“Disband the RUC.” A fortune-teller sees the path to peace in an Irish News headline in her crystal ball: “RUC disbanded. New community peace force established”. Reform or replacement of the RUC is one of the top nationalist concerns in the peace process, after the release of POWs.
Market Street, Markets, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00349
This is a fake mural, painted for the film The Most Fertile Man In Ireland (O’Connell 2005) which is set in Belfast. The mural doesn’t seem to have made the final cut but there’s another fake mural – Gloria Hunniford and Robert Emmet together in a frame of Celtic knot-work – at 7m40s, and another at 52m44s. You can play ‘spot the location’ for yourself by watching the film on youtube.
This one combines the Union Flag, Irish tricolour, Ulster Banner, and shape of the UVF emblem, with portraits of Ellen DeGeneres, Billy Jean King, KD Laing and Queen Elizabeth I.
(h/t Jonathan McCormick – Album 8)
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00345
“”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
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01196
On the left, volunteers from the Red Hand Commando with bare faces stand with lowered flags beside a plinth “in memory of Ulster’s fallen”.
On the right, “In memory of Ulster’s fallen.” “Lamh dearg abu” [= “Lámh dhearg abú”] [= “Red Hand to victory”], “Ulster to victory”, “It is not for glory or riches we fight but for our people” (from the Declaration Of Arbroath). With the insignia of the Red Hand Commando and a pair of bald-headed eagles.
Glenwood Street, upper Shankill, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01184 T01187
UDA/UFF volunteers wearing balaclavas kneel, and stand with lowered weapons, “In memory of fallen comrades south Belfast brigade”.
Lemberg Street, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00269
“South Belfast 2nd Battalion B Company Village”. Hooded gunmen from the UVF take aim at the viewer.
Tavanagh Street, Village, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01191
“In loving memory of fallen volunteers [from the] Ulster Volunteer Force Belfast Brigade, Donegall Road 2nd Battalion, A Coy”. The two plaques unfortunately cannot be read.
The side wall shows volunteers with lowered weapons flanking a memorial “In proud and loving memory of Vol. Stevie McCrea, Friend Sammy Mehaffy”.
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00445
Crouching gunmen from the YCV/UVF are ready to defend the Village.
Broadway, the Village, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00444
Unfinished UVF mural on Broadway in the Village, south Belfast.
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00428
“Ulster Young Militants – The Village Team – South Belfast Brigade” with flags of the UDA and UFF.
Broadway, the Village, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
T00265
