“Internment an injustice in Ireland today. 1971-2009. Stormont shame.” RNU [Republican Network for Unity] board on the rear of Free Derry Corner, with a fist in place of Carson’s statue on the road to Stormont.
“This plaque is dedicated to the memory of Ned Trodden, Sean Gaynor and John McFadden murdered by British Forces 26th September 1920. Also to the people of this area who suffered at the hands of the RIC who operated out of this commendeered [sic] building [i.e. the Beehive Bar] from 1920-1922.” For more on the trio’s deaths, see The RIC Murder Gang (here called “British Forces”).
Falls Road, Belfast, above the door of the Beehive
“Gabh Gaelach” [Go Gaelic]. “Is fearr Gaeılge bhrıste ná Béarla clıste” [Broken Irish is preferable to clever English]. “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam” [A land without a language is a land without a soul]. “Sí athghabháıl na Gaeilge athghabháıl na hÉıreann” [The repossession of Irish is the repossession of Ireland] – based on a quote by Máırtín Ó Cadhaın. Bunscoıl An tSléıbhe Dhuıbh [Black Mountain Primary School]. The mural on the gable celebrates 125 of the GAA, particularly local teams Cumman [sic] Spóırt An Phobaıl, Cardinal O’Donnell’s, Gort Na Móna, and Cumann Naomh Eoın.
Video of the Gabh Gaelach murals launch on August 3rd. Funding from the Re-Imaging Communities project with help from USDT and Glór Na Móna. Artists Lucas Quigley (gable), Fra Maher (left), Rıstead Ó Murchú (right).
Stories from mythical Ireland including Clann Lır, Oısín & Nıamh, and the Salmon Of Knowledge are depicted in a 2006 mural painted by Mo Chara with the children of the Whiterock Children’s Centre.
“Ballymurphy Massacre August 1971 – We demand the truth.” 11 Catholic civilians from Ballymurphy were shot and killed by British Army paratroopers on August 9th-11th, during the initial wave of internment. Father Hugh Mullan is shown among the flats waving a baby’s babygro/onesie as he goes to the aid of a wounded man (Bobby Clarke); having turned to go after giving him the last rites, he would be shot be a Paratrooper (depicted in the bottom right corner with distinctive beret).
Fr Hugh Mullan, Paddy McCarthy, Frank Quinn, Joseph Murphy, Noel Philips, John Lavrty, Joan Connolly, Joe Corr, Daniel Teggart, John McKerr, Eddie Doherty
Gerard ‘Mo Chara’ Kelly first painted a mural of King Nuada in 1987, a year after being released from Long Kesh. He reproduced an illustration by Jim Fitzpatrick on a gable wall in Springhill (see images from 1987 | 1988 | 1989). This post-peace version is on the side-wall of the Whiterock Road Spar and was painted as statement of Kelly’s own rebirth after ceasing to work with funding agencies such as the Upper Springfield Development Trust. The third and fourth images are from 2008 and show the mural in an early state; the mural as shown above in 2009 is in fact still not complete – the bottom and left-hand side are unfinished. See these 2010 images for the full effect.
Portraits of Seamus Costello (INLA/IRSP founder), Gino Gallagher (INLA chief of staff), Che, Patsy O’Hara, Miriam Daly, James Connolly on the Springfield Road turn-around.
11 Catholic civilians from Ballymurphy were shot and killed by British Army paratroopers on August 9th-11th, during the initial wave of internment. Father Hugh Mullan, the second to be killed, is shown in the cross-hairs of a rifle’s sight, waving a baby’s onesie as he goes to the aid of a wounded man (Bobby Clarke). “Time for truth, time for justice. The families demand … an international independent investigation surrounding all of the deaths … the British government to issue a statement of innocence and a public apology.” “57 children left without a parent. Hundreds [of other children never got to meet their granny, granda, aunt or uncle.]” The blank panel is for “Family Messages”.
For the anti-joy-riding board on the gable, see Where’s The Joy?