We Too Love Freedom

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“[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.

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Mac Dıarmada

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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.

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What Would Socrates Do?

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Holy Cross [Boys] Primary School [“HCPS”] distributes student into four “houses” within the school for motivational purposes but unlike the four houses of Hogwarts (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin) these are named for famous philosophers. Students in all seven years take one hour of philosophy a week – staff are trained by The Philosophy Foundation (HCPS Prospectus) – and they now have a mural just outside the school gates to encourage them in the four “R”s – “reflective, reasoned, responsive, re-evaluative”. The mural shows a student (Conor) sitting in the pose of Auguste Rodin’s Le Penseur/The Thinker, bringing to mind sayings of the four philosophers: (from left to right) “Quality is not an act, it is a habit” – Aristotle; “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think” – Socrates; “He who knows only his own side knows little” – JS Mill; “Philosophy begins in wonder” – Plato.

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Look After Each Other

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The former Ardoyne IRA memorial garden is now Ardoyne Youth Club’s ‘Garden Of Hope’, launched by Mayor John Finucane and actor Tim McGarry (‘Da’ from Give My Head Peace) on September 10th to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day – see second image, below. (The celtic cross went to the new (2017+) memorial garden between Bulter Walk and Herbert Street; the plaque’s location – see final image – is unknown.)

“Be strong enough [to stand alone, smart enough] to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it” is a quote from financier Ziad Abdelnour (whose ‘strong’ promises of return on investment made him the subject of an investigation by the [US] Securities & Exchange Commission). It is used here in modified form in this anti-suicide mural encouraging Ardoyne youth (and others) to seek help for depression from Lifeline, PIPS, Samaritans, Lighthouse, Bridge Of Hope, Extern, Suicide Awareness And Support Group, .

The other quote – “I believe that the basic attribute of mankind is to look after each other” – is from Fred Hollows, New Zealand-born ophthalmologist, initially famous for treating trachoma in Aborigines.

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Purity In Our Hearts

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The emblems in the corners read “Na Fıanna Éıreann Leanúnachas” or “The Continuity Fıanna”. The Irish National Boy Scouts or “junior IRA” were founded in 1909 by Bulmer Hobson and Countess Markievicz, who is at the centre of the photograph above. The Fıanna followed the Provisionals in 1969 and Republican Sınn Féın (and the Continuity IRA) in 1986 (Fianna History blog | Irish Examiner), while Provisional Fianna became Ógra Shınn Féın and then Sınn Féın Republican Youth (An Sionnach Fionn).

For the previous stencilling in this spot, see In The Cause Of Irish Freedom.

The tarp commemorates four teenaged members of Na Fıanna Éıreann who died in 1972 – Davy McAuley, Josh Campbell, Josie McComiskey and Bernard Fox – all four from Ardoyne/Ard Eoın. “Purity in our hearts, Strength in our arms, Truth in our lips.”

The painted emblem is on the other side of the Berwick Road.

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Old Is The New New

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“Ardoyne Stand With The People Of Palestine.” The central photograph is of 16-year-old Fawzi al-Junaidi, blindfolded and being marched away by 22 Israeli soldiers. Al-Junaidi was arrested for throwing stones in Hebron (West Bank) in December, 2017 (Independent).

This RNU (youtube) board is next to an Óglach Sean McCaughey board at the top of Berwick Road, Ardoyne, north Belfast.

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Welcome/Galleries

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Thank you visiting the Paddy Duffy Collection! This is one of three collections of images of murals curated by Extramural Activity, along with the Peter Moloney Collection and the Seosamh Mac Coılle Collection.

The galleries below provide a quick way to view the roughly 6,000 images added to Paddy’s collection so far. Write-ups with descriptions and background information for many individual images are also available – click on each image in the galleries for individual entries or use the search tools in the side-bar on the right (or simply keep scrolling).

1981
1982-1983
1988
1990
1993-1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2007
2008
2010
2011-2012 CNR
2011-2012 PUL
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026

Get Me Back To The Green Hill

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“Don’t let me body lie here – get me back to the green hill by Murlough, by the McCarry’s house, looking down on the Moyle. That’s where I’d like to be now, that’s where I’d like to lie. … Death is not dark but only deeper blue.” [Letter to Elizabeth “Eilis” Bannister, July 25th, 1916] Roger Casement was executed in Pentonville prison, in England, in 1916, for his role in gunrunning for the Rising, and his corpse was buried in the prison cemetery. Despite repeated requests for repatriation, it wasn’t until 1965 that the corpse was returned to Ireland – but to his home town of Dublin rather than to his beloved Murlough, where his cousins Eilis and Gertrude lived (in what was by then Northern Ireland): the corpse was released on condition that it not enter Northern Ireland, for fear of stoking political tensions between the sects (WP).

Casement Park, Andersonstown, west Belfast

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Kieran Doherty

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Kieran Doherty died on August 2nd, 1981, after 73 days on hunger-strike. The mural above depicts scenes from his funeral on 1981-08-04. The portrait of Doherty in the top left replaces a similar one in the same location; the plaque at the portrait’s top-right corner remains from before. The angled panel shows Doherty’s parents, Alfie and Margaret.

There is video of the launch on youtube.

The photograph on which the central panel is based is by Derek Spiers; see also this set at hungerstrikes.org. The volley took place outside the Doherty family home in nearby Commedagh Drive (Belfast Media).

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