“Ireland unfree shall never be at peace” (from Pearse’s oration at the funeral of O’Donovan Rossa), with the Tricolour and Sunburst (flag of the junior IRA, the Fianna) on pikes.
Brompton Park, north Belfast
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
M01782
“David Devine, Michael Devine, Charles Breslin – murdered by SAS cowards.” The three IRA members, aged 16, 22, and 20, were shot by SAS soldiers while returning arms to a dump in a field outside Strabane on February 23rd, 1985. The incident prompted accusations of a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy, as there was no attempt at arrest.
Springhill Park, Strabane
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
M01722
“And all around are monuments that bear a martyr’s name/True patriots who fought and died to kindle freedoms flame/Jimmy Quigley, [Eamonn] McCormick and [Teddy] O’Neill with [Michael] Magee brave/Remember them, they died for us and found a martyr’s grave.” The words of Ray McAreavey’s song are modified to include four Ballymurphy IRA/Fıanna volunteers. With additional portraits of local stalwarts Alice Franklin and Mary Fegan.
Divismore Way, Ballymurphy, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
M01648
Copyright © 2004 Peter Moloney
M02239 M02240
Here is a 2002 image of the colourful Bobby Sands mural Sevastopol Street, Belfast. For lots more info, see the original post on this mural.
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
M01623
“Éıre Nua” was (and is) the name of a Sınn Féın plan (pdf | also a social and economic plan pdf) for a federal Ireland, with a semi-independent Ulster parliament; Republican Sınn Féın split off in 1986 and – like Na Fıanna Éıreann and Continuity IRA – still supports the vision outlined in it. Notable here is the inclusion of a (now-defunct) web address.
Divis Street, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
M01619
The Sınn Féın offices and shop on the Falls Road at Sevastopol Street were torn down and rebuilt in 2000. A mural had been on the gable wall since 1982, initially advertising An Phoblacht/Republican News, and later included Bobby Sands. (1989 white | 1990 blue)
The mural on the new gable, shown above, removes the full An Phoblacht/Republican News masthead and instead includes the visual part of it (most prominent in the earliest mural on the wall An Phoblacht – Official Organ): the crest of 1798’s United Irishmen – “Equality” and “It is new strung and shall be heard” around a Maid Of Erin harp and the cap of liberty.
Otherwise the wall is devoted to “Irish republican, revolutionary, poet, Gaeligeoir, visionary” Bobby Sands/Roıbeaırt Ó Seachnasaıgh, adding another famous saying of his, namely “our revenge will be the laughter of our children” alongside “everyone, republican or otherwise, has their own particular part to play”. [Diary, March 14th, 1981]
The mural also adds a border of breaking chains (and a lark) and (not visible in the apex) a phoenix and the word “saoırse”. The multi-coloured border is perhaps the most unusual element, working with the sky-blue background and Sands’s smiling face to give the mural a positive feel.
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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
M01489
A call for the release of republican political prisoners, with an explicit list of prisons: Whitemoor, Frankland, Belmarsh, Full Sutton (all four in England), Long Kesh, Maghaberry, Portlaoise, USA. Green ribbon, dove with keys, Tricolours on pikes, Long Kesh skyline.
Port Road, Letterkenny
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Copyright © 1998 Peter Moloney
M01374
The third of three figures from the Society of United Irishmen to be featured in the New Lodge is William Steel Dickson. He was adjutant-general of the County Down Irishmen (see the blue plaque in Portaferry M08948) and was arrested a few days before the insurrection (WP). Like Henry Joy and Mary Ann McCracken and William Drennan, he is buried in Clifton Street Cemetery. New Lodge Road, Belfast.
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Copyright © 1997 Peter Moloney
M01350
Portraits of, and quotes from, Mary Ann McCracken (“What a wonderful clamour is now raised at the name of union, when in reality there has always been such a union between England and this country, as there is between husband and wife by which the former has the power to oppress the latter.”) and her older brother Henry Joy McCracken (“These are the times that try men’s souls … the rich always betray the poor.”). The two – sister and brother – were Presbyterians and republicans. Henry led the Antrim uprising of the United Irishmen in 1798 and was executed for it; Mary Ann was an abolitionist and social reformer.
New Lodge Road, north Belfast
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Copyright © 1997 Peter Moloney
M01348
William Drennan, 1754-1820, was a doctor, poet, Presbyterian, one of the founders of the Society of United Irishmen, and the first person to refer to Ireland as “the Emerald Isle”, in his poem When Erin First Rose. The words in this mural are the epitaph on his stone in Clifton Street Cemetery: “Pure, just, benign. Thus filial love would trace the virtues, hollowing [sic] this narrow space. The Emerald Isle may grant a wider claim and link the patriot with his country’s name.”
Ludlow Square, New Lodge, north Belfast.
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Copyright © 1997 Peter Moloney
M01349
Peter Moloney Collection 