Posted by Jim on May 13, 2017
A major rally calling for the introduction of an Irish language act for
the north is to be held in Belfast.
The protest, organised by campaign group An Dream Dearg, is scheduled
for next weekend, Saturday May 20. Around 5,000 protesters are expected
to take part, and buses have been organised from points across Ireland.
The issue of an Irish language act has proved one of the most divisive
between Sinn Fein and the DUP as political talks to restore devolution
stalled before Easter.
Campaigners have urged parties not to return to Stormont without
legislation for an Irish language act.
Padraig O Tiarnaigh, from An Dream Dearg, said participants were being
asked to dress in red, in keeping with the campaign slogan ‘Dearg le
Fearg’ (red with anger).
The demonstration follows several protests by Irish language groups
about the act, and cuts to bursaries and services, in recent months at
locations across the north, including Stormont.
“The idea is to bring all of the previous protests together into one.
There has been a group meeting every Wednesday night to organise things,
put up posters, notify the Parades Commission,” said Mr O Tiarnaigh.
“Last week 13 Irish language schools across the north held a non-uniform
day to raise funds for buses to bring people to the May 20 protest.
“As we have seen since Christmas the Irish language community is more
organised than ever. Everyone is coming together to support the call for
an Irish language act. This is the time to resolve it.”
Organisers are urging supporters to meet at the Culturlann on Falls Road
in west Belfast at noon, before marching to City Hall where there will
be speeches and a family fun day. A similar protest was held in April
2014.
DUP BID TO BROADEN APPEAL
Last week an announcement by DUP leader Arlene Foster that she wants to
meet with Irish speakers was welcomed by language groups.
Mrs Foster said she intended to meet with Irish speakers “over the next
short period of time” to “respect and better understand” the language
and culture.
At the launch of the party’s Assembly election campaign in February, Mrs
Foster had said the DUP would never agree to Sinn Fein demands for an
Irish Language Act, adding: “If you feed a crocodile it will keep coming
back for more.”
The comments provoked a comedic, crocodile-themed campaign by language
activists and was linked to increased support for SF among young voters
in the February election.
More recently there have been conflicting signals from the DUP over its
attitude to an Irish language act, with claims that Ms Foster might
allow the move as part of an initiative “to respect all cultures,
including the Ulster Scots [dialect], the Orange [the Orange Order], the
British culture.”
However, DUP hardline Gregory Campbell on Tuesday insisted: “There will
be no Irish language act. We have said that all along and that is what
we are saying now.”
While cultivating a ‘softer’ image for the party, the election has also
provoked many DUP figures to bang the tribal drum. Ballymena councillor
John Carson said he will “continue to pray” that Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly
will soon die and “face the one true judge, just like Marty [Martin
McGuinness]”.
As part of a campaign to rally unionist hardliners to the polls, the
anti-Catholic Orange Order has been hosting ‘election clinics’ in its
halls.
SDLP East Derry John Dallat said it raises further questions over the
Stormont administration’s continued funding for what he said was an
“overtly sectarian” election campaign. The DUP, whose Minister approved
the funding for the Orange Order, defended the campaign saying it would
“boost participation in the democratic process”.
Arlene Foster said nationalism’s ‘electoral resurgence’ made it
essential for the party to maximise its vote in next month’s Westminster
election.
She said the election was “inevitably a referendum on Northern Ireland’s
place in the UK” and that the assembly election in March had been a
“wake-up call”.
“At this election we must sound the alarm bells and make sure that each
and every person in Northern Ireland is aware of what is at stake – the
choice is clear,” she said.
“This Westminster election gives unionism an early opportunity to put
things right and to get back on the right track.”
Her party may also get an unexpected boost after Mike Nesbitt, leader of
the rival unionist UUP, was photographed on the floor of a Belfast
hotel, apparently unconscious.
The 59-year-old, the party’s candidate for the Strangford constituency,
said: “I went to the hotel with three friends”. He said “things
happened” but declined to elaborate. “I don’t want to say any more,” he
said.
Posted by Jim on
In a surprise move, a date has finally been set for an inquest into the
deaths of those shot in a bout of killing by British soldiers in
Ballymurphy almost 50 years ago.
In 1971, as part of the internment swoops by the British Army and RUC,
the British Parachute Regiment was sent into Ballymurphy in west
Belfast. In the 36 hours after the internment arrests began, eleven
civilians were killed in the area.
Among those shot dead was a local parish priest, Fr Hugh Mullan, and
Joan Connolly, a mother of eight.
The families have campaigned for 46 years for the truth about the
circumstances surrounding the deaths of their loved ones. They were at
the High Court on Friday for a routine preliminary hearing when they
heard the news that a date for a full hearing of the inquest had been
set for 11 September 2018.
John Taggart, who lost his father Daniel, said: “That’s a fantastic
result for families like ourselves who’ve waited well over 40 years.
“We were hoping for this, you just couldn’t go on, the MoD [British
Ministry of Defence] were dragging their feet with disclosure and
everything else, and fair play to him [the judge], he’s took hold of
this and he says there’s the date, get ready for it and that’s what
we’re happy with.”
The relatives have battled delaying tactics over funding and disclosure,
but they were described as emotional at the news on Friday. The
families’ lawyer Padraig O Muirigh described it as progress, but said
there is more work to do.
“The biggest issue and the most disappointing issue today in terms of
progress was the lack of tracing the soldiers,” he said.
“We’ve identified a number of ways that this can be progressed and the
coroner is taking those ideas on board and the coronial investigators
will take that forward in the coming months before the inquest.”
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams commended the “courage and unflagging
determination” of the families.
The innocent victims who lost their lives were: Fr Hugh Mullan, Francis
Quinn, Daniel Teggart, Joan Connolly – a mother of eight, Joseph Murphy,
Noel Phillips, Edward Doherty, John Laverty, Joseph Corr and John
McKerr. An eleventh man, local community worker Paddy McCarthy, died
from a heart attack after a British Army patrol subjected him to a mock
execution.
SUNDAY PROSECUTIONS?
In another positive development, a relative of those killed on Bloody
Sunday has said prosecutors are considering charging 18 British
soldiers.
Thirteen people died when members of the Parachute Regiment opened fire
on Civil Rights demonstrators in Derry in 1972. A fourteenth person died
later.
John Kelly, whose brother Michael was among those killed, said he met
prosecutors recently and was told prosecutors are investigating 18
soldiers.
A Public Prosecution Service (PPS) spokesman later confirmed:
“Investigation files in relation to Bloody Sunday were passed to the PPS
in December 2016 and are presently under active consideration.
“No prosecution decision has yet been taken in relation to these files
and it is likely to be some time before any decision will issue.
“We have recently made contact with families to provide an update on
progress and also to explain our role and some of the legal issues that
require consideration in this case.”
Posted by Jim on
As Republicans gathered in Dublin to mark the anniversary of the
killing of Ronan MacLochlainn by Gardai 19 years ago, 32 County
Sovereignty Movement national chair Francis Mackey urged support for
The Proclamation Project, which was recently launched by the group.
Mr Mackey said the project is a “five year strategy to put Irish
republicanism back into the driving seat of securing Irish unity”. The
following is an extract from the draft document.
Introduction
The success of the Moore Street Occupation and the Easter Monday
Centenary Commemoration in Dublin are demonstrable examples of how
effective republican cooperation can be. Both events returned, in some
measure, a political dignity to Irish republicanism. They also lay to
rest the view that such cooperation cannot work and negate any strategy
that would utilise this view to avoid engagement between republicans.
In each event, and in the processes to create them, the integrity of all
organisations and viewpoints were respected. To the fore was the
attainment of the objective at hand as opposed to using the engagement
simply to advance a given group’s position. The simplicity of the format
became its dynamic, the underlying rule being that the better argument
prevails.
All those who participated were encouraged to speak in whatever status
they so chose, individual or group representative, to ensure that
whichever decisions were taken reflected the majority of views
expressed.
It was also recognised that any failure to find agreement on a given
point would not be viewed as an impediment or bar on seeking agreement
on others. Equally, points of agreement and decisions made were not
continuously re-visited but robustly implemented to maintain forward
momentum.
The initiative behind the Easter Centenary March was focussed on
requiring groups participating to present their core message as opposed
to simply advertising which particular group they represented. The
intent of this strategy was to move the current republican narrative out
of the cocoon of the group and into the national conversation with their
core political message. This was as challenging as it was necessary
because it contained inherent implications; if a group has nothing
different to say then why does it exist? If it has something to say why
not ally it with similar views to propagate it wider?
The necessity of this challenge was born from the realisation that what
currently unites all shades of republicanism and socialism is failure
and that what is required is not the formation of new groups but the
consolidation and development of a policy programme that can advance
republican and socialist politics. The current low state of Irish
republicanism is self inflicted; to pretend otherwise is a dangerous
dishonesty. There are no quick fixes and any solutions which are not
challenging are not solutions at all.
Both events referenced here were extremely challenging and required a
tenacity and pragmatism to see them through. But central to the success
of any future strategies must be the re-introduction of a sense of
comradeship between republicans because in its absence even the most
eloquent political theory will not advance one iota.
A national struggle requires a national mindset and all community
political activity and campaigns must have a national dimension. There
is no place in the republican struggle for parochialism. It is a
debilitating and isolating practice which feeds of narrow mindedness and
innuendo.
Equally, seeking refuge in ideological rigidity or historical
technicalities is the very antithesis of what the concept of a
revolutionary movement should be. Claims to represent or be a republican
must be evaluated on the quality, depth and strategic merit of the
activity carried out in its pursuit. In short Irish republicanism and
socialism must be synonymous with that pursuit.
The most fundamental form of political activity is the act of talking,
first to each other then together with others whom we need to engage.
Dialogue is essential if ideas are to be translated into strategies and
such strategies have a better prospect of gaining traction if those who
are implementing them played a full part in their construction.
What is set out below is a template within which the dual criterion of
political strategy building can be initiated, namely, conversing
together to work out policy and strategy and acting together to
implement it.
The Proclamation Project
A credible political strategy must contain and be cognisant of the
following:
* Unity of purpose
* Defined objectives
* Defined policies
Unity of Purpose
Republicans working together is as important as the fruits of that work.
The fractured nature of the republican base is testament to the fact
that dialogue amongst republicans is practically non-existent. It has
reached a crisis point wherein the deliberate avoidance of dialogue is
the first priority and this is justified primarily on personal slander
and parochial ego. In normal political discourse there is merit in
considered disagreement yet even this is absent in the republican case.
It is failure manifested.
It is beyond pointless to pursue to any extent a political objective
which is predicated on failure. And it is equally pointless to place
false preconditions on addressing and ending such a state of affairs.
There is no issue of ideology, episode of history or point of politics
which is served by not ending failure. Blame is not a solution. This is
the first nettle which needs to grasped; republicans and socialists need
to sit down together in a mature and pragmatic manner, in the first
instance, to demonstrate to the people in whose name we claim to act
that we can indeed do so. How can we talk credibly of unity in any sense
yet fail to practice it ourselves? It is a wholly unsustainable
position.
Defined Objectives
Aspirations are reached via the mechanism of defined objectives.
Objectives are so defined according to our abilities to realistically
achieve them. These abilities are greatly enhanced with republicans
working in tandem which also allows for a more nuanced and practical
process in selecting them. Once selected they give structure and
direction to the republican struggle.
In setting out interim republican objectives we must balance the
equation of ability set against relevance; relevance to contemporary
society and relevance to the broader aspiration. Objectives are
practical goals and at their core must be a working relationship between
republicans and our communities. We cannot hope to bring our communities
into the republican project by dealing with issues which do not affect
them. This is where it is critical in understanding that all local
republican campaigns must have a corresponding national dimension.
Defined Policies
An aspiration or an opinion is not a policy; nor is wearing a mask.
Stating a position of wanting a United Ireland or the means of
production to be in the control of the people are not in themselves
policies to achieve them. Inherent in any meaningful definition of
policy must be a strategy to pursue them. Policies can only define who
we are once we actively pursue and implement them. It is our activism
that will ultimately define us because whereas a policy reflects intent
activism in their pursuit reflects ability and commitment.
There is a wealth of republican and socialist thinking at our disposal.
At times we have allowed this resource to be stagnated by slogans and
misappropriated to justify sides in schisms. From Wolfe Tone to Ta Power
there exists a rich tapestry of revolutionary thought that a cooperating
republican base can devise exceptional and distinctive policies.
Recognising the primacy of revolutionary politics returns to the
Republican Movement a political sophistication which cannot be ignored.
It is vital that republican socialism removes itself from the
straitjacket of being perceived as a protest movement, more anti
capitalist than proactively socialist. Our policy platform must be based
on providing solutions.
Strategy Template
The next five years affords Irish republicanism an unprecedented
opportunity to reinvigorate the republican project. The Centenaries of
the most seminal events in republican history will place into the
national narrative the core issues which are at the heart of Irish
republicanism. As witnessed with the Centenary of 1916 the State and the
revisionists were desperate to dilute the central tenets of what the
Proclamation represents. But ultimately this was a distraction for
republicans. Arguing with revisionists is not providing political
alternatives or delivering radical solutions. This is where our focus
must be.
The Easter Monday March was always to be viewed as a start point, a
watershed. Republicans marked the event with a display of unity, a clear
message in itself and an immensely fitting and important first step. The
oncoming Centenaries can act as focal points around which a corpus of
political and social policy can be formulated. Using the Centenaries in
such a fashion allows republicans two critical components; a defined
timeframe with an end point to aim for and a political end point in
which the culmination of policy formation can directly address. In
effect republicans will celebrate these Centenaries not with quaint
pageantry but with separatist politics structured around agreed
policies.
* 1918 General Election: Democracy & The Citizen
* Founding of the First Dail: Parliament & The Citizen
* Declaration of Independence: Sovereignty & The Citizen
* Democratic Programme: Society & The Citizen
* War of Independence: War & The Citizen
* 1921 Treaty: Negotiations & The British
Within these headings will be issues that will directly affect
individual citizens, communities and the country at large and which in
turn republicans will have to formulate policies and strategies to
implement them.
* Sovereignty of the Individual
* Sovereignty of Community
* National Sovereignty
* Unionism
* Right to a Home
* Right to our Natural Resources
* Debt, Poverty & Society
* The Drug Abuse Question
* A.N. Other
The trajectory of this political activity is ultimately a return to the
negotiations table with the British to end, once and for all, their
presence in our country. The revolutionary period between 1916 and 1921
is where Irish republicanism got it right. Where it failed was in
abandoning this position by allowing the British to determine their
constitutional status in the Treaty negotiations. The British would not
recognise the Irish delegates as representatives of the Irish Republic
but rather as representatives of the British created Southern
Parliament. Once the delegates conceded to this they were, in the words
of delegate Robert Barton, “on the road to disaster”.
This error was repeated in the Good Friday Agreement negotiations. The
entry fee into those negotiations was the prior acceptance of a
partitionist outcome which it duly delivered. The case for Irish
national sovereignty was neither made nor defended in that process.
The key lesson from this history is that for republicans to call for
such negotiations we must have in place key elements which reflect and
protect the totality of the republican position:
* Irish national sovereignty defined in International Law
* The participation of the people via Policy Programme
* Blueprint for a post withdrawal Ireland
The Proclamation Project proposal is geared toward reinvigorating
republican politics by concentrating on building coherence in the
republican message over a five year period. As that coherency brings
depth and clarity to the republican position our political influence on
the national narrative increases also. It can only be accomplished by
republicans and socialists sitting down and talking. To view or use the
proposal as a means to garner support, real or imagined, for any given
group, or given group’s position, is to completely misunderstand its
purpose.
Posted by Jim on May 12, 2017
by Larry Kirwan·Friday, May 12, 2017
.
In a recent interview I was asked why I didn’t include Éamon de Valera in my play, Rebel In The Soul, now running at The Irish Rep.
I had to pause a moment before not owning up to the truthful answer – I don’t care much for this most preeminent of Irish politicians.
Truth be told, though, Dev was far too canny to ever get mired in a fight between church and state as happened to Dr. Noel Browne. He instinctively knew that battling the Catholic Church in the Ireland of 1951 was akin to “dancing jigs on quicksand.”
Even his enemies were in awe of Éamon de Valera, for he stood apart, cultivated an air of aloofness, and had no trouble sticking a knife between a rival’s ribs. This consummate Irish politician was born in New York City.
His mother sent him back to Bruree, County Limerick at the age of two, soon after the death of his father, a Spanish music teacher. His grandmother, Elizabeth Coll, raised young Éamon in a laborer’s cottage. Too poor to afford a bicycle he walked seven miles to and from the Christian Brothers School at Charleville before winning a scholarship to Blackrock College.
Blackrock would have a huge influence on the Boy from Bruree. He taught mathematics there and later in life befriended a president of the college, Dr. John Charles McQuaid with whom he would craft the Irish Constitution of 1937.
He became a national figure when he was one of the last leaders left standing after the 1916 Uprising – spared execution because of his American birth.
The first great question mark about de Valera arose when he refused to attend the treaty negotiations in London in 1921. Many feel that he sent Michael Collins in his place to reap the blame, for he knew that gaining a united Ireland was impossible.
Dev’s reputation has suffered as Collins’ star has ascended. For good reason – Ireland would have been a far different place if the charismatic, outgoing Collins had lived to lead the country.
It’s hard to argue that de Valera’s conservative vision did not stifle the country socially and economically thereby contributing to the ongoing curse of emigration. However, he did keep Ireland neutral and out of World War II; and yet one of the great strikes against him is that he officially offered condolences to the German minister in Dublin on the suicide of Adolf Hitler.
Whatever way you weigh it, the Boy from Bruree is a play unto himself – though Machiavellian and judgmental, he had a burning love for Ireland, its language, customs, and people. But was this love perverted by his overweening ego and sheer sense of entitlement?
If he doesn’t play an actual part in Rebel in the Soul, he is the elephant in the room that influences the other three characters.
Sean MacBride may have outgrown his position as de Valera’s secretary but he never lost his awe of the man. And in 1948 when MacBride’s star was rising as leader of the nascent Clann na Poblachta party, Dev called a surprise election knowing that he might lose but that his former secretary had not as yet developed the organization to win. My guess is he also figured that MacBride would not thrive in a coalition with the conservative Fine Gael party – “men I had been shooting at 25 years ago.”
Soon after his expulsion from Clann na Poblachta, Dr. Browne joined the Fianna Fail party. De Valera had little time for iconoclastic reformers, however, and showed him the door some years later.
Perhaps, John Charles McQuaid suffered the cruelest fate for he and Dev were close friends. Yet the Limerick man stymied McQuaid’s ambition of becoming Cardinal by putting in a word with the Vatican on behalf of the more mild-mannered, and easily managed, Archbishop D’Alton of Armagh.
For when push came to shove Éamon de Valera brooked no competition – a fact that each of the three major characters in Rebel in the Soul eventually had to come to terms with.
His star may be on the wane but it would be the height of folly to ever ignore the towering, tireless Boy from Bruree.
Posted by Jim on
Francis Hughes – A determined and totally fearless soldier
THE SECOND republican to join the H-Block hunger-strike for political status – a fortnight after Bobby Sands – was twenty-five-year-old Francis Hughes, from Bellaghy in South Derry: a determined, committed and totally fearless IRA Volunteer who organised a spectacularly successful series of military operations before his capture, and was once described by the RUC as their ‘most wanted man’ in the North.
Eluding for several years the relentless efforts of the British army, UDR and RUC to track him down, Francis operated boldly throughout parts of Tyrone and north and south Antrim, but particularly in his native South Derry, with a combination of brilliant organisation and extreme daring – until his capture after a shoot-out with the SAS – which earned him widespread popular renown, and won general support for the republican cause, as well as giving him an undisputed reputation as a natural-born soldier and leader.
Francis Hughes was born on February 28th, 1956, the youngest son amongst ten children, into a staunchly republican family which has been solidly rooted, for most of this century, in the townland of Tamlaghtduff, or Scribe Road, as it is otherwise called.
His parents who married in 1939, are Patrick Joseph Hughes, aged 72, a retired small cattle farmer born in the neighbouring town land of Ballymacpeake, and Margaret, aged 68, whose maiden name is McElwee, and who was born in Tamlaghtduff.
A quarter-of-a-mile away from the Hughes’ bungalow, on the other side of the Scribe Road is the home of Thomas and Benedict McElwee – first cousins of Francis. Benedict is currently serving a sentence in the H-Blocks. Thomas – the eldest – embarked on hunger strike on June 8th, and died sixty-two days later on August 8th.
In Tamlaghtduff, as throughout the rest of Bellaghy, sympathy as well as active support for the republican cause runs at a very high level, a fact testified to by the approximately twenty prisoners-of-war from around Bellaghy alone.
Francis was an extremely popular person, both to his family and to his republican colleagues and supporters.
His father recalls that as a boy he was always whistling, joking and singing: a trait which he carried over into his arduous and perilous days as a republican, when he was able to transmit his enthusiasm and optimism both to Volunteers under his command and to Sympathisers who offered them – at great personal risk, food and shelter
It was qualities like these, of uncomplaining tirelessness, of consideration for the morale of those around him, and his ruling wish to lead by example, that have made Francis Hughes one of the most outstanding Irish revolutionary soldiers this war has produced and a man who was enormously respected in his native countryside.
As a boy, Francis went first to St. Mary’s primary school in Bellaghy, and from there to Clady intermediate school three miles away.
He enjoyed school and was a fairly good student whose favourite subjects were history and woodwork. He was not particularly interested in sport, but was very much a lively, outdoor person, who enjoyed messing around on bikes, and later on, in cars.
He enjoyed dancing and regularly went to ceilidh as a young man, even while ‘on the run’, although after ‘wanted’ posters of him appeared his opportunities became less frequent.
His parents recall that Francis was always extremely helpful around the house, and that he was a “good tractor man”.
DECORATOR
Leaving school at sixteen, Francis got a job with his sister Vera’s husband, as an apprentice painter and decorator, completing his apprenticeship shortly before ‘going on the run’.
In later days, Francis would often do a spot of decorating for the people whose house he was staying in
On one occasion, shortly after the ‘wanted’ posters of him had been posted up all over South Derry, Francis was painting window frames at the front of the house he was staying in when two jeep-loads of British soldiers drove past. While the other occupants of the house froze in apprehension, Francis waved and smiled at the curious Brits as they passed by, and continued painting.
It was such utter fearlessness, and the ability to brazen his way through, that saved him time and time again during his relatively long career as an active service Volunteer.
On one such occasion, when stopped along with two other Volunteers as they crossed a field, Francis told a Brit patrol that they didn’t feel safe walking the roads, as the IRA were so active in the area. The Brits allowed the trio to walk on, but after a few yards Francis ran back to the enemy patrol to scrounge a cigarette and a match from one of the British soldiers.
A turning point for Francis, in terms of his personal involvement in the struggle, occurred at the age of seventeen, when he and a friend were stopped by British soldiers at Ardboe, in County Tyrone, as they returned from a dance one night.
The pair were taken out of their car and so badly kicked that Francis was bed-ridden for several days. Rejecting advice to make a complaint to the RUC, Francis said it would be a waste of time, but pledged instead to get even with those who had done it, “or with their friends.”
Notwithstanding such a bitter personal experience of British thuggery, and the mental and physical scars it left, Francis’ subsequent involvement in the Irish Republican Army was not based on a motive of revenge but on a clear and abiding belief in his country’s right to national freedom.
INVOLVEMENT
During the early part of ‘the troubles’, the ‘Officials’ were relatively strong in the South Derry area and Francis’ first involvement was with them.
However, disillusioned, as were many others, with the ‘Sticks’ unilateral ceasefire in 1972, he left to set up and command an ‘independent’ military unit in the Bellaghy area. About the end of 1973 the entire unit – including Francis – was formally recruited into the IRA.
Francis’ involvement brought him increasingly to the attention of the British army and RUC and he was regularly held for a few hours in Magherafelt barracks and stopped on the road by British patrols; and on one occasion he was held for two days at Ballykelly camp.
As the 1975 IRA/British army truce came to an end Francis, fearing his imminent arrest, went ‘on the run’. From that time on, he led a life perpetually on the move, often moving on foot up to twenty miles during one night then sleeping during the day – either in fields and ditches or in safe houses; a soldierly sight in his black beret and combat uniform, and openly carrying his rifle, a handgun and several grenades as well as food rations.
The enemy reacted with up to fifty early morning raids on Francis’ home, and raids on the homes of those suspected of harbouring him. Often, houses would be staked out for days on end in the hope of capturing Francis. Often, it was only his sheer nerve and courage which saved him. One night, Francis was followed to a ‘safe house’ and looked out to see the Brits surrounding the place and closing in. Without hesitating, the uniformed Francis stepped outside the door, clutching his rifle, and in the darkness crept gradually through their lines, occasionally mumbling a few short words to British soldiers he passed, who, on seeing the shadowy uniformed figure, mistook him for one of themselves.
On numerous occasions, Francis and his comrades were stopped at checkpoints along the country roads while moving weapons from one locality to another but always calmly talked their way through. Once, a UDR soldier actually recognised Francis and his fellow Volunteers in a car but, fully aware that Francis would not be taken without a shoot-out, he waved their car on.
ACTIVE
The years before Francis’ capture were extremely active ones in the South Derry and surrounding areas with the commercial centres of towns and villages like Bellaghy, Maghera, Toome, Magherafelt and Castledawson being blitzed by car bombs on several occasions, and numerous shooting attacks being carried out as well.
Among the Volunteers under his command Francis had a reputation of being a strict disciplinarian and perfectionist who could not tolerate people taking their republican duties less seriously, and selflessly, than was necessary. He also, however, inspired fellow Volunteers by his example and by always being in the thick of things, and he thrived on pressure.
During one night-time operation, a weapon was missing and Francis gave away his own weapon to another Volunteer, taking only a torch himself which he used to its maximum effect by shining it at an oncoming enemy vehicle, which had its headlights off, to enable the other Volunteers to direct their fire.
Francis’ good-humoured audacity also showed itself in his republican activity. At the height of his ‘notoriety’ he would set up road-blocks, hoping to lure the Brits into an ambush (which by hard experience they learned to avoid), or he would ring up the Brits and give them his whereabouts!
Such joking, however, did not extend only to the enemy. One day, lying out in the fields, he spied one of his uncles cycling down a country road. Taking careful aim with his rifle he shot away the bike’s rear wheel. His uncle ran alarmed, into a nearby house shouting that loyalists had just tried to assassinate him!
BATTLE
The determination of the British army and RUC to capture Francis Hughes came to a head in April 1977. In that month, on Good Friday, a car containing three IRA Volunteers was overtaken and flagged down on the Moneymore Road at Dunronan, in County Derry, by a carload of RUC men.
The Volunteers attempted to make a U-turn but their car got stuck in a ditch as the armed RUC men approached. Jumping from the car, the Volunteers opened fire, killing two RUC men and injuring another before driving off. A hundred yards further up the road a second gun battle ensued but the Volunteers escaped safely.
Subsequently, the RUC issued a ‘wanted’ poster of Francis Hughes and two fellow republicans, Dominic McGlinchey and Ian Milne, in which Francis was named as the ‘most wanted man’ in the North.
When his eventual capture came, it was just as he had always said it would be: “I’ll get a few of them before they get me.”
STAKE-OUT
At 8.00 p.m. on March 16th, 1978, two SAS soldiers took up a stake-out position opposite a farm, on the south side of the Ronaghan road, about two miles west of Maghera, in the townland of Ballyknock.
At 9.15 p.m. they saw two men in military uniform and carrying rifles, walking in single file along the hedgeline of the field towards them. Using their ‘night sights’ in the darkness, the SAS men observed the military behaviour of the two on-comers and having challenged them, heard the men mumble a few words to each other in Irish accents and assumed that the pair were UDR soldiers.
One of the pair, in fact, was Francis Hughes, the other a fellow Volunteer, and with only a second’s hesitation both Volunteers cocked their rifles and opened fire. One SAS man fell fatally wounded but the other – though shot in the stomach – managed to fire a long burst from his sterling sub-machine gun at the retreating figures, and to make radio contact with his base.
Within three minutes, nearby Brit patrols were on the scene and the area was entirely sealed off. The following morning hundreds of Brits took part in a massive search operation.
Fifteen hours after the shooting, at around 12.15 p.m. the next day, they found Francis Hughes sitting in the middle of a gorse bush in a field three hundred yards away, bleeding profusely from a bullet wound which had shattered his left thigh. As he was taken away on a stretcher he yelled defiantly, through his considerable pain: “Up the Provies”.
His comrade, though also wounded, slightly, managed to evade the dragnet and to escape.
SURVIVED
How he survived the night of the shooting, possibly the coldest night of that year, bears eloquent testimony to Francis’ grim determination to evade capture. After being shot, he dragged himself – unable to walk – across the Ronaghan road and across two fields without a sound, before burying himself in a thick clump of gorse bushes.
At one point, en-route, Francis fell down a sharp drop between fields, and his left leg – the muscle and bone completely disintegrated – came up over his shoulder; but Francis worked it carefully down before continuing to crawl on his way. In his hiding place, he lay through the night, motionless and soundless, till his capture.
Francis Hughes lies wounded after a gun battle with British troops.
Francis Hughes lies wounded after a gun battle with British troops.
When he was found, unable to move through the cold, pain and stiffness, Francis, knowing that both Brits and RUC were on instructions to shoot him on sight, gave his name as Eamonn Laverty and his address as Letterkenny, County Donegal.
Francis was taken to Magherafelt hospital and from there to Musgrave Park military hospital in Belfast, and it was only then that his true identity was revealed. He spent ten months in Musgrave Park where his leg was operated on, reducing his thigh bone by an inch-and-a-half and leaving him dependent on a crutch to walk.
CASTLEREAGH
On Wednesday, January 24th, 1979, Francis was taken from Musgrave Park hospital to Castlereagh interrogation centre where he spent six days before being charged on January 29th. For more than four days Francis refused food and drink, fearing that it might have been drugged to make him talk.
His behaviour in Castlereagh was typical of the fiercely determined and courageous republican Volunteer that he was. His frustrated interrogators later described him as “totally uncooperative”.
Nevertheless, at his trial in Belfast in February 1980, after a year on remand in Crumlin Road jail, Francis was found ‘guilty’ on all charges.
He received a life sentence for killing the SAS soldier, and fourteen years for attempting to kill the other SAS man. He also received fifty-five years on three other charges.
H-BLOCK
In the H-Blocks, Francis immediately went on the protest for political status and, despite the severe disability of his wounded leg, displayed the same courage and determination that had been his hallmark before his capture.
And, just as always wanting to be in the thick of things and wanting to shoulder responsibility for other political prisoners as he had earlier looked after the morale of fellow Volunteers, Francis was one of those to volunteer for the hunger strike which began on October 27th, 1980. He was not one of the first seven hunger strikers selected but was among the thirty men who joined the hunger strike in its closing stages as Sean McKenna’s condition became critical.
That utter selflessness and courage came to its tragic conclusion on Tuesday, May 12th, when Francis died at 5.43 p.m. after fifty-nine days on hunger strike.