Republican News · Thursday 18 April 2002

Proud to be here

BY FERN LANE

Even Martin McGuinness, famously unfazeable, seemed almost overcome by the enormity of the occasion as he stood against the huge black and gold backdrop of the names of the Roll of Honour and surveyed the gathering of some 2,500 people in the grandeur of the banqueting hall of the City West hotel in Dublin on Saturday. "Were you ever proud to be a republican?" he asked - a question greeted by voluble affirmation.

They had come together for Tírghrá, an historic event organised so that republicans could pay tribute to the families of all the fallen Volunteers of the IRA and all the republican activists who have lost their lives in the course of the struggle in the recent years.

"This is easily the most amazing republican gathering that I have ever been at," said McGuinness in his welcoming address. "It is a tribute to all those people who have been involved in the organisation. The atmosphere here is absolutely electric."

And specifically to the families of the republican dead, he said: "More important than the speeches, or the content of the speeches, is the fact that you are here; you, the families and loved ones of those who gave their lives in the struggle for Irish freedom. I'm so proud to be here with you, so proud to be associated with you."

Ireland is changing, he went on, and changing "because of the sacrifices which were made by the Volunteers and those republicans who gave their lives in the ongoing struggle. There are more republicans in Ireland today than at any time in our history, and that is because of commitment and courage - and the sacrifices which republicans down the years were prepared to make.

"I certainly know, coming from the northern part of our country, that the nationalist people are up on their feet like they have never been up on their feet before; they are confident, they are assertive and they know where they are going. And the reason they have that confidence is because of the leadership provided by young men and women who were ready to stand up and say 'we are not prepared to accept second class citizenship in our country'.

"So our message to the British government and the unionists is that those days are gone and they are never coming back"

Sinn Féin National Organiser Eamonn Nolan and renowned actress Fionnula Flanagan, perhaps best known for her role as a hunger striker's mother in the movie Some Mother's Son, acted as Fear agus Bean an Tí, respectively, on the night

As former POW Eamonn Nolan and actress Fionnuala Flanagan, Fear and Bean an Tí, respectively, called out the names of each of the dead from the stage, 20 representative republicans, including Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Bairbre de Brún and Michelle Gildernew, moved among the relatives. They presented a nominated family member with a copy of Robert Ballagh's commemorative work of a bronze lily mounded on a granite block inscribed with the name of their loved one and a signed copy of Tírghrá, I nDíl Chuimhne, a hardback book containing a biography of each of the men and women whose lives were lost.

With up to four members of each family of the dead present, the scale of loss and grief represented by those in that vast hall was incalculable, but on Saturday evening the mood, though at times emotional, was more one of celebration of the lives of the fallen and pride in their achievements. And it was a rather humbling experience to witness how the families of the republican dead manage, in public at least, to keep it together, keep going on with their lives, and to live with their sorrow without succumbing to endless rage and bitterness, as many of the less courageous amongst us undoubtedly would.

Anne and Francie Brolly sang at the function

Eoghan O'Neill, father of Diarmuid, the last Volunteer to die on active service when he was executed by the London Metropolitan Police on 23 September 1996, was moved to tears when, accompanied by his son Shane, he was presented with his family's plaque by Martin McGuinness.

The O'Neills, in common with the so many of the families of the republican dead, have had to endure the additional pain of the vilification of their dead son, but here at last, amongst those who understood and supported the choices Diarmuid made in life, his individual courage and commitment to the republican ideal was acknowledged with gratitude. Like so many others, the O'Neill family had had to travel a difficult road to be present at Saturday's commemoration - they had been entirely unaware of Diarmuid's involvement until his death - and, as ever, conducted themselves with unfailing grace and good humour.

Displaying the precious bronze and granite work, Eoghan described the event as "marvellous, just marvellous.

"I had no idea it would be on this scale," he said, looking around the room and shaking his head in wonder.