“Free our prisoners.” “LPA” is the “Loyalist Prisoners Association”. Its symbol (in the second image) is a red hand in barbed wire. In the main mural, a pair of red hands are in shackles and the fences of the Maze are superimposed on an outline of Northern Ireland filled in with the walls of the Maze/Long Kesh.
Lord Street, east Belfast
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
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“4000 years of Ulster-Scots history and heritage. Ulster & Scotland – shared language, shared literature, shared culture.” 400 years takes us back to the plantation; 4000 years suggests an even deeper connection.
Ulster-Scots was included in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement under the principle of support for “linguistic diversity”. This mural celebrating Ulster-Scots and ties between Northern Ireland and Scotland dates to 1999, with the crests of St Andrew and St Patrick on the left, and an Ulster Banner and Scottish lion rampant on the right.
“Dinnae houl yer wheest, houl yer ain!” [Don’t hold your tongue, hold your own!]
Templemore Street, east Belfast
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
M02321
“You are now entering loyalist Sandy Row, heartland of South Belfast Ulster-Freedom [sic] Fighters”. The background of the large mural at the junction of Linfield Road and Sandy Row, Belfast, is repainted blue (from its original yellow.)
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney M02286
Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney M02970
Bouquets of tricoloured flowers are placed on the Free Ireland mural at the corner of Beechmount Avenue and Falls Road, Belfast. A hand clasping an Easter lily is manacled by bonds “Made in Britain”. The mural is now in its fifteenth year. For the plaque, see the original 1990 post.
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
M02284
Joe Cahill joined the Fianna in 1937 and was involved in the republican movement from then until his death in 2004, including being in Tom Williams’s company in 1942 and later a founder member and Chief of Staff of the Provisional IRA. In the centre of the image he is at the end of the table at the August 13, 1971, press conference to comment on the introduction of internment (CAIN). He is honoured in the mural above alongside his brothers Tom and Frank Cahill. (Pat O’Hare is painted between Tom and Frank.)
In the top left are small boards with portraits of Ned Maguire Snr, Ned Maguire Jnr, Sam Holden, Dal Delaney, Rita McParland, Paddy Meenan, Paddy Corrigan, Sean Wallace, John Petticrew, Alex Crowe.
“Never will they label our liberation struggle as criminal – Bobby Sands [March 6th Diary].”
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
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The handgun is “authorised by MI5” and “approved on behalf of her majesty’s government”.
Quote from Gusty Spence: “[There was] An element of the UVF [reconstituted in 1935 and some] were covertly enlisted by the Ulster Government at a fee of ten shillings a day to promote a sectarian war …”. (Balaclava Street)
The report of the Stevens Inquiry was published in 2003 and the Cory reports in 2004; both concluded that there had likely been collusion between the RUC and loyalist paramilitaries and called for public inquiries into specific cases.
Whiterock Road, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
M02272
“Freedom fighters outside the GPO – Easter Rising 1916”. Connolly, Pearse, and Markievicz lead the attack on the GPO. Markievicz was in fact at St Stephen’s Green.
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
M02271
“Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” was a slogan used during the French Revolution of 1789. The Society Of United Irishmen was inspired by both the American and French revolutions. It was founded in 1791 and planned to rebel when French troops arrived. 15,000 attempted to land unsuccessfully in 1796 and only a thousand were involved in 1798. South Link, Belfast
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Copyright © 2004 Peter Moloney
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10 year anniversary image (1994 – 2004) of No Plastic Bullets on the Whiterock Road, west Belfast.
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Copyright © 2004 Peter Moloney
M02235
A ‘green ribbon’ campaign mural in Springfield Avenue, Belfast, with the classic portrait of a Long Kesh/H Block hunger striker.
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Copyright © 2004 Peter Moloney
M02233
