four provinces – Page 5 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Ní Thıg Leat Éıre A Chloígh

2012-01-152026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Ní thıg leat Éıre a chloígh, ní thıg leat fonn saoırse mhuıntır na hÉıreann a mhúc[h]adh.” [“You cannot subdue Ireland; you cannot extinguish the desire for the freedom of the Irish people.”]

The mural presents images of Ballymurphy including the mural of McCrudden-O’Rawe–Jordan and memorial garden on Divismore Way (left) and Springhill (right), under the title “Ballymurphy unbowed, unbroken”.

The male figures in the foreground are unnamed but the four in jackets are presumably Stone, McWilliams, McCracken, and Dougal after their mural in Springhill Drive was blanked; the female activists on the left of Sheppard’s Cú Chulaınn are Mary Austin, Kathleen Clarke, Annie McWilliams. “This mural was unveiled by Gerry Adams MP 2nd May 2010” but Adams’s name has been scratched out from the (painted) low wall.

Glenalina Road, Ballymurphy, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
T00756

Talk Of Us As Though We Were Beside You

2012-01-142026-08-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Grieve not nor speak of us with tears but laugh and talk of us as though we were beside you”. Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann, Belfast brigade, 2nd battalion, B company volunteers Kevin Delaney, Patrick Campbell, Michael Clarke, Anne Parker, and Michael Sloan are shown on patrol in Ballymurphy Parade, the street just to the left of this mural. Campbell was 16 when killed by friendly fire; the oldest at time of death was Delaney, at 26.

Also named on the plaque are “republican activists” Esther Valelly, Theresa Campbell, and Maggie Campbell.

Glenalina Road, Ballymurphy, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
T00757 [T00765]

Our Demands Most Moderate Are

2012-01-082026-08-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The sixteen-year old Sınn Féın Trade Union Dept mural has been replaced (though the plaque remains in the top right-hand corner) with another mural featuring James Connolly but with a new quote, from his 1907 poem: “Our demands most moderate are/We only want the earth.” The Irish Worker headline reads “Belfast ITGWU organiser Connolly gets 905 votes municipal elections” referring to the municipal elections of 1913 – Connolly stood in the Dock Ward (SIPTU). At Connolly’s right hand are books by James Fintan Lalor (Clearing ~~The~~ Decks), William Thompson (Labour [Labor] Rewarded) and Karl Marx.

Above the mural is a painted board celebrating “women in struggle – generations shall remember them and call them blessed.” With images of female activists including Máıre Drumm, Maıréad Farrell, and Countess Markievicz.

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
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No Right In Ireland

2012-01-072026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“The British government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland.” (Last Statement, 1916)

“James Connolly 1868-1916 James Connolly was born in June 5th 1868. In 1810 he became organiser for the Irish Transport And General Workers Union in Belfast. In 1913 he co-founded the Irish Citizen Army. He was one of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation and commanded HQ in the GPO during the 1916 Rising. He was executed by the British on May 12th 1916.”

“Nora Connolly O’Brien 1893-1981 Nora Connolly was the 2nd daughter of James Connolly. Nora was a member of Cumann Na mBan and the Gaelic League in Belfast. She played an organisational role in the ICA in the run up to the 1916 Rising. She was a trade unionist and remained so throughout her life.”

The mural was launched on May 3rd, 2012.

For the gallery above the mural, see On The Brink Of Sectarian Disaster.

Clondara St, west Belfast

For close-ups of the upper banners and boards, see the Peter Moloney Collection.

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
T00725 T00724

Léana An Dúın – Unbowed Unbroken

2010-01-192026-07-29Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The main Lenadoon mural is refreshed and more portraits and a plaque added (on the right). The dying Cú Chulaınn (as portrayed in bronze by Oliver Sheppard, in a statue installed in the GPO in 1935) is used as a symbol for the locals from Lenadoon (including IRA volunteers) who fought for freedom (“saoırse”). They are listed on the scrolls to each side and in the portraits in the apex: Tony Henderson, John Finucane, Brendan O’Callaghan, Joe McDonnell, Laura Crawford, Maıréad Farrell, Patricia Black, Bridie Quinn (previously listed as Bridie O’Neill).

For the previous version (though without the three faces it initially had, of O’Callaghan, McDonnell, and Farrell) see M01934.

Lenadoon Avenue, Lenadoon, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2010 Paddy Duffy
T00537

Éırí Amach Na Casca

2010-01-142026-07-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Éırí Amach Na Cásca 1916 [Easter Rising 1916] mural is repainted (by DD and Seany McVeigh) due to the new doorway. Compare to the previous version. (See also the IRA plaque.)

Beechmount Avenue/Ascaıll Ard Na bhFeá/RPG Avenue, Beechmount, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2010 Paddy Duffy
T00525

Building An Ireland Of Equals

2010-01-132026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The aspect of Cave Hill commonly known as Napoleon’s Nose is shown sheltering the people of Newington, surrounded by heroes and emblems of the past – Bobby Sands, Wolfe Tone, and in the centre, Winifred Carney. This republican mural is both internally directed (at Newington and the New Lodge) and externally, being on the main Antrim Road (Oceanic avenue, on the side of the Sinn Féin office) which is a main artery between the city and points north.

“Ag aontú Caıtlıceach, Protastúnach agus Easaontóırí.” – “Uniting Catholic, Protestant, and Dissenter.” In An Argument On Behalf Of The Catholics Of Ireland (1791), Wolfe Tone of the United Irishmen wrote, “To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country, these were my objects. To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of past dissensions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman, in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter, these were my means.”

Pat ‘Beag’ McGeown

2000-01-012025-11-10Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Comrade, councillor, cara [friend].” Pat McGeown was a 1981 IRA hunger striker whose family intervened when he lapsed into a coma. After his release in 1985 he also worked for Sınn Féın and was elected to Belfast City Council in 1993. He died in 1996 of a heart attack. He is also remembered by a plaque on the Sınn Féın office on Falls Road.

Ballymurphy Road, west Belfast

Leana An Dúın Unbowed Unbroken

1999-01-012025-10-17Extramural Activity1 Comment

The dying Cú Chulaınn (as portrayed in bronze by Oliver Sheppard, in a statue installed in the GPO in 1935) is used as a symbol for the locals from Lenadoon area of west Belfast who fought for freedom (“saoırse”): Tony Henderson, John Finucane, Brendan O’Callaghan, Joe McDonnell, Laura Crawford, Maıréad Farrell, Patricia Black, Bridie O’Neill (subsequently changed to Bridie Quinn).

There were originally portraits of all nine people in the apex when the mural was launched in 1996, but only three remain.

Carrickhill Saoırse

1998-08-012025-11-03Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A dove carries the keys that would unlock the chains that are already being rent asunder by their manacled captive in “Ceıs Fada” [Long Kesh]. Part of the “green ribbon” campaign to release republican POWs under the terms of any peace agreement.