Niall
Vallely died on Sunday. His funeral took place in Newry this morning and I was
asked to give a eulogy during the mass which I was honoured to do.
Below
are my remarks:
Niall Vallely – an idealist, an activist, a family man, a
musician
Bhí idir iontas agus bhrón mór orm nuair a tháinig
scéala chugam fá bhás Niall.
Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a dhéanamh le teaglach
Vallely ag an uair millteanach brónach i saol bhur gclann.
Is mór an ónór domhsa a bheith ag caint faoi Niall
inniu.
Coming so quickly after the
death of his beloved wife Úna Niall’s death has been a very difficult time for the
entire family.
Úna’s
death was a huge blow to Niall.
Úna
was his soul mate. His one true love.
I
never got to Úna’s funeral but I phoned Niall. He appreciated that very much.
We
met a short time after her death.
It
was at a Sinn Féin conference. I went over to commiserate with him and we sat
talking amidst the hustle and bustle of that gathering.
I
remember very well what he said to me and how all the people all around us
talking and bantering and shouting were probably oblivious to our presence.
Don’t
believe what they tell you about Irishmen not being able to express their
emotions.
Niall
was very upfront. “Úna was my life. She was my everything.”
So
what do you say to that?
He
went on to talk about Eimear and Niall and Ruairí who were all he said
doing well; though he noted that Ruairí
wasn’t
paid very well by Sinn Féin for his job of modernizing the party’s approach to
elections.
Later he sent me a framed
print of one of his brother Brian’s paintings which my son liberated.
Niall would have appreciated
that.
I want to tell that it is a
great honour to speak here today.
Your father and brother, your
Daideo was a great man and although he might blush if he heard me saying that
he might also agree with a laugh.
To you Eimear, Niall and
Ruairí, to Nico; to Niall’s grandchildren Saoirse, Maebh and Roisin, and to his
siblings Brian, Dara, Mairé and Lorainne I want to extend my own personal
condolences and those of Sinn Féin at your loss.
Niall
loved all of you deeply. You know that.
He
had a special place in his heart for his ‘three girls,’ Saoirse, Maebh and
Roisin.
It
is a great blessing to know your grandchildren.
And
I am sure you will all miss him enormously.
Niall
was full of craic and fun and life.
He
had a boundless energy; an openness and warmth that made him instantly
likeable.
And
he loved politics.
From
his time in People’s Democracy, almost half a century ago, through the civil
rights movement, to Sinn Féin.
In
many ways it’s easy to be a young radical but there is something compelling
about older radicals - about those who keep the faith, but who also move with
the times and who are relevant in the modern world - that was Niall – an
anti-imperialist who lived in the real world.
But
Niall was not just a talker.
Niall
was an activist.
He
lived his politics every day.
He
read it every day.
It
was in his blood.
In
so many campaigns over the years he handed out leaflets, talked to people on
the doorstep or outside the shopping centre, wrote letters to the newspapers,
articles for local news sheets, and speeches for candidates and for himself.
He
was a regular contributor at the Ard Fheis.
His
contribution in the debate on policing at the Special Ard Fheis in 2007 is
fondly remembered.
The
chair had great difficulty in trying to get Niall to stop talking!
He
knew the importance of that debate.
And
the historic nature of that Ard Fheis.
He
had things to say and say them he did, despite running over time.
Like
many of you I knew Niall for a very long time.
I
knew him both personally and politically.
We
were both active in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.
At that time people from across the political
spectrum came together to demand basic human and civil rights for nationalists.
This included many republicans, socialists,
communists, liberals, trade unionists, community activists, students and
others, including initially some unionists.
Niall
was a member of People’s Democracy.
The
Civil Rights campaign shaped both of our lives and the lives of many of our
contemporaries.
The Armagh
branch of People’s Democracy was generally regarded as its most militant.
Niall was
its spokesperson.
In May 1969 a small group of pensioners and PD members
held a silent picket outside Armagh Rural Council monthly meeting.
Niall addressed the Council
demanding the immediate rehousing of the residents of Mill Row and Lislea.
Angry at the Council’s
failure to respond positively Niall and his colleagues returned two weeks
later.
This time they were refused
permission to speak.
Might as well tell a bird not
to sing.
Niall and four others were
arrested on charges of disorderly behaviour and the Council imposed a ban on
public attendance at its meetings.
A few months later August
69 was a particular tipping point for the civil rights movement and for the
north.
One
event had a particularly deep impact on Niall.
He
and others had organised a civil rights meeting in Armagh in solidarity with
people in the Bogside under siege from the RUC and B Specials.
After
the Armagh meeting the B Specials opened fire killing John Gallagher, a father
of three, and wounded two others.
The
B Specials all claimed not to have fired but this was dismissed by the Scarman
Tribunal which concluded that the B Specials had ‘no justification for firing into the crowd.’
Through all of what was
to come in his life afterwards the deep sense of injustice, pain and anger Niall
felt from the murder of John Gallagher never left him.
Niall also told about an
incident in Armagh in the early 70’s when he was beaten unconscious by a
loyalist mob and his heart stopped and for a few minutes he was dead!
As he told it he was the
only man who fought for Ireland – died for Ireland – and came alive again for
Ireland!.
Humour was very
important to Niall.
He was enormously likeable
and entertaining and insightful about Irish culture, language and republicanism.
It
is in the nature of things that we often wait until a person is dead before we
pay tribute to them.
Let
me place firmly on the record the hugely important role that the Vallely family
have played in shaping the life of our nation; of their contribution to the
creative life of our society; and the revival of our music, particularly the
tradition of uillean piping, or in Niall’s case the bodhran.
Bhí grá mór ag Niall don teanga, don cheol agus don
slí maireach tála 's againne.
Bhí tuiscint dhoimhin aige ar áit agus ar an pháirt
a bhí aige I rud éigin níos mó ná a ré féin.
Is minic finnscéalta, scéaltagaisce seanchas agus
uaireanta an fhírinne fite fuaite le chéile chun mórscéal níos leithne a
chruthú
Niall
was also deeply passionate about history.
For
him history wasn’t something dry and dusty.
It
was an important part of who he was.
He
wanted all of us to share in and celebrate our history.
Niall
was a generous, decent, human being.
He
was wise. He didn’t take himself seriously.
He
believed in equality and inclusiveness in all things.
Bhí léargas aige ar chumhacht na teanga, go háirithe
nuair a chuireadh sé gáire ar dhaoine.
He
was passionate and enthusiastic in all that he did, but especially about his
politics.
He
travelled the length and breadth of Ireland helping to get Shinners elected,
including this Shinner a few miles down the road in Louth.
He
believed in a real republic where citizens would have rights and where ordinary
people, the citizens would come first.
He
believed in a united Ireland and in a real republic, based on social justice.
He
was a proud Armagh man.
Niall was
born on August 13th.
According
to his brother Brian, his birth came during the annual stream of meteors known
as the Perseid meteor shower.
He died on
December 14th when the annual Geminids meteor shower, created by
another comet, can be seen.
As a mathamatician Niall would have appreciated that.
Niall’s
death leaves a great void.
For
Sinn Féin in Newry/Armagh; but especially for his family.
He
leaves a space that can’t be filled; particularly for Eimear, Niall and Ruairí, for Nico and for Saoirse,
Maebh and Roisin, and for his siblings Brian, Dara, Mairé and Lore – Ann.
Saoirse,
Maebh and Rosin be proud of your Daideo. And your Maimeo.
Your
lives are better because of them.
He was an idealist and a
pragmatist whose political views were shaped in but never trapped in the
1960’s.
Born and raised at the
zenith of the orange state he knew that the Ireland he has left is a different
place – a better place – and that he contributed to this.
Chuir Niall misneach ar dhaoine.
Bhí nasc aige le daoine.
Bhí saol dea-chaite aige.
Ba cheart dúinn uilig é sin a cheiliúradh.
He also contributed to
the growth of Irish republicanism and Sinn Féin.
His
old friend Cyril Toman sent an
email, from Australia, when he heard of Niall’s death.
He summed up our sense of
Niall perfectly.
Cyril wrote: ‘Niall was a great man; he had vision, he had
courage, he had determination, and he had a sense of humour that enabled him to
cut through all the pretence and nonsense he encountered… It may not seem
important now, but your brother has had a significant influence on the way
Irish people - especially those in the north - imagine themselves. And there
are not many men or women you can say that about.
I want to finish with
a little poem by Brendan Kennelly. I want to dedicate it to Niall’s family.
Begin
Begin to the loneliness
that cannot end
since it perhaps is what
makes us begin,
begin to wonder at
unknown faces
at crying birds in the
sudden rain
at branches stark in the
willing sunlight
at seagulls foraging for
bread
at couples sharing a
sunny secret
alone together while
making good.
Though we live in a
world that dreams of ending
that always seems about
to give in
something that will not
acknowledge conclusion
insists that forever
begin.
That’s what Niall
would expect you to do. That’s what he would expect us to do. To begin all over
again.
Thank you Niall for
your life, for your love, for your work.
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