Belfast

We Will Take Nothing Less

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

An estimated 100,000 people congregated at Craigavon House on the 23rd of September, 1911, to hear Edward Carson’s inaugural speech as Unionist leader (McNeill Ch. 4). In his speech he said “Our demand is a simple one. We ask for no privileges, but we are determined that no one shall have privileges over us. We ask for no special rights, but we claim the same rights from the same government as every other part of the United Kingdom. We ask for nothing more; we will take nothing less”. Ten years later, in 1921, Northern Ireland was created and it has survived to reach its centenary, despite (according to this mural) “100 years of fighting a fascist republican enemy sponsored by the Irish state.”

Highcairn Drive, Highfield

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T01244

A Letter To The 22

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“I gcuımhne na nÓglach a fuaır bás ar son saoırse [in memory of the volunteers who died for freedom].” The “22” are the familiar 12 deceased Troubles-era hunger-strikers, plus 10 from 1917 to 1946: Thomas Ashe, Terence McSwiney, Michael Fitzgerald, Joseph Murphy, Joe Witty, Dennis Barry, Andy O’Sullivan, Tony Darcy, Jack McNeela, Sean McCaughey.

“‘A Letter To The 22: You have not gone away. You are in the hearts/and on the lips of your people./The old speak of you with knowing tongue. The middle/aged, as those who walked beside you./The young men and women with a passion not unlike your own./Your names can be heard on the wind taken from the mouths/of men who tend their flocks on Slieve Gullion, Cnoc Phádraıg, Glenshane./They echo in small graveyards in/Cork, Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Tyrone, Antrim, Derry and Armagh./They are heard among your people at the mass gate on/Sunday, in the crowd at the hurling game, around the hearth when/the bottle is cracked and song in sung. Your image can be seen/on the faces of happy smiling children for whose freedom you gave your all./You are in our prayers, you have not gone away, you never will’ – Colum Mac Gıolla Bhéın“

For the same 22, see Staılc Ocraıs. Replaces a painted mural to Joe McDonnell.

Suffolk Road, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T01243

The Stolen Child

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The re-painted mural to plastic-bullet victim Julie Livingstone was rededicated on October 15th. For the previous mural, see 2010. “The Stolen Child – Come away, O human child/To the waters and the wild/With a faery hand in hand/For the world’s more full of weeping/Than you can understand… – WB Yeats.”

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T01242

Éıreannaıgh Sınne!

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Ní coırpıgh sınne! Éıreannaıgh sınne! [we are not criminals; we are Irish people] “There is that much to be done that no select or small portion of people can do; only the greater mass of the Irish nation will ensure the achievement of a socialist republic, and this can only be done by hard work and sacrifice.” – Bobby Sands [Hunger strike diary, March 14th, 1981]” With photographs of the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers.

Falcarragh Drive, Lenadoon, Belfast.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T01241

Broken Promises

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

One of the pair of boards seen in It’s A Knockout! has now been replaced to reflect the latest in the sorry tale of the UK’s Conservative party. The newspaper front pages reporting the “90-minute shouting match” between the resigning UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Prime Minister Liz Truss were barely dry when Truss herself resigned. The main cause was the September 23rd “mini-budget” that promised to scrap the 45% personal tax rate entirely, lower the 20% to 19%, and keep the corporate rate at 19% instead of having it increase to 25% in April 2023 – these numbers are seen on the pages falling from Truss’s hands, above – without explaining how the reductions would be funded. Over the next three weeks these positions were reversed – “volte face”, Truss’s flip-flops, and the two-headed Truss; all part of a pattern, artist Ciaran Gallagher (web) suggests with Truss’s clothing: she was originally in the Lib Dems before joining the Conservatives in 1996 and supported ‘remain’ in the Brexit vote (WP).

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng went on the 14th. Braverman resigned over a breach of the Ministerial Code – sharing an official document on migration from her personal e-mail account – but got in a few digs at the Truss government as she left. (WP)

The Tories hope to put a new leader and PM in place within a week. Rishi Sunak, Terminator-style, says “I’ll be back!” and is the bookies’ favourite (BBC).

For Larry the cat – who was previously pictured sitting on the steps outside Number 10 but has gone from the mural – next week’s prime minister will be his fifth.

Hill Street, Belfast city centre

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T01205 [T01204] [T01203]

Boxing Champions

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Ardoyne-Bone boxers have punched well above their weight. As professional we have won … British, Commonwealth, European & W.B.U. titles. As amateurs we have won 3 Olympic bronze, European Gold, Commonwealth Gold, World Junior silver, 17 Irish senior titles & an A.B.A senior title. Nor forgetting all our boxing coaches, who put in their time and effort for all our young boxers. Truly amazing for such a small area.” The wide shot below shows the whole of this new Ardoyne/Ard Eoın mural celebrating local boxers; the boxers named are Darren Corbett (WP), John Kelly (FightsRec), Paddy Barnes (WP), Harry McAuley (BoxRec), Anthony Maguire, Hugh Gilhooley (BoxRec), Eamonn McAuley (BoxRec), Freddie Gilroy (WP), Terry Magee (WP), Sean Brown, Noel Magee (WP), Barney Burns, Pat Kelly, Eamonn Magee (WP).

This image shows the replacement set of painted boards; for the originals see A Small Area.

Ardoyne Avenue, north Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T01174 [T01175]

We Too Love Freedom

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“[I assume that I am speaking to Englishmen who value their freedom, and who profess to be fighting for the freedom of Belgium and Serbia [in WWI].] Believe that we too love freedom and desire it. To us it is more than anything else in the world. If you strike us down now, we shall rise again and renew the fight. You cannot conquer Ireland; you cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom. If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom, then our children will win it by a better deed – Gen. P. H. Pearse” at his court martial in 1916.

There are eight memorial plaques to deceased Ardoyne IRA fianna and ógliagh from the 1970s: David McAuley, Joseph Campbell, Joseph McComiskey, Bernard Fox, Charles McCann, Seamus Cassidy, Trevor McKibbin, James McDade, Gerard McDade, James Reid, Terry Toolan, Brian Smyth, Paddy McAdorey, Denis Brown, Jim Mulvenna, Jackie Mailey, Frankie Donnelly, Laurence Montgomery.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T01167 [T01168] [T01169] [T01170]

Those Who Can Endure The Most

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“This wall is dedicated to all those ex prisoners that found themselves imprisoned as a result of British occupation of our country. The plaques on the wall are in memory of those former POW’s who have since passed away.”

The large carved stones are by Ardoyne republican Sean Colligan, who was interned during the troubles and spent his life as an activist in the area, particularly in organising the Ardyne Fleadh (via Saoirse32) and the murals in Ardoyne. He died of a heart attack (in 2004?).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T01172 T01173

Mac Dıarmada

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This board to Seán Mac Dıarmada in Ardoyne details his exploits leading up to and including the 1916 uprising and his earlier connection with the local area.

Painted by Rısteard ÓMurchú.

Previously: Mac Dıarmada also appears in the Bone Staır Na Gaeılge mural.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T01171