Patrick Kelly - killed by British neglect
Sadness in Killenard as Pat Kelly began his last journey
Patrick Kelly was 45 on 12 April this year. Many another former
republican prisoner has been released at such an age and has gone
on to live a full and active life. But Pat Kelly was released to
die and it was the deliberate neglect of the British Home Office
which led to his death.
Hundreds of people gathered last Friday 13 April in Killenard,
County Laois to sympathise with the family and friends of Pat
Kelly as they brought him to his last resting place. He was
buried in the family plot with his parents Elizabeth and Patrick.
It was in Garryvacum, Killenard that he was born and reared. He
went to the local national school. His brother Peter described
him as just an ordinary lad from County Laois, a man of simple
tastes. He worked from an early age on the family farm and then
as a truck driver and owned his own vehcicle. He liked country
music and worked in America and England.
But Patrick Kelly was also a republican and his commitment led
him to volunteer for active service with the IRA. His arrest in
London in November 1992 was the beginning of a long ordeal.
The ordeal came to an end on the evening of 11 June when Pat
died. His partner Angela and daughter Sarah, his brothers and
sisters, his friends and comrades suffered the loss. Sinn Féin
President Gerry Adams spoke for all republicans when he said in
reaction to the death:
``Despite serious ill-health Pat never gave up and continued to
provide inspiration to people everywhere, particularly all those
who campaigned so strenuously for his release. His death is a sad
loss to all of us.
``Pat's death highlights in the most tragic way possible the
attitude of the British government to Irish Republican prisoners.
Despite the British knowing for months the full extent of Pat's
serious illness they refused to give him the obviously urgent
medical treatment which he required and kept him in the appalling
conditions of the Special Secure Unit. The callous neglect and
deliberate inaction of the British government clearly contributed
to his death.
``The fact that this was going on while an IRA cessation was in
place is a stark example of the British government's attitude to
the peace process. Pat Kelly's death gives an added urgency and
impetus to the need to address the question of prisoners and
their treatment, particularly those held in jails in England.''
News of Pat's death was followed by Sinn Féin protest vigils on
12 June outside Belfast City Hall and the British Embassy in
Dublin and on 15 June outside Downing Street in London. Sinn Féin
spokesperson on prison issues Councillor Michael Browne placed
the blame for the death squarely at the door of former British
Home Secretary Michael Howard: ``Had he shown the slightest degree
of humanity Paddy Kelly would in all probability have made a
satisfactory recovery.''
It was as a republican, a former prisoner and a family man that
Pat was honoured on the day of his burial. Republicans from all
over the country, including many former political prisoners, took
part in the funeral. MPs Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness and TD
Caoimhghin O Caoláin were in attendance. The crowd followed the
coffin, draped in the Tricolour and beret and gloves of an IRA
Volunteer, from the church of St John the Evangelist to the grave
in the adjoining churchyard. Depite prior agreements with the
family to have a discreet presence there was an overbearing
number of Special Branch and uniformed gardai. At least 50
detectives were counted and their cars crowded the car-park
opposite the church.
Brian Stanley of Laois Sinn Féin chaired the graveside ceremony.
He said people in Laois should be proud of such a republican as
Pat Kelly. Among the many wreaths laid were a number from
republican prisoners in jails in Ireland and Britain. The Last
Post was sounded by a bugler and a piper played a lament.
Earlier that morning in another Laois town, in Portlaoise Prison,
republican prisoners gathered to pay tribute to their fallen
comrade. Mick O'Brien of Dublin, who shared prisons in England
with Pat, delivered a tribute. Among his memories were the
following:
``He was always cheerful and willing to have a `bit of craic',
doing his utmost to make prison life bearable for his comrades.
With new prisoners arriving, he immediately made them feel at
ease. Many will fondly remember his unmistakeable Laois accent
booming around the wings. He'd always cheer everyone up with his
battle-cry `Lads, there's better days coming.'
``Pat was never afraid to enter into political debate with his
comrades and on one memorable occasion was more than a match for
Dr Mo Mowlam MP, now a British Secretary of State in the occupied
Six Counties, when she had discussions with republican prisoners
in England.''
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