CNR – Page 3 – Paddy Duffy Collection

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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A Ride On The Coal Cart

2026-07-262026-07-30Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This photo of children taking a ride on a coal cart joins more than a dozen others depicting life during the 20th century in Carrick Hill – see Old Carrick Hill and The Tea Bar. Here is a Belfast Forum thread of people reminiscing about the various items that used to be delivered by horse-drawn cart.

For the anti-drugs art on the left of the wide shot below, see You Have The Power.

(lower) Regent Street, Carrick Hill, west Belfast. A new archive featuring recordings of local people opened earlier this month in the Carrick Hill Community Centre (Belfast City Council).

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Shadow Of A Gunman

2026-07-092026-07-20Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A crude stencil pays tribute to IRA volunteer Sean Clinton, who died in April (2026) (Pensive Quill).

The stencil re-creates a famous photograph (CAIN), taken by Brendan Murphy of the Irish News (November 2025 BBC obituary), showing Clinton firing from this spot at an RUC checkpoint on Ormeau bridge. Clinton/the photo is also known as “The Last Gunman”, as the ceasefire was renewed a few days later, on July 19th, 1997.

Artana Street, lower Ormeau, south Belfast

For the Parades Protest mural, see Stand Off, Trade Off, which gives links back to its original appearance in 1998.

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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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Our Present Fight

2026-06-282026-07-23Extramural Activity1 Comment

“[Scaoıl] saor Niall Sheerin anoıs”, “Republican prisoners still exist”. Niall Sheerin was imprisoned for seven years for possession of the weapon that police believe was used by the New IRA to shoot Lyra McKee in April, 2019 (BBC). The calls for his release have been prompted by Sheerin reaching the 50% mark of his stretch and becoming eligible for parole. (RN | Fb video of a protest | a Newry billboard (BBC) (previously used for Don’t Forget The Palestinian Children). There is also a large board supporting Sheering in Creggan.

“We must see our present fight right through to the very end – Bobby Sands IRA volunteer”. The quote does appear to be genuine, though its source is unknown, suggesting it was in a Marcella column in AP/RN. An extended version reads, “We must see our present fight right through to the very end. Generations will continue to meet the same fate unless the perennial oppressor – Britain – is removed, for she will unashamedly and mercilessly continue to maintain her occupation and economic exploitation of Ireland to judgment day, if she is not halted and ejected.” (Leave a comment/send an e-mail is you can provide the source.)

The ‘barbed wire’ emblem is from the IRPWA (web) and the ‘sunburst’ from Saoradh (web). The ‘green ribbon’ is a generic symbol of republican political prisoners going back to the ceasefire era (see the Peter Moloney Collection) and the ‘Easter lily’ of Irish republicanism. (There is a small Sheela-Na-Gig/Síle-Na-Gıgh plaque next to the lily, possibly part of Project Sheela (web).) The ‘clenched fist’ is the same fist as appeared in the old (1994) Battle Of The Bogside mural.

Lecky Road, Bogside, Derry

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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.

The Scouting Life

2026-06-272026-09-26Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

St Mary’s Scouts was formed in 1969 and has served the Creggan area for more than fifty years (Féıle Fb video). The new mural, featuring camping scenes, was painted in April 2026 by Peaball (web).

Cromore Gardens/An Cró Mór, Creggan, Derry, around the corner from Solidarity, Not Charity

We Rise!

2026-06-272026-08-03Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The same slogan – “We exist! We resist! We rise!” – has been used by Saoradh (web) in connection with Palestinian prisoners in west Belfast (see Springfield | Andersonstown) but here the accompanying image shows the sun rising on a native American in full headdress holding a spear, mirroring the Gal Gréıne and the pike that are part of the Saoradh emblem. It’s not clear if there is a current campaign around Native rights; in the past Saoradh has expressed support for Leonard Peltier.

Lone Moor Road, Brandywell, Derry