London-/Derry – Paddy Duffy Collection

The Influencer

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

“Seamus Heaney 1929-2013.” Seamus Heaney was raised in Bellaghy and is buried in Bellaghy. Between these bookends, he attended boarding school in Derry and Queen’s in Belfast, and held academic positions in Belfast, California, Dublin, and Massachusetts. His poetry won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 and made him a household name. Although he largely pre-dates the social-media era, this new mural in Derry suggests that he is – or could be – an influencer.

“Beneath Irish Skies (Inspired by Seamus Heaney) The grass is green when I step outside the door. The air is fresh like mint. The sun shines off the water like your eyes. The wind whistling like a flute. – by Jude Shiels, aged 12″

“Féile brought together young people from Bishop Street and Newbuildings youth clubs to work creatively alongside one another as part of a cross-community project. The young people worked with artists from Peaball [web] street art collective, helping to shape and influence the design of this mural. Through creative workshops and discussions the group explored the life of Seamus Heaney and how the landscape and the people within it influenced his work. What role in society does the modern influencer play … This project has been sponsored by PeacePlus, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes body.”

Westland Street, Bogside, Derry

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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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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An Uncompromised Republican

2026-08-312026-09-06Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This entry updates An Attitude Of Revolt from 2022, which showed the same four plaques as in the image below – to Tommy Roberts, Stevie Mellon, Veronica Taylor, Ruaırí (Roddy) Carlin – but a different board featuring Roberts and Mellon and an oak leaf with crossed rifles. In addition to the generic IRPWA board, the entire wall was been painted grey and a knotwork surround added, with the Saoradh (web) sunburst in the corners.

Westland Street, Derry

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Life Hack

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

This street-art is by/for Life Hack (Fb) and Peaball (web) near the Rath Mór offices of the former, on Bligh’s Lane, Derry.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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You Have No Power To Make Me A Criminal

2026-08-312026-09-05Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“”You have the power to send me to gaol but you have no power to make me a criminal” – Seán Milroy, IRB” The words were reportedly (ig) spoken by Milroy in June, 1915, as he was being sentenced to three months hard labour for an inflammatory speech. He fought in the Easter Rising (see p. 27 ff of his testimony in the Military Archives) but voted in favour of the Treaty, believing that Northern Ireland could not survive politically or economically (DIB | RTÉ).

This is the latest work by Saoradh (web) and Éıstıgí Dhoıre on the wall of the Lecky Road flyover, adding on to the pieces seen in Our Present Fight.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Apartheid-Free Zone

2026-08-312026-09-02Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“You are now entering Derry, an apartheid-free zone.”

Placards like this one have been mounted in Derry by the Pat Finucane Centre (web) and the Bloody Sunday Trust (web) – whose emblems are the top corners – in connection with their work with local businesses and organisations in conducting a “BDS audit” to ensure that they are not working with Israeli companies (Bloody Sunday Trust | Fb).

The words are in the triangular shape of Free Derry Corner (Visual History), though the word “free” is missing”.

Lone Moor Road, Derry

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Things Can Only Get Better

2026-08-312026-09-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Peter Cunnah was the singer of D:Ream, who had a number-one hit in 1994 with “Things Can Only Get Better” (youtube). He was born in Belfast but adopted by parents in Derry (BBC). This new mural was painted (by Karl Porter of UV Arts (web)) at the junction of Northland and Clarendon streets (in the Clarendon Conservation Area (pdf)), next to Cunnah’s home at 46 Clarendon Street, where he formed his first band, Tie The Boy (Derry Journal).

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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).

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