Bobby Sands

Cuımhníonn An Srath Bán Orthu Go Deo

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“Strabane remembers them forever” – the dead of the “unfinished revolution, unfinished business” of the 1916 Easter Rising. The central image on the large tarp is a modified version of the 1941 stamp designed by Victor Brown showing an armed volunteer outside the GPO (stampboards).

The IRPWA (web) board reads, “Gavin Coyle – 4+ years in solitary confinement. End the isolation in MagHaberry.” Coyle is serving ten years for possession of arms and explosives and is now charged with the 2008 death of off-duty PSNI officer (Guardian | BBC).

The hand-made board reads, “End RUC-PSNI harassment”. For the small mural to the right, see Bobby & Che.

The board in the adjacent Townsend Street commemorates both the 1916 signatories – “We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland” – and Troubles-era volunteers Charles Breslin, Michael Devine, and David Devine.

Fountain Street and Townsend Street, Strabane

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Copyright © 2016 Peter Moloney
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Poet, Gaeılgeoır, Revolutionary, IRA Volunteer

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April 1st:

The Bobby Sands mural in Sevastopol Street has been given a facelift, including the blocking-up of a vent on Sands’s left cheek. Kieran Doherty and Joe McDonnell have been added in place of the 1798 medallions on each side. On the side-wall are Sean McCaughey, ten doves representing the 1981 hunger-strikers, and Long Kesh. Aerosol‘s accordion-player stencil has been also been retained, on the right.

For a full history of the wall, see the Bobby Sands (Sevastopol Street) Visual History page.

The ‘Slí Na Gaeltachta’ plaque off to the left reads:

Ag sráıd Sevastopol cuımhnıtear ar Bobby Sands ı múrmhaısıú a aithnıtear ar fud an domhaın. Ba scrıbhneoır, file, réabhlóıdí agus díograıseoır Gaeılge é Sands. Fuaır sé bas 5 Bealtaıne 1981 tar éıs 66 lá ar stailc ocraıs. As ucht na dıograıse a thaıspeáın Sands agus a chomhchımí ı leıth fhoglaım na teanga faoı choınníollacha uafásacha Bhlocanna H na Ceıse Fada, spreagadh glúın úr chun dul ı mbun athghabháıl na Gaeılge.

Here at Sevastopol Street Bobby Sands is remembered in a mural which has become world-renowned. Sands, a writer, poet, revolutionary and Gaelic enthusiast, died on May 5th 1981 after 66 days on hunger strike. Sands and his fellow prisoners inspired a new generation to reclaim the Irish language enthusing them by the huge efforts they put into learning Irish in the horrendous conditions on the H Blocks of Long Kesh.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Suaımhneas Síorraí Dóıbh

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Here are a number of republican pieces from Roslea/Rosslea, Co Fermanagh:

“In proud memory of Vol. Bobby Sands MP Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann. Elected by the people of this constituency 9th April 1981. Died after 66 days on hungerstrike 5th May 1981. ‘I’ll wear no convict’s uniform/Nor meekly serve my time/That Britain might brand Ireland’s fight/Eight hundred years of crime’. Fuaır sé bás ar son saoırse muıntır na hÉıreann.”

Sands’s poem The Rhythm Of Time is at the centre of portraits of the twelve dead hunger strikers in the Troubles era; the board was mounted in 2011 for the thirtieth anniversary of the 1981 strike. The text at the bottom includes this line: “The use of the hunger-strike by Irish republicans began when James Connolly, while imprisoned during the 1913 ‘lock-out’, went on hunger strike.”

“This monument was erected on the bicentenary of the 1798 rebellion in memory of John Treanor 24-4-1797, Bernard McMahon 12-10-1797, Patrick Smyth 12-19-1797, John Connolly 12-10-1797, Connie Green 26-11-1955, Tony Ahern 10-5-1973, Seamus McElwain 26-4-1986. Suaımhneas síorraí dóıbh. [eternal rest [be] upon them] ‘To break the connection with England the never failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country’ – Wolfe Tone, August 1796 [‘An Argument on Behalf of the Catholics of Ireland by a Northern Whig’, September, 1791]”

Church Street and Finn Park, Roslea/Rosslea

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Our Unforgotten Comrades

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“In memory of the unforgotten comrades who died on hungerstrike in the H-Blocks for the cause of Irish freedom. Síochá[ı]n Dé orthu. [Our] revenge will be the laughter of our children – Bobby Sands”.

Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg, who died in English prisons in the 1970s, are included below the ten deceased 1981 hunger-strikers.

Main Street/Galloon Gardens, Newtownbutler

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Resistance

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The three images employed here are: a scene from Grafton Street in the Battle Of Dublin in the civil war (1922) (irishhistory.blogspot.com), PIRA volunteers on patrol in 1987 (top right), and (bottom left) a home-made rocket-launcher used in a 2014 attack on police (see, e.g. irishmirror.ie).

“There can never be peace in Ireland until the foreign, oppressive British presence is removed leaving all of the Irish people as a unit to control their own affairs and determine their destinies as a sovereign people, free in mind and body, separate and distinct physically, culturally and economically.” Bobby Sands (Prison Diary May 1st)

Ardoyne Avenue, north Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Lá Na nIarchımí

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“Nor meekly serve my time. Ex-prisoner’s day – Lá na nIarchımí. Friday 9th August. Photographic Exhibition, Discussions, 1-3 pm, Family Fun Day. Our revenge will be the laughter of our children.”

At the Felons Club, Falls Road, Andersonstown, Belfast. The painted board above the tarp can be seen in The Birth Of The Irish Republic.

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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They Cannot Break Our Spirit

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“‘They cannot or never will break our spirit …’ – Bobby Sands. [A paraphrasing of a line from day 6 of Sands’s hunger strike diary.] ‘Tiocfaidh ár lá’.”

The back of the Springhill memorial garden is decorated for the 30th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike in which ten republican prisoners died in the H-Blocks.

Springhill Avenue, Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Peter Moloney
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