“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
“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
“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]
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
“South Belfast UFF commander Joe Bratty, murdered by the enemies, 31st July ’94.” Bratty was killed along with Raymond Elder by the Provisional IRA (WP). The pair were also remembered in a Lemberg Street mural in 2001, and later in the Sandy Row memorial garden.
The red fist in the larger mural famously has five fingers and two thumbs.
Roosevelt Street, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T01197 T00268
UDA volunteers in balaclavas and tracksuit tops pose with their assault rifles.
Lemberg Street, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00446
Three panels portraying the importance of women to the republican movement, though the first seems to be a generic ‘mother and son’ image.
The second shows Molly Childers and Mary Spring Rice aboard the yacht, Asgard, with about 900 of the 1,500 rifles that were smuggled into Ireland on two boats. Asgard docked at Howth on July 26th, 1914; the other rifles eventually came ashore two weeks later at Kilcoole. (Here is a tcd.ie collection of images of Asgard’s journey; image #53 is the one reproduced in the mural. Rice kept a diary of the trip; extracts are included in this RTÉ History Show video. See this RTÉ article for an account of their tortured journey.) The off-loading took place during the day but when the police and army met the marching volunteers at Clontarf they were able to capture only 19 rifles. As the army regiment involved returned to barracks it was pelted with stones or fruit by a crowd and killed three (with a fourth dying a week later). The vintage Mauser rifles were received by members of Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann and Na Fıanna Éıreann.
The final panel shows Colman Doyle’s famous ?1973? image of a (staged) female IRA volunteer with AR-18.
“Commissioned by Links Women’s Group”, “by Síle Na Gig” (who did the Children Of Lear mural in Rockville Street).
South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00341
This mural for the 200th anniversary of the 1798 rebellion by “Na hÉıreannaıgh Aontaıthe” (the United Irishmen). The United Irishmen used the Maid Of Erin harp as a symbol. Out of frame to the right is the motto of the French Revolution: “Liberté, égalité, fraternité”.
There are seven names listed on the right, none of which is Andrea Redmond (Fb), who is the painter of record. The list was later painted out – see M02183.
South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00351 [T00328] [T00419]
The IRA’s Joe McDonnell was the fifth of the 1981 hunger-strikers to die, on July 8th, after 61 days. McDonnell’s portrait is superimposed upon a sketch of a photograph of the funeral volley fired while his coffin was en route to Milltown cemetery (An Phoblacht).
Suffolk Road, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00350
This is a display to republican dead, with a black flag, Easter lilies, and (on the main board) a funeral volley being fired over a coffin draped in a Tricolour, with a printed poster of the ten deceased 1981 hunger-strikers. The board was later moved to Clowney Street.
Among the posters below we see “Release Josephine Hayden”. Hayden was General Secretary of Republican Sınn Féın when she was sentenced to six years in jail in 1996 for weapons’ possession. She would be released in 2000. (Irish Times)
Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00421c
Paddy Duffy Collection 