballymurphy memorial garden. (For the the names on the plaque, see the Peter Moloney Collection.)

The electrical boxes (below) are from the community mural at the bottom of Springhill. The imagery on the second one is by Emmalene Blake – see Seas Leıs An Phalaıstín.

The British Were Met With Their Own Weapons

2025-12-142025-12-22Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“[They said I was ruthless, daring, savage, blood thirsty, even heartless. The clergy called me and my comrades murderers; but] The British were met with their own weapons. They had gone down into the mire to destroy us and our nation and down after them we had to go. – Tom Barry, IRA volunteer.”

Tom Barry served in the British Army as a teenager and saw action in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The military training served him well when he joined the IRA and soon became commander of the West Cork brigade’s flying column. The quotation above offer a justification for the guerrilla tactics which helped drive the British to the negotiating table. In the Civil War, Barry was on the anti-Treaty side. (WP)

“In proud and loving memory of all those who contributed to the struggle for Irish freedom. Léana An Dúın. Beıdh sıad ınár gcuımhne choíche.”

The red board below is an old (2019) IRSP board, reading, “Join the IRSP. No to state harassment, to drug dealing, to loan sharks, to benefit cuts, to bedroom tax, to work schemes, to British rule. Yes to safer communities, to proper housing, to quality jobs, to freedom in Ireland, to republican socialism!, to a fair economy, to community empowerment. Join with us in promoting a new and fair Ireland and in building the campaign for a border poll. www.irsp.ie“

Horn Drive, Lenadoon, west Belfast

My Brother Is Not A Criminal

2025-10-052025-12-06Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The brothers in question are Raymond and Brian McCreesh, from Camlough, Co Armagh. Raymond is third in the list of the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers on the large stone at the top of the slope: “In memory of the volunteers who died on hunger strike in H-Blocks 1981.” The quote along the bottom reads, “H-Block is rock that the British monster shall perish upon for we in H-Block stand upon the unconquerable rock of the Irish socialist republic – Bobby Sands”; the source of the quote in unknown.

The lower stone reads “These men made the supreme sacrifice for their country by dying on hunger strike from 1917 to 1976: 1917 Thomas Ashe; 1920 Michael Fitzgerald, Joseph Murphy, Terence McSwiney; 1923 Joseph Whitty, Denis Barry, Andy Sullivan; 1940 Tony Darcy, Sean McNeela; 1946 Sean McCaughey; 1974 Michael Gaughan; 1976 Frank Stagg. “It is not those who can inflict the most but those that can suffer the most who will conquer” – Terence McSwiney.”

The final image is a call from “Independent Republicans Armagh [Fb]” to commemorate Dessie Grew and Martin McCaughey, who were riddled with bullets fired by the SAS as they moved weapons near Moy, Co Tyrone, in 1990 (RN | youtube).

Ford’s Cross, New Road, Silverbridge