Gaeilge

The Pogrom Of August 1969

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This August marks the 50th anniversary of what are euphemistically called “The Troubles”. The Battle Of The Bogside (Derry) began on August 12th; in Belfast, fighting began on the night of August 14th and before dawn three people in the Divis Street area were dead: Protestant Herbert Roy and Catholics Patrick Rooney and Hugh McCabe, both shot in the Divis flats complex by the RUC’s Shorland armoured cars. (Two other Catholics were killed in rioting in Ardoyne.) This new board is on Divis tower, next to the plaque commemorating Rooney and McCabe.

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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06744 X06745 “Ar eagla go ndéanfadh muıd dearmad” [for fear we would forget/lest we forget] “erected by the falls commemoration committee” ‘time for truth” “malone road fiddles”  “barricades stay until demands are met”

Groves – Reilly Corner

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“Coırnéal Groves Reilly”. Throughout the Troubles the junction of the Glen and Falls Road was home to an intensely fortified RUC barracks. The barracks was demolished in 2005 and gradually redeveloped over the years. In January (2019) it was renamed in honour of activists Emma Groves and Clara Reilly who campaigned for decades against plastic bullets (Groves was blinded in 1972 by a plastic bullet fire by a Paratrooper) and founder members of Relatives For Justice (web). For images from the launch, see Irish Examiner.

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Time For Irish Unity

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Sınn Féın joined the IRSP ‘Yes For Unity’ campaign (Fb | tw) for a vote on Irish reunification with a shared meeting in late 2018 (Irish News). The two campaign boards shown here (at the Glen Road-Falls Road junction and at the top of the New Lodge) are in the same style of these two IRSP ‘Yes For Unity’ boards from 2018.

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Gateway To West Belfast

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Fáılte Feırste Thıar‘s second mural (the first is outside its offices in the middle Falls – see Go West) reinforces the claim that (republican) west Belfast begins as soon as you cross the motorway, five minutes’ walk from the city centre. Coıste’s tour of republican murals begins at Divis Tower and the new mural already seems to be drawing tourists – see the final image, below. The previous Coıste mural (M04900) has been deleted and incorporated into the mural, promising tourists “a unique walking tour by former political prisoners”.

The mural is a mix of landmarks – the new Raıdıó Fáılte building (which is located just below the mural), Divis tower, St Peter’s, Conway Mill, the so-called “international wall” of murals, the Bobby Sands mural, the Falls library, the new James Connolly centre, Cultúrlann, and Milltown cemetery – cultural images (Irish dancing and Féıle An Phobaıl) – and sporting images (clubs include Immaculata ABC, Gort Na Móna GAC, St Paul’s GAC). A gay pride ‘rainbow’ stripe runs below the Divis Street portion. Before the previous mural was painted (M07533), there was a Gateway To Belfast board at this spot.

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X06650 X06649 X06653 [X06651] Marty Lyons Micky Doherty

Fáılte Go Dtí Glengormley

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Irish-language signage was in the news recently after Antrim & Newtownabbey council threatened an 85-year-old Randalstown pensioner with a fine of up to 2,500 pounds if she failed to remove a street sign erected by her granddaughter (Irish Central). So far, no action has been taken by the same council against the Glengormley graffitist who added Irish to the new ‘welcome’ sign on the bridge near the Bellevue Arms, though without translating the placename: “Fáılte go dtí (Gleann Ghormlaıthe).” There is a matching sign at the other end of the area, on Sandyknowes roundabout.

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Lámh Chuıdıthe

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“Ag síneadh amach lámh chuıdıthe” [stretching out a helping hand] – this is a new Cogús [conscience] (Fb) republican prisoners office on Ardoyne Avenue.

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The Children Of The Nation

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“Cherish ALL of the children of the nation equally/Chomhchúram [sic] a dhéanamh do chlann UILE an náısıúın.” Pro-life tarp at the entrance to the library on Main Street, Dungiven, perhaps in reference to the 2018 referendum on abortion in the Republic (see Yes And No | Repeal Head).

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Bíodh An Chaınt Agaıbh

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“Have the talk” is a campaign encouraging people to use and learn Irish/Gaeılge from Conradh Na Gaeılge’s PEIG (Pobal – Eolas – Ilmheáın – Gaeılge) multimedia web site (Fb | tw). This advertising hoarding is in Belfast city centre.

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X06436 Clifton st

Go West!

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As you head west along Falls Road, you will pass by the three landmark buildings depicted in the mural above: Clonard Monastery, Cultúrlann McAdam-Ó Fıaıch (opposite this mural and the offices of Fáılte Feırste Thıar), and the entrance to Milltown Cemetery at the edge of Andersonstown. For the parts of the mural in Brighton Street, see The Conlan Revolution and Fáılte Feırste Thıar.

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X06338 X06341 brighton st marty lyons mickey doherty

The People’s Priest

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Edward Daly died in August 2016 and a memorial stone to his memory was quickly erected along Rossville Street, near the spot of Daly’s well-known intervention during Bloody Sunday, trying to lead victim jackie Duddy to safety. The stone was unveiled by two of the people portrayed in the Civil Rights mural in the background – John Hume and Ivan Cooper (Derry Now).

“The Peoples [sic] Priest. This garden of reflection has been dedicated in honor [sic] of the late Bishop Of Derry (Emeritus) Dr. Edward Daly in heartfelt gratitude and thanksgiving for the wonderful work for the people of Derry and beyond. Rest in peace. ‘To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means forgiving the unforgivable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.’ Is ceıst deacaır é sın. [That is a difficult question.]”

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