“Strength in our hearts, strength of our limbs, consistency of our tongues.” “Na Fianna Ard Eoin 1909-2009 – one hundred years of resistance. In proud memory Fian Davy McAuley … Josh Campbell … Josie McComiskey … Bernard Fox. ‘You may kill the revolutionary, but never the revolution.’ Dedicated by the Republican Network for Unity.” The four deceased are portrayed on four small boards, along with standing figures of Fianna from both centuries.
“I ndil chuimhne Fian John Dempsey killed in action 8th July 1981. Unveiled by his family 5th May 2003. Proudly remembered by his comrades and friends from Turf Lodge. Mol na nóige [mol an óige] agus tiocfaidh sí.” The sixteen-year-old Dempsey was shot by a British Army sniper during an attack on the Falls bus depot. Gerry Adams wrote a memorial in An Phoblacht.
The scroll reads “Out of the ashes of 1969” arose the Provisional IRA, but the lineage is a long one and all but one of the organisations, events, and arms depicted here precede 1969: Cumann na mBan, Na Fianna Éireann, Óglaigh Na hÉireann, a Celtic shield and sword, a pike (from the 1798 Rebellion), a Thompson gun, the Tricolour; only the assault rifle is modern and perhaps also is meant to indicate the Provisionals, Belfast Brigade. “Fuair siad bás as son saoirse na hÉireann.”
“In memory of Fian Gerald McAuley (aged 15) killed while defending the people of Clonard on the 15th August 1969. Erected by the Greater Clonard Ex-Prisoners Association.” McAuley was killed during the riots in August 1969 that mark the start of “the Troubles” (An Phoblacht). The plaque is near the spot where he was killed. His portrait was above the No Decommision mural and then in the Never Again mural in Bombay Street.
Commemorating “one hundred years of resistance” (1909-2009) in Berwick Road, Ardoyne: a plaque to Fianna Davy McAuley, Josh Campbell, Josie McComiskey, and Bernard Fox, all of whom died in 1972. “You may kill the revolutionary, but never the revolution.” “Dedicated by the Republican Network For Unity.”
“Na Fianna Éireann. 1909-2009. In this centenary year of the formation of Na Fiannan [sic] Éireann by Countess Markievicz we celebrate and commemorate our fallen youth from the Ballymurphy area. Fuair siad bás ar son saoirse na hÉireann.” Doyle, McCormack. Campbell, Dougal, Sloand, Magee, McWilliams, Dempsey also Cumann na gCailíní Mackin and McGartland. “The Fianna saw themselves as a youth organsiation dedicated to establishing Ireland’s independence. This plaque was unveiled by Seán Adams & Martin Dudley 8th August 2009.” Springhill Avenue, Belfast.
Na Fianna Éireann are the youth wing of the IRA. After Sinn Féin split into Republican into Provisional elements (in 1986), the Fianna disassociated itself from the Provisionals. Ógra Shinn Féin was founded in 1997 as the youth wing of Sinn Féin. This board is perhaps meant to reclaim the name and history of the Fianna for Sinn Féin. Please comment or get in touch if you can explain further.
For the 100th anniversary of Fianna Éireann, a memorial mural on Racecourse Road, Derry, to Fianna G. McAuley, Sloan, McCormick, Donaghy, D. McAuley, O’Riordan, Magee, Campbell, Dougal, Molloy, Comiskey, Fox, Hughes, Marley, McCrory, Alsop, Templeton, McCauley, O’Neill, McWilliams, Dempsey. The names are listed in the order of death, from earliest to latest, beginning with fifteen-year-old Gerald McAuley who was shot dead in Clonard (Belfast) in 1969, and ending with John Dempsey shot on the Falls Road (Belfast) in 1981. “Fuair siad bás ar son saoirse na hÉireann”.
“Fuair siad bás ar son saoirse na hÉireann” [they died for the freedom of Ireland]. Na Fianna Éireann [warriors of Ireland; IRA youth] were begun in 1909 by Countess Markievicz and Belfast man Bulmer Hobson (WP). They took part in the Easter Rising of 1916. The role of honour lists deaths from 1969 to 1984 – the Troubles. After the Agreement, the Fianna are affiliated with Republican Sinn Féin and the Continuity IRA. At the corner of Beechmount Avenue and the Falls Road – see the Visual History of this wall.
peter moloney collection 