Republican Sinn Fein Tyrone

Remembering the three Volunteers

 

June the 25^th 1973 on the Gortin Road on the outskirts of Omagh as 15 year old Anna Cooke is leading her pony to a nearby field She witnesses a green Morris 1100 become enveloped in smoke a split second later the car explodes as it travels towards her, unhurt she runs for help.

 

The remains of the car the three Volunteers were traveling in

 

 

Inside the remains of the car lay three Irish Soldiers who had paid the supreme sacrifice for the cause of Irish Freedom

 

The three Volunteers

 

Volunteers Paddy Carty, Sean Loughran and Dermot Crowley were on active service with the 1^st Battalion East Tyrone Brigade Irish Republican Army when they were killed

 

Volunteer Sean Loughran

The Crow Loughran as Sean was better known to his wide circle of friends and Comrades is described as having a wonderful wit and sense of humour which would have enlivened any company The Crow is a nickname which refers to the fact that Sean had a head of intensely dark black hair.

 

Sean was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone in 1936 he was first interned because of his role during the 50s Campaign and later in 1964, when he was captured at an Army training camp in Waterford. Upon release Sean moved to England to work were he met and married his wife Pauline and had two Children.

 

Unable to watch from abroad as the North erupted Sean and his family returned home. Sean went on Active Service and after internment was introduced went on the Run, Sean spent some time operating in the South Derry area and is well remembered and respected by many Republican veterans from that area. After many daring exploits Sean died in an accidental explosion in Omagh with his two brave Comrades, he is fondly remembered by all who knew him as a brave and fearless Irish Soldier.

 

Volunteer Paddy Carty

 

Patrick Carty aged 27 was born in Bundoran but moved to Dunagnnon at the age of 11 with his family as his Father Joe Carty moved as the railroad work moved.

In the early phase of the present campaign of resistance to British rule in Ireland Paddy was a civil rights activist, however Paddy joined the I.R.A after three of his friends were shot and injured by the B-Specials during a civil rights demonstration in Dungannon. Paddy went on the run after several attacks on the Crown Forces in the Dungannon area.

 

Paddy was Captured with ammunition along with Kevin Mallon and Joe Donaghy after a Gun battle with British troops on the border, tried in Monaghan court house Paddy and his comrades escaped by laying the guards low as one witness described it and all three returned to active service, Paddy and Joe were captured in the south again later that year with explosives and Paddy was sent to the Curragh were after a short stay escaped and returned to active service in the North.

 

It was a short time latter he died as a result of a premature explosion that claimed the lives of two of his comrades.

 

At the time of his death Paddy Carty had the distinction of being the only man wanted on both sides of the border, his description had been circulated to all RUC installations in the north but their were no photos of him as he had destroyed them all before going on the run, the family have two photos to remember him by both handed over by friends after his death.

 

A keen GAA supporter as a youth Paddy had played for Dungannon Clarke’s and the day before his death had been in Ballybofay for the Tyrone V Donegal Game.

 

Volunteer Dermot Crowley

 

Vol Dermot Crowley          Vol Tony Ahern

   

The Name of Dermot Crowley is for ever linked in memory to that of his life long friend Tony Ahern. They grew up together in Mayfield, Co. Cork and went to school together in the North Mon. They had noted careers in sports and both he and Tony represented their club, Clann Eireann and their County in juvenile and youth athletics, winning numerous trophies, Dermot was the much loved son of May and Jerry, and Brother to Donal, Colm, June and twins Catherine and Rosaleen.

The uprising and terrible suffering of the Irish People in the North in the Early 1970s found Dermot a staunch defender. From early 1972 he was on active service with the 1^st Battalion East Tyrone Brigade where for over a year he distinguished himself through his coolness, calm approach and determination.

 

Dermot was heart Broken when his friend and comrade Volunteer Tony Ahern, not yet turned 18, was killed in Fermanagh on the 10^th May 1973 while inspecting a land mine on the Roslea-Clogh Road. Tony is widely remembered as having the greatest respect for Dermot. This respect was mutual and they complemented each others attributes, Tony being of big physique and kindly humor, and Dermot having mature and constructive debating skills. They made a great team.

 

Dermot attended Tony’s funeral in Cork Significantly, in terms of the continuity of the freedom struggle, among those who attended the funeral was Joe Clarke who fought in the 1916 rising in the Battle of Mount Street Bridge. It was a salute from one remarkable struggle at the beginning of the last century to those who are determined to achieve its objectives in this century. After his Comrade was laid to rest Dermot returned to active service in Tyrone.

 

Dermot was killed shortly after Tony in the explosion in Omagh which also claimed the lives of his two Comrades. Dermot was laid to rest beside his boyhood friend and Comrade Tony Ahern in Rathcooney, County Cork. He was 18 years old when he died

 

Crowds gather to pay respects

 

Large Crowds gathered in Dungannon to pay their respects to two brave Irish Soldiers as the Funeral Cortège of Volunteers Paddy Carty and Sean Loughran made its way from the Ballygawely Road housing estate flanked by Uniformed Members of the Irish Republican Army and followed by uniformed Members of Na Fianna Eireann a Masked Member of the East Tyrone Brigade fired a volley of shots over the coffins before they left the estate

The British Army and R.U.C feared them in death as they did in life by harassing and intimidating the Cortège as it made its way to their final resting place in Edendork graveyard both men were laid to rest side by side in what is now the Republican Plot in Edendork

 

Garden of Remembrance

Republican Sinn Fein in Bundoran and Ballyshannon erected a garden of remembrance by the sea in Bundoran to remember all those who had a connection with the area who gave their lives for Irish Freedom. A large granite cross stands in the Garden , in memory of Paddy Carty , Sean Loughran & Dermot Crowley and in the summer months as the sunshine’s on the sea it is beautiful to sit in the garden and reflect and remember these brave men who gave everything in the struggle for Irish Freedom.

 

This June is the 35^th anniversary of the Three Volunteers and the McKearney McCaughey Cumann  Dungannon Remember these men with Pride and says only that their struggle continues today   

 

Volunteers of the East Tyrone Brigade paying respects to their fallen Comrades Easter Sunday Carrickmore 1981

 

 

TOMMY McKEARNEY      
Daily Ireland
10/04/2006      
     
The Easter Rising of 1916 was organised by the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood(IRB). In keeping with that organisation’s practice, the Military Council (the members of which are better known to us now as the seven signatories of the Proclamation) had been established as a result of a directive from the organisation’s Supreme Council and tasked with responsibility for preparing an
insurrection.

Under the influence of the tough old Fenian revolutionary Tom Clarke, his younger associate, Sean McDermott, and the purposeful socialist, James Connolly, the Military Council planned to launch a general uprising across the country. Contrary to tendentious claims made over the years by revisionists, those who organised the rising did not plan merely to make a blood-soaked and hopeless gesture. They were determined to capture the capital city as well as strategic positions across the rest of Ireland and thus wrest control of all but the North from Britain, as a first step towards creating an island-wide republic. Key to the plan’s success was taking possession of a substantial shipment of weapons from Germany and the failure to do so greatly reduced
the chance of success.

Since the arms shipment was to be landed in Kerry and the major strike had to take place in Dublin, it is evident that much less attention was given to planning a role for the Northern members of the IRB. It is now
obvious, however, that a number of factors combined to ensure that the northern contribution was less than it might otherwise have been.

The Military Council, in the first instance, saw very little advantage in ordering any serious action in the North where only Belfast and Tyrone were considered sufficiently strong to mobilise significant numbers. The Military Council opted therefore to instruct its
Ulster companies to assemble at Coalisland, Co Tyrone, in the middle of Ulster and thereafter travel across country and join up with other volunteers in Connacht. There is a suggestion that they were expected to help hold a line west of the Shannon river against Crown forces attempting to reassert their control in theregion.

It is difficult to obtain authentic written records of the Military Council’s reasoning behind their decisions but it is likely two factors influenced its thinking in relation to the North. The council knew the area was volatile with the large, albeit weakened,Ulster Volunteer Force capable of playing a dangerous,counter-revolutionary role. This alone would have discouraged them from demanding offensive action in the northeast, even had their numbers been greater. Another significant factor and one that is rarely highlighted is the reality that the Military Council had little faith in the ability or determination of
the northern leadership. There is ample evidence from the personal accounts of the two main IRB figures in the North at the time, Dennis McCullough of Belfast and Dr Pat McCartan of Tyrone that they were not even kept informed about the timing of the rising. In the event, the council’s fears proved to be well-founded. Denis McCullough and Pat McCartan did, nevertheless, go along initially with their instructions and ordered their men to assemble in Coalisland.

Cathal O’Shannon from Randalstown, Co Antrim, tells how the Belfast men were first gathered in the Willowbank district off the Falls Road. The volunteers were then dispatched by train to Tyrone on Easter Saturday, travelling in three groups and at different times. According to IRB man Bernard Conlon from Benburb, Co Tyrone, the Belfast men journeyed to
Dungannon where they were met by local volunteers who guided them to accommodation in Coalisland. In all,Denis McCullough estimated that 132 Belfast volunteers made their way to the rendezvous point in Tyrone.
For secrecy and security, the Belfast IRB companies travelled unarmed, having sent their weapons – probably no more than 42 rifles and some pistols – ahead of them on Good Friday. Two cars had come from
Tyrone to transport the equipment. Hugh Rogers from Sixmilecross drove one car with Seamus Tomney of coalisland accompanying him. Tommy McGuigan of Dungannon drove the other vehicle and he was accompanied by Tom Clarke’s old comrade, Dungannon man William John Kelly senior. The entire consignment of arms was delivered safely to Derrytresk and Corr, two districts close to Coalisland.

In later years, Cathal O’Shannon cast doubt on the number of Tyrone volunteers present at the meeting place. It is likely he was unaware that many of the Tyrone men were staying under cover in barns and outhouses on the outskirts of the town. James Connolly’s daughter, Nora, had been sent north with dispatches on the Saturday and recalled later that she had seen as many as 200 armed men in the locality that
night, many of whom were hiding in barns. Local anecdotal evidence from those present at the time tends to support this claim as the author has heard of groups from many districts of Tyrone having made their
way to Coalisland for the Easter gathering. Whatever debate there may be over numbers present, it is beyond doubt that the men were ordered to disband without any attempt being made to join the struggle.
At the root of the ‘stand-down’ order lay the indecisiveness of the McCartan/McCullough leadership in allowing two local clergymen influence them. A Fr Daly and a Fr Coyle, unsworn members of the IRB from
Co Tyrone, viewed the planned march to Connacht as unwise and made their opinions known to the pair in charge that Easter Sunday morning. McCartan and McCullough were swayed by the priests’ arguments and
began to conduct a lengthy discussion about what they should do and eventually decided to do nothing. Had they been determined to fight, it is inconceivable that they would have allowed themselves be deflected
so easily. Intriguingly, the countermanding order from Eoin McNeill appears to have had less of an impact on the outcome in Coalisland that the intervention of thetwo clergymen.

It is easy to be critical of what happened over that Easter in Coalisland 90 years ago. Looking at the situation, it has to be said that no matter what they had done then, they could not have altered the
material outcome of the rising. The point is though, that in spite of everything, many hundreds of men mustered in Tyrone and offered their services in the attempt to establish an Irish republic. Little more
can be asked of anyone. That they were willing to do so deserves credit and our gratitude.

Aftermath
In the days that followed, several attempts were made to regroup the IRB volunteers in Tyrone in an effort to have them provide assistance to those fighting in Dublin. Nora Connolly returned to beg help for her
father and his comrades but to no avail. William John Kelly Senior and Seamus Tomney tried to make their way to Dublin but were stopped at Portadown railway station. In Cookstown a young barmaid, Mary Jane Devlin, refused to make tea for a group of volunteers who had decided not to attempt the journey to Dublin. In the Moy, a local blacksmith returned home quietly on the Friday to learn that he had a new son. Almost alone of those present in Coalisland on Easter Sunday Cathal O’Shannon managed to reach Dublin before the republican forces surrendered.

The momentum was lost and could not be recovered at the time. The spirit of resistance, although damaged, re-emerged. Hugh Rogers’ cousin, Mary ‘Cissy’ Mullin is mother to one of the well-known republican families
in modern Tyrone. William John Kelly’s great grandson died alongside the blacksmith’s grandson in 1987 during an attack on Loughgall RUC station while Mary Jane Devlin’s granddaughter, Bernadette McAliskey, is as disdainful of injustice as was her feisty grandmother.

The author would like to acknowledge the work of
Proincheas O’Conluain who produced the RTÉ radio
documentary The rising that never happened for much of
the factual information in this article and additional
research conducted by Mairead Kelly, Roisin McAliskey
and Margaret McKearney.

Thomas James Clarke born on 11th of March 1857 was an Irish Revolutionary leader and perhaps the man most responsible for the 1916 Easter Rising. He was born on the Isle off Wight, though his family soon moved to Dungannon county Tyrone. At the age of 18 he joined the I.R.B and in 1883 he was sent to London to blow up London Bridge as part of dynamiting campaign advocated by Jeremiah O' Donovan Rossa, one of the I.R.B leaders exiled in the United States . Clarke was Captured and subsequently served 15 years in Pentonville Prison. Following his release in 1898 he married Kathleen Daly whose uncle John he had met in Prison. Together they emigrated to America, were Clarke worked for the Clan na Gael under John Devoy .In undergoing a substantial rejuvenation under the guidance of younger men such as Bulmer Hobson and Denis McCullough. Clarke had a very close kinship with Hobson, who along with Sean MacDermot became his protégés Irish volunteers When the Irish Volunteers were formed in 1913, Clarke took a keen interest, but took no part in the organization, knowing that as a felon and well known Irish Nationalist he would lend discredit to the Volunteers. Nevertheless, with MacDermott, Hobson, and other I.R.B members such as Eamonn Ceannt taking important roles in the Volunteers, it was clear that the I.R.B would have substantial, if not total, control (particularly after the co-option of Patrick Pearse, already a leading member of the Volunteers, into the I.R.B at the end of 1913). This proved largely to be the case, until John Redmond, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, demanded equal control of the Volunteers. Though most of the hard-liners stood against this, Redmond's decree was accepted, partially due to the support given by Hobson. Clarke never forgave him for what he considered a treasonous act. Planning the Rising Following Clarke’s falling out with Hobson, MacDermott and Clarke became almost inseparable. The two of them, as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively, defacto ran the I.R.B, although it was still under the nominal head of other men, James Deakin, and later McCullough. In 1915 Clarke and MacDermott established the Military Committee of the I.R.B to plan what later became the Easter Rising. The members were Pearse, Ceannt, and Joseph Plunkett, with Clarke and MacDermott adding themselves shortly thereafter. When an agreement was reached with James Connolly and the Irish Citizens Army in January, 1916, Connolly was also included on the Committee, with Thomas MacDonagh added at the last minute in April. These seven men were the signers of the Easter Proclamation, with Clarke as the First signatory. It has been said that Clarke indeed would have been the declared President and Commander in Chief, but he refused any military rank and such honours, which were given to Pearse, who was more well known and respected on a national level. The Easter Rising Clarke was stationed in the headquarters at the General Post Office in Dublin during the events of Easter week, where command of the Rebel forces was largely under Connolly. Following the surrender on April 29th, Clarke was held in Kilmainham Jail until his execution by firing squad on May the 3rd. He was the Second person to be executed, following Pearse. Dungannon Man until the end Tom Clarke was not born in Dungannon did not Die in Dungannon and spent long periods off time in Jail and America but it was Dungannon he called home and always thought of himself as a Dungannon man indeed the Proclamation was taken to Dungannon by Pearse for Tom to be the first to sign it. Tom was raised and in latter life lived in the home house a small house beside St Patrick’s Chapel in Dungannon it leans against the houses of Northland row it is thought to be the location were Tom Clarke signed the Proclamation . Edendork a nearby Parish is also linked to Tom Clarke it was here that Clarke stored hundreds off weapons for the Rising. Today it is a small collection of farms and houses with a Chapel and graveyard (were the Patriot dead from Dungannon and surrounding areas are buried)a school and a church hall . Tom Clarke’s Name lives on in Dungannon through the Thomas Clarke’s G.A.A club who’s players have been in Tyrone’s All-Ireland Team. We in Dungannon are proud off our history and proud off the stance taken by men like Clarke we only hope the dream he fought for can become real.

POBLACHT NA H-ÉIREANN THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE IRISH REPUBLIC TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom. Having organised and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organisation, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organisations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory. We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred years they have asserted it in arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations. The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Irish Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all of its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past. Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National Government, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provisional Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people. We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish Nation must, by its valour and discipline and the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called. Signed on behalf of the Provisional Government Tomás Ó Cléirigh Seán Mac Diarmada Tomás Mac Donncha Pádraig Mac Piarais Seosamh Pluincéad Séamas Ó Conghaile Eamonn Ceannt

The Dungannon Republican Clubs

  By the Mc Kearney/Mc Caughey Cumann

          Dungannon & East Tyrone

The unconquerable spirit of the Irish people has remained throughout the tragedy of our history, colonial occupation. That unbroken unconquerable spirit lives and breaths today in Republican Sinn Fein as it has done in the hearts of patriot men and women who have resisted foreign occupation throughout the centuries and in turn passed on the flame of freedom to generation after generation.

Republican Sinn Fein is the only organisation that can claim direct Continuity from the original Sinn Fein formed in 1905 and the spirit of resistance that had long preceded it. We celebrate this our centenary year in the confidence of victory.History rarely records how the Fenian doctrine and goal of an independent Ireland became the policy of Sinn Fein and embodies it till this day with those who have stayed true to it and its founding objectives.

The answer lies in the Dungannon Republican Clubs. The Dungannon republican clubs were formed in 1905 by Bulmer Hobson, Denis McCullough and signatory to the Proclamation Sean Mac Diarmada joined later, their aim was to promote the cause of the Republic rather than a dual monarchy which Arthur Griffin was advocating at the time. The Dungannon Clubs were essentially a pressure group that led the pro-independence movement in a more militant direction. These Militant Republicans often travelled to meetings of various bodies i.e. The Gaelic League, National Council etc. to forward the case for a republican agenda an independent Ireland separated entirely from England and the monarchy.   

Named after the original Dungannon Clubs organised after the convention at Dungannon in February 1782 a body of separatists that demanded and won legislative independence for Ireland until the great Rising of 1798 in which large numbers of Protestants, Catholics and Dissenters fought side by side as United Irishmen to break the connection with England and establish an Irish Republic. That effort to achieve freedom and equality was brutally suppressed and the Act of Union creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was enacted in 1801. Throughout the nineteenth century it was a deliberate policy of English governments to cultivate loyalty to the Crown and bigotry in order to keep Irishmen divided in the hope that future rebellion in the pursuit of Irelands right to be independent would not happen.

No such luck for the English one of the most influential founders of the Dungannon clubs Bulmer Hobson was a Quaker from Hollywood, Co. Down and the Club as a hole rejected entirely narrow sectarianism including that of older men in the Hibernians. Denis McCullough and Bulmer Hobson revitalised the separatist movement in the heart of unionist territory. These separatists of 1782 chose Dungannon because the meetings put into words what the people of the Ireland wanted to see especially the radical element that wanted Ireland independent of England, this form of separatism inspired the founders of the 1905 Dungannon Republican clubs and hence named themselves after them.

The founders militarism was not only confined to the political Bulmer Hobson and Denis McCullough where IRB men and in 1906 Mc McCullough was on the IRB’s ruling supreme council as reward to his organisational capabilities relating to the Dungannon Clubs which was very much the public voice of the IRB. The Dungannon Republican Clubs where undoubtedly hard-line and there republican agenda attracted great support from militant heart lands across Ulster and East Tyrone a example of this was Carrickmore in which there were 31 members in that area!, many of whom who would become synonymous with the planning and execution of the Easter Rising. In one incident the Carrickmore branch of the Dungannon Republican Clubs put up poster’s in the town only to have them tore down by the RIC and denounced by the parish priest from the altar. This is not surprising considering that the church at the time was highly politicised, as an establishment and fought to stamp it’s authority over organisations in which the IRB had sway namely the GAA after becoming alarmed at its influence.

Denis McCullough was disgusted at the manner in which the IRB where functioning at the time and aided by Hobson, McCullough weeded out the faint hearted – including his own father and worked with unremitting zeal and dedication to enrol into the Brotherhood young men determined to fight for the Republic.The dedication of these northern republicans attracted the attention of John Devoy, a head of the IRB’s counterpart in America, Clan na Gael. Devoy had long rejected constitutional nationalism after the fall of Parnell, Devoy had long despaired of revitalising physical force republicanism in Ireland till these young Ulster men came to his attention.Another man who was a head in Clan na Gael was Joseph Mc Garrity who had left Carrickmore for Philadelphia in 1890 where he made his fortune.  Mc Garrity helped fund pro-independence movements in Ireland namely The IRB and the Dungannon Clubs.

Mc Garrity’s close associate Patrick Mc Cartan another native of Carrickmore and dedicated Dungannon club activist wrote constantly to Mc Garrity in America to keep him informed of the progress the new movement was making.

The Dungannon Cubs succeeded in making Sinn Fein a republican party and a unified body was emerging. In April 1907 the Dungannon Republican clubs and Cumann na nGaedheal amalgamated to form the Sinn Fein League. When the National Council then merged with the league in September 1908 the new body took the name Sinn Fein and it immediately adopted a new constitution aimed at creating “a prosperous, virile and Independent nation and to pursue a policy of non-recognition of the Westminster parliament” the constitution was a complete turn around from the “Hungarian” dual monarchy policy of Griffin’s. In revolutionary terms Sinn Fein had something to offer, “Sinn Fein could pose as a National conscience of Ireland . . . determined, virile and Idealistic” and individual Sinn Fein members certainly possessed the militant mindedness of revolutionaries; “any man” wrote a member “who joins England’s Army, Navy or Police Force takes his stand in the camp of the garrison; he is a traitor to his country, and a enemy of his people”.

Having clearly achieved there objectives and purpose the Dungannon Republican Clubs became redundant as a independent group but those who had founded it Denis McCullough and Bulmer Hobson and joined it did not cease, they continued to move forward to freedom aided by the return of Thomas Clarke (a Dungannon man) and rapid elevation to the IRB’s military council strengthened the position of the younger militant elements at the expense of the older generation, together they pursued mounting a future revolutionary strike and the young Militants whom Clarke attracted like a magnet this goal was becoming increasingly close. Clarke would have certainly had connections to the Dungannon clubs and would have certainly supported them as well its founders and many activists McCullough, Hobson and Sean Mac Diarmada being in his inner circle who regarded him as a father figure of the movement who worked closely together to win the struggle for control of the movement through the Supreme Council in which they succeeded to do in 1910.

 

What where these militant republicans to do with there growing influence? The answer came at Easter 1916!

 

Cathaoirleach Aodhan O'Cuinn

McKearney McCaughey Cumann

Almost 100 Years from the absorption off the Dungannon Republican Clubs and much Treachery in recent years with the Provisional movement claiming to be Sinn Fein and claiming to be Republican when they have abandoned every thing Sinn Fein stood for almost 100 years ago, we in Republican Sinn Fein do not look at them with envy for I for one would never want to be in a position were I would find myself administering British Rule in Ireland, instead the McKearney McCaughey Cumann Republican Sinn Fein looks to the future with the aim off educating the next generation so the sacrifices and exploits off the past are not a story twisted to suit a non Republican Agenda. We are the True inheritors off the mantle Sinn Fein, we stand on the same principles set down and lobbied for by the Dungannon Republican Clubs, our aims are that off the men from that time we will work hard to promote our goals and support those who stay true to the 32 county Republic never betraying it by recognising an illegal Government imposed on our people by a foreign Imperial force. Continuity with the past forward to the future.

 

An n cisteoir

Ciaran O’Hagan

 

………………………………………………………………………………………......

 

When this article was being researched the subject came up on the the Provisional site, they described the Dungannon Republican clubs as being “a federation of Nationalist Clubs” this being a good point to highlight there abandonment of Republicanism and there attempts to betray history to make there acceptance of partition more comfortable on there conscience and membership by blatantly lying.

 

The McKearney McCaughey Cumann would like to thank Dungannon Historian Pat John Rafferty for his valuable time, insight and documents relating to the Dungannon Republican Clubs with out his vast knowledge on the Subject this Project would never have happened his input was purely historical and any political views expressed are those off the authors.

 

McKearney McCaughey Cumann

Republican Sinn Fein

Dungannon

East Tyrone