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

www.sinnfeinbookshop.com and An Fhuiseog 55 Falls Road www.thelarkstore.ie

With the Davitts at their grounds in Beechmount

Comments

Turf Lodge – A Proud Community

This blog attended a very special celebration earlier this week. It was Turf Lodge: 2010 Anois is Arís 50th Anniversary. For those of you who don’t know Turf Lodge is a proud Belfast working class community. Through many difficult years the people of Turf Lodge demonstrated time and time again a commitment to their families and to each other. Like Ballymurphy and Andersonstown, Turf Lodge was one of many estates that were built on the then outskirts of Belfast in the years after the end of World War 2. They were part of a programme of work by Belfast City Corporation known as the ‘Slum clearance and houses redevelopment programme.’ The land on which Turf Lodge was built was eventually bought by the Corporation in June 1956. The name of the estate, it is said, came from a farm on which the estate was built. But it was four years later, in October 1960, and after many disputes and delays between builders and the Corporation, that the first completed houses were handed over for allocation...

Slán Peter John

Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy, Fergal Caraher’s parents, Mary and Peter John, and Sinn Féin Councillors Brendan Curran and Colman Burns at the memorial in South Armagh dedicated to Fergal Caraher It was a fine autumn morning. The South Armagh hilltops, free of British Army forts, were beautiful in the bright morning light as we drove north from Dublin to Cullyhanna to attend the funeral of Peter John Caraher. This blog has known Peter John and the Caraher family for many years. A few weeks ago his son Miceál contacted me to let me know that Peter John was terminally ill. I told him I would call. It was just before the Ard Fheis. Miceál explained to me that Peter John had been told he only had a few weeks left but had forgotten this and I needed to be mindful of that in my conversation. I was therefore a wee bit apprehensive about the visit but I called and I came away uplifted and very happy. Peter John was in great form. We spent a couple of hours craicing away, telling yarns and in his c...

The Myth Of “Shadowy Figures”

Mise agus Martin and Ted in Stormont Castle 2018 The demonising of republicans has long been an integral part of politics on this island, and especially in the lead into and during electoral campaigns. Through the decades of conflict Unionist leaders and British governments regularly posed as democrats while supporting anti-democratic laws, censorship and the denial of the rights of citizens who voted for Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin Councillors, party activists and family members were killed by unionist death squads, o ften in collusion with British state forces. Successive Irish governments embraced this demonization strategy through Section 31 and state censorship. Sinn Féin was portrayed as undemocratic and dangerous. We were denied municipal or other public buildings to hold events including Ard Fheiseanna. In the years since the Good Friday Agreement these same elements have sought to sustain this narrative. The leaderships of Fianna Fáil, the Irish Labour Party, the SDLP and...

Léargas

Search This Blog