Sean Russell Remembered
BY PAUL JOHNSTON
Local republicans braved the elements on Saturday, 18 August, to remember former IRA Chief of Staff Sean Russell, who died 61 years ago this year.
As the rain belted down, a wet, but high spirited group of local republicans and supporters set off on the short march from Dublin's Five Lamps to Fairview Park where a memorial stands tall, in honour of the local man who became Chief of Staff of the IRA.
The main speaker, Sinn Féin Ard Comhairle member and former POW Gerry McGeough, outlined the problems that faced the IRA of the late 1930s and explained how it took men like Russell to pick up the pieces. ``Republicans today should not overlook or take for granted the struggle that these people had,'' he said. ``These were rough, tough times, putting together an organisation that had been all but decimated, with members either dead, imprisoned or on hunger strike. Yet it was people like Russell who persevered, and his life is a testimony to them.''
Dublin Central Sinn Féin Councillor Nicky Kehoe spoke briefly on Dublin Sinn Féin's electoral strategy for the upcoming general election. He urged everybody to join their local Sinn Féin cumann and get involved, ``for there is plenty of work to be done''.
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