The Irish Republican Prisoners Committee (IRPC) is currently without any web or social-media presence, but it recently mounted this board in Northumberland Street, Belfast. As with all post-Agreement murals for republican prisoners, it uses only barbed wire and not the lark.
History Hub Ulster and Larne Urban District Council are conducting a search for additional names of residents from the Larne area who died in WWI, to add to the 147 included on the war memorial in Inver. The dead are also remembered in this wrap-around mural in Milbrook. We will have close-ups of the different panels and plaques tomorrow. For images of the launch, see the Friends of the 36th – Cairncastle facebook page.
Action Against Drugs (AAD) is a anti-drugs organisation of former IRA members and perhaps using IRA weapons. The ‘recruitment’ graffiti and warning to drug-dealers shown above is at the junction of Albert Street and Divis Street in west Belfast.
The Hill Street Bar Band, originally painted by Glen Molloy (Fb) on the hoarding around a the construction at the Harp bar, has relocated to the courtyard of the Dark Horse. Shown above are Nathan Connolly, Una Healy, (and Gary Lightbody); below are Van Morrison, Bap Kennedy, Brian Kennedy, Fatboy Slim.
Óglach Charlie Hughes was O.C. of PIRA D Company (“the dogs”) in west Belfast. He was killed in March 1971 as part of the feud between the OIRA and the Provisionals. PIRA volunteers, including Charlie and cousin Brendan Hughes (“The Dark”), had burned down OIRA drinking den The Burning Embers, across from Charlie’s house on Balkan Street, and were moving on to The Cracked Cup on Leeson Street, but were met with gunfire. Hughes was killed later that night, after a ceasefire had been agreed, by a single shot (WP | a 2002 account by The Dark). The mural replaces the small ‘1921’ tarp (see Do Not Touch).
The two derelict houses at the top of the Springfield Road have had a make-over, with a paint-job and fake windows showing curtains and lamps. As can be seen in the two images below, the sides remain the same, with the Ballymurphy Massacre on one side and the Mass Graves Of Ireland mural on the other. Here’s a “before” view on Google Maps.
The Irish Republican History Museum in Conway Mill board has returned to the so-called “International Wall” after the 1916 commemorative murals. The board is new (though it conveys the same information as before) and the painting of the cell has been given some details.
The museum is named for Eileen Hickey, a Provisional IRA member who served time in Armagh prison (An Phoblacht obituary), a cell of which is depicted in the image above. Hickey’s portrait is included in a mural opposite the museum.
“Between The Meadows And The Mountain” is a new work by Jodi Coyne (with help from the students at Coláıste Feırste) covering the Brian O’Doherty sculpture “Teanga – Aıslıng An Phobaıl“. The work depicts the four seasons and is covered in an Irish-English dictionary of terms related to nature (third image). Forbaırt Feırste have images of the launch.
Féıle An Earraıgh – the spring festival in advance of this summer’s Féıle An Phobaıl – includes a series of talks and tours examining the killing of the Gibraltar 3 (l-r, Maıréad Farrell, Daniel McCann, and Seán Savage) and the deaths of (l-r) Kevin Brady/Caoımhín Mac Brádaıgh, John Murray, and Thomas McErlean at the funeral, and (two days earlier) Kevin McCracken. Yesterday (March 6th) was the 30th anniversary (“comóradh 30 blıaın”) of the Gibraltar killings and the date was noted by the launch of the mural above, at the site of the old Andersonstown RUC station. The photograph in the bottom right was reproduced in the 25th anniversary mural.
Since the 14th, the Time For Truth Committee on its Facebook page has been rolling out videos by relatives who lost family members to British Army or loyalist paramilitary attacks during the Troubles. This Saturday, February 25th, sees a march in support of their call for investigations into these and other deaths. “Fírınne anoıs! Ceartas anoıs!” (Truth now! Justice now!)