painted wall – Page 119 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Republican Women

1999-01-012025-11-06Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

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

It Is New Strung And Shall Be Heard

1999-01-012025-11-06Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

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]

Joe McDonnell

1999-01-012025-12-12Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

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

The Final Salute

1999-01-012025-11-06Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

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

We Demand The Truth!

1999-01-012025-11-05Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“We demand the truth! International investigation into the death of Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson.” Finucane and Nelson were both solicitors with nationalist and republican clients. Finucane was shot by the UDA in front of his wife and three children in 1989; RUC collusion was immediately suspected (and the weapon came from a UDR armoury) (WP). Nelson was killed by an LVF (“Red Hand Defenders”) car-bomb in March, 1999 (WP); the report of the eventual inquiry into her death can be found at CAIN. The allegation in the illustration here is that when the mask of loyalist “murder gangs” is lowered, the Orange Order and RUC are found behind it. “Disband the RUC”

Ardoyne Avenue, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00365

Leonard Peltier

1999-01-012025-11-05Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Leonard Peltier, Native American US political prisoner. “We must stand together to protect the rights of others. No child to go hungry, no woman denied the right to earn a living, no person denied health care or education, no prisoner held for political reasons.”” (The quote appears in a letter on Peltier’s web site.) Peltier, a member of the American Indian Movement, was convicted of the shooting of two FBI agents in a shootout at Pine Ridge in 1975 and sentenced to two life terms (WP).

Hillman Street, New Lodge, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00325

James Buchanan

1999-01-012025-11-14Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“”My Ulster blood is my most priceless heritage …” – James Buchanan 15th US president 1857-1861″. This is the first of the murals in the “From pioneers to presidents” series to be painted in Belfast, depicting James Buchanan. Three murals had already been painted in Londonderry, to Theodore Roosevelt, James Buchanan (which contains more information about Buchanan and his heritage), and George Washington.

The words along the bottom read, “250,000 Ulster Scots emigrated to America in the 1700s and were the driving force behind the American Revolution.”

The small plaque to the right reads, “Shankill Ulster-Scots Cultural Society. The Buchanan Mural. This mural was dedicated to the memory of those early Ulster-Scots emigrants by Ms Jane Benton Fort, US Consul General, on Thursday November 4th, 1999. Sae monie hairts gaed far frae hame – bot ilka yin oor ain fowk [So many hearts went far from home – but every one [is/remains] our own folk]. This project was funded by Belfast City Council and Making Belfast Work.”

See the Visual History page on Ulster-Scots Murals.

Ainsworth Street, Woodvale, west Belfast