CNR

New Lodge 1900-2000

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This pair of murals, on the New Lodge Road, Belfast, contrasts life for young people in the black-and-white “1900s” to life in colourful “2000”. Instead of working (and dying – in the headlines from the Irish News) in mills, they work in fast-food restaurants and drive black taxis (and suffer unemployment, suicide, and anorexia – again, in the newspaper), and instead of playing in the streets and wrapping themselves in blankets, they sit on walls and drink.

New Lodge Road, north Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy
T00353
T00348 [T00366]

Bobby Sands

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“Our laughter will be the joy of our victory + [the] joy of the people; our revenge will be the liberation of all.” This is perhaps the only appearance of this quote from Bobby Sands’s hunger strike diary, from Thursday March 12th. In the background are the towers of Long Kesh; in the foreground is Sands’s funeral procession (RTÉ | youtube).

Jasmine Corner, Twinbrook, Dunmurry

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy
T00364 [T00352]

The Orange Reality

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On the left, the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement establishes “The right to freedom from sectarian harassment” but, on the right, the Orange Reality involves “10 Catholics murdered as a result of Drumcree, 150 Catholic homes petrol bombed, 1350 Catholic families forced out, many dozens or pipe bombs, attacks on Catholic homes”. The left-hand panel shows the cover of the Agreement booklet that was sent to every household ahead of the vote, showing a family of four silhouetted against a sunset; the right-hand panel shows the same family, but the source of light is now burning houses.

Replaces Let’s Make It Work.

Dromara St, south Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T00344

Na Cımí Poblachtánacha

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“I ndıl chuımhne na gcımí poblachtanacha a fuaır bas ı ngéıbheann ı rıth na coımhlınte reatha seo.” A lark bursts through prison bars of Long Kesh, Portlaoise, and prisons in England, in which republicans have died from the 70s to 90s.

Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T00339

H-Block/Armagh

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“The struggle for political status.” The twentieth anniversary of the hunger-strikes in Long Kesh and Armagh Women’s prison, 1980-2000, is commemorated. Seven men in Long Kesh and three women in Armagh went on strike, for fifty-three days and nineteen days, respectively.

The lilies are held over from the previous year – see The Final Salute.

Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T00338

Lenadoon Republican Women

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“Leanna An Dúın – Beıdh sıad ın ár gcuımhne choíche.” Local female IRA volunteers Laura Crawford, Patricia Black, Bridie Quinn, Maıréad Farrell and a generic female volunteer with assault rifle on manoeuvres in an Irish landscape strewn with standing stones.

Signed by “Lenadoon Youth 2000”. Glenveagh Drive, Lenadoon, Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T00337 [T00379]

Carol Ann Kelly

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12-year-old Carol Ann Kelly was shot by the British Army on May 22nd, 1981, and died three days later. Eight other children are remembered in this mural: Tobias Molloy, Frances Rowntree, Seamus Duffy, Paul Whitters, Stephen McConomy, Brian Stewart, Stephan Geddis, and Julie Livingstone. Molloy and Rowntree were killed by rubber bullets, the rest by plastic bullets. 

The mural, by Andrea Redmond, is in Twinbrook Road, Dunmurry, near where Kelly was shot.

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy
T00326 [T00343] [T00361]

Mıse Éıre

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The dying Cú Chulaınn and the Blessed Virgin Mary make an odd pairing in this Ligoniel memorial garden to locals who died during the Troubles. Cú Chulaınn is typically used to memorialise paramilitary volunteers (see the Visual History page) but the plaque does not mention volunteers and the statuary suggests prayer rather than a final salute as a fitting form of remembrance.

The plaque in the centre, which was previously at the crux of a Celtic Cross mural, reads “I ndıl chuımhne [in fond memory]. This plaque is dedicated to the memory of all those from Ligoniel who lost their lives as a result of the conflict in our country. A Mhuıre banríon na nGael guıgh orthu [Mary, queen of the Gael, pray for them]”

The other mural in the yard is a greatly re-designed presentation of Éıre, taking up the whole wall, and replacing the Maid Of Erin harp with Érıu, the mythological queen of Ireland/Éıre, as designed by (or at least, in the style of) Richard J King/Rísteard Ó Cíonga. (Also seen in the Short Strand.)

Millview Court, Ligoniel, north Belfast

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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy
T00329rc T00787