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Glór
na Móna Abú
Last
Saturday night I was privileged to attend the oíche mhór Ghlór na Móna in
Belfast’s City Hall. The event was to celebrate twenty years of this amazing
Irish language initiative made up mostly of and aimed at young people in the
Upper Springfield area. It was a great night. Packed out with young
Gaeilgeoirí. But there was also a good clatter of veteran
campaigners. The pioneers who gave us the Shaw’s Road Gaeltacht, An
Cultúrlann, Lá, Raidió Fáilte, An Meanscoil now Coláiste
Feirste, An Cheathrú Ghaeltachta and many other
wonderful cultural and communal creations, including a thriving Irish medium
education sector.
It
was right that such a multi-generational gathering was assembled in the City
Hall and the strength of the language movement was evident but the buzz in the
hall came from the brilliant, positive, multi-talented young people – mainly
‘graduates’ of Glór na Móna. This was their night.
Maírtín
Keenan’s video youtube.be/PQ41LfedLAA set
the tone with its look back on twenty years of cultural struggle in the
Murph, Turf and other Upper Springfield communities including a terrific
interview with the late Matt Lundy.
Then
the young leaders of Glór na Móna came to the podium to uplift us with speeches
and poetry. Go h’iontach ar fadh. Looking back. But all looking forward with
confidence to the future.
Conchúr
Ó Muadaigh recalled his first encounter with Glór na Móna. He went
there as a sixth-year student at Coláiste Feirste, around 2008. I
think that was in The Base at the top of the Rock behind the shops. It was
a very perfunctionary space for young people, mostly from
Ballymurphy, to gather.
Conchúr
recalled; “In 2009, shocraigh muid Cumann Óige lán-Ghaeilge a bhunú inár
gceantar. Léim muid isteach le beocht agus tiomantas, ag iarraidh spás
sábháilte a chruthú do dhaoine óga a bhfuil Gaeilge acu lasmuigh den scoil.”
Conchúr
concluded: “I was surrounded by a community rich in history. The people who
established Gaeltacht Bothair Seoige, Bunscoil Phobal Feirste, An Chultúrlann,
and Coláiste Feirste, and those in the H Blocks who learned Irish and shared it
with the world. Their legacy inspired me to contribute to the modern revival,
and Glór na Móna became my vehicle.
In
2016, d’oscail muid Gael-Ionad Mhic Goill, bhí dhá fheachtas óige againn agus
dhá bua, bhí an An Dream Dearg, Laochra Loch Lao, Féile na Carraige, Féile na
gCloigíní Gorma. Thug mise faoi deara go raibh mé i lár athbheochan teanga
bhríomhar. Má bhí deis agat, thapaigh tú é. Ba shimplí é, ach cumhachtach: Ná
hAbair é, Déan é.
Looking
back at those early days in The Base, before Gael Ionad Mhic Ghoill and An
Dream Dearg we dreamt of these moments. We started with protests of just ten
people, and now we’re a social movement, shaking the foundations of the
Northern state. Three days following An Lá Dearg, the British government
finally enacted Irish language legislation after decades of dedicated
campaigning.”
Maith
sibh a chairde. Thank you to everyone in Glór Na Móna. Thank you to all our
Irish language leaders. Glór na Móna Abú!
Leanaigí
ar aghaidh.
Roy
Walsh – a dedicated republican
Roy
Walsh was born on the 1st November 1948. He died last week on
the 16 October after a long illness which he faced with the same grit and
humour that he had faced life. Roy was born in Theodore Street, just off the
Grosvenor Road in the Falls area and like hundreds of others his politics was
shaped by the North’s apartheid state, the campaign for civil rights, the
unionist pogroms of August 1969 and the Falls Curfew in July 1970.
Roy
joined the IRA and in March 1973 he was one of nine IRA Volunteers who placed
four bombs in London. Two exploded. Roy was convicted for his part in the bomb
that exploded at the Old Bailey. He was given a life sentence. Roy then spent
the next 21 years in an estimated 22 prisons in England. Like other Republican
political prisoners held in English prisons he was the frequent target of
physical and mental abuse by a system that was determined to break him. A
favourite tactic of the English penal system was to ‘ghost’ republican
political prisoners. This resulted in family members making the arduous journey
to an English prison to visit a loved one to discover on arrival that their
relative had been moved, sometimes just hours earlier, to another prison in
another part of England. ‘Ghosting’ was a particularly cruel device to
demoralise prisoners and their families. Roy was ‘ghosted’ over 70 times.
Like
his comrades he refused to let it get him down. Nor did he allow the threats
and the beatings, the brutality and the solitary confinement break him. Ronnie
McCartney who was imprisoned with Roy at different times described how Irish
republican prisoners were at the bottom of the prison hierarchy, hated by the
prison staffs and despised and feared by the other prisoners.
Roy
participated in many prison protests against the horrendous conditions in which
all of the prisoners were held. He attempted to escape, including on one
occasion from Wormwood Scrubs. He participated in rooftop protests and was one
of those who rioted over prison conditions in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of
Wight in May 1983. Roy’s mantra was ‘organise, educate and agitate.’ And he did
that with enthusiasm and leadership.
According
to Ronnie, Roy was a trailblazer. He stood up for his republican beliefs and he
defiantly stood against the prison system. He remained steadfast to his
republican ideals and emerged from his prison experience unbowed and unbroken,
a strong dedicated republican.
I
want to extend my condolences to Roy’s children Patrick, Roisin and Seana and
the entire family circle. And to remember his late wife Mary who was an
amazingly strong woman. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
Save
Moore Street from Demolition Rally
The
threat by English developer Hammerson to demolish much of the 1916 Moore St.
Battlefield site in Dublin was given the green light by An Bord Pleanála
several weeks ago. The Moore St. Preservation Trust which is led by the
relatives of the signatories to the 1916 Proclamation, is currently discussing
the legal options available to it to challenge this decision.
In
the meantime, the Trust has decided to hold a protest rally in Moore St. on
Sunday the 10 November at 1pm. This will provide an opportunity for the public
to express its anger at the grave threat to this historic quarter and to demand
that Darragh O'Brien the Fianna Fáil Minister for Housing, Local
Government and Heritage use the powers available to him to block the Hammerson
proposal. The Trust will also highlight its alternative plan for a cultural and
historic quarter to protect the buildings and landscape which formed the
backdrop to the Easter 1916 Rising.
In
addition, on Thursday 31 October the Trust will be publishing Ray Bateson’s
excellent book ‘The Battle of Moore Street – 28-29 April, 1916’ which draws on
the recollections and words of those who were there, and retells the story of
those two desperate days as the GPO Garrison sought break out of the
encirclement imposed by the British Army. Renowned actor Fionnula Flanaghan
will be the main speaker. The Book launch will be in the Connolly Room, in
Liberty Hall at 1pm on Thursday 31 October. I look forward to seeing you there.
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