Léargas: Michael Davitt - ‘unselfish idealist’.

Gerry Adams launched his latest book in his Léargas series on Michael Davitt at the Davitt’s GAC

grounds at Beechmount in west Belfast on Saturday morning 16 October.

The training grounds were full of young people, some as young as 5 and 6 practicing their

hurling moves.

Davitt’s were playing St. Paul’s and the skill and determination of the youngsters as they blocked

and tackled and sent the sliothar from one end of the pitch to the other was a joy to behold.

Tommy Shaw and Terry Park from the Davitts were on hand to help launch the book which

is drawn from two lecture on Michael Davitt that Adams gave in the Club in October 2006

and again in August 2021.

Speaking at the launch Gerry Adams said: “Much has been written of Davitt.

But what is indisputable is that he was an idealist, a nationalist, a fenian, a republican,

a revolutionary, a labour activist, a writer and journalist, a historian and an internationalist.

James Connolly who lived on the Falls Road and organised the Belfast mill and dock workers

described him as ‘honest’ and an ‘unselfish idealist’.

In his 60 years of life Michael Davitt helped formulate and promote new and effective methods

of struggle, and changed for the better the lives of countless millions of Irish people.”

The Davitt family were evicted from their home in County Mayo and travelled to England

where at the age of 9 Michael worked a 60 hour week in a cotton mill. Aged 11 he lost his

 right arm when it was mangled in a machine.

He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood and spent seven and a half years in prison

under the most horrendous conditions. After his release he returned to Ireland where he helped

establish the land league, became an MP and campaigned relentlessly on behalf of the disadvantaged.

Gerry Adams added: “At the heart of Davitt’s activism was a belief in the Irish people,

a belief in our right to be free, and a determination that we could construct a better future,

a more equitable future than that which existed then. These ideals are as much a part of our

future now as they were when Davitt campaigned for land rights.”

If you want to read more about Michael Davitt this Léargas and the others in the series are

available from Republican Merchandising Ltd, Trading as the Sinn Féin Bookshop

With the Davitts at their grounds in Beechmount

Léargas