On Sunday, January 1st, the annual Sean South commemoration was held at the Republican plot Mount St. Lawrence cemetery Limerick which is the burial place of volunteer Sean South who gave his live 55 years ago in the cause of Irish freedom.
The event was organised by the Munster executive of Republican Sinn Fein.
Members and supporters marched from Mulgrave St to Mount st Lawrence cemetery led by a colour party.
The commemoration was chaired by Geraldine McNamara national PRO.
In her opening address she said “Sean South was a scholar, a fluent Irish speaker and a freedom fighter and we honour him today by continuing that struggle in the same honourable way that he and his comrades did.
It is an honour to be here amongst respectable members of Republican Sinn Fein who have had to endure a great deal in the past for the cause for Irish freedom”
Wreaths were laid on behalf of the republican prisoners by Adrian O’Hare, on behalf of Republican Sinn Fein by Joan Kennedy and on behalf of the Republican Movement by Donal Malone.
A decade of the rosary was recited by John Mangan which was followed by a minutes silence and the last post.
Thomás Ó Curráin read the New Year statement from the Leadership of Republican Sinn Fein.
The main oration was then given by Dan Hoban, who said,
“Friends and fellow Republicans, I feel deeply honored to be asked here today to pay tribute to Sean South the soldier of the Irish Republican Army who gave his life in the fight for Irish freedom fifty five years ago on New Years eve 1956 and in doing so he was continuing a tradition of the Irish people and those who never accepted British rule in Ireland. For 800 years the Irish people have resisted British rule and Sean South was part of that resistance movement and he gave his life on New Years eve 1956 and he also handed on that tradition to those who came after him. We have a long history of battle to liberate ourselves from British rule in this country and it has gone on for over 800 years, but in every generation we haven't been successful so far to achieve our goal, but every generation of Irish men and Irish women have come out at different times when all the forces that were against us thought they had Republicans defeated. Right up to the proclamation of 1916 when you had Padraig Pearse and his comrades who so gallantly fought in Easter week and then were executed by firing squad. At that time we had the Proclamation, the Proclamation which Republicans are still true to today, those who believe that we will achieve that ultimate goal. Many have fallen by the wayside in the meantime but Republicans have stuck together and eventually will come out and achieve that goal and one time there recently the patron of Republican Sinn Féin who is not with us here today Ruairí Ó'Brádaigh when he was asked in an interview is this it have we gone into politics now? and are the McGuinnesses and the Adams and all those going to take over? and his answer was this "while British rule remains in Ireland there will always be some form of an IRA, somebody will take on the powers that be". We had that glorious fight in 1916 and then we had the treaty of surrender in 1922 when Irish men were divided over what course we should take and at that particular time people were compromised when they went over to London and they signed a deal but then there were others, true Republicans who said we will not have this deal we will fight on and then further on down the road we had people who stood with the Republican cause decided they had enough and we had the formation of Fianna Fail, and we had De Valera and his cohorts said put your guns away they will be needed another time but the next time they were needed was to execute men in the 30s and the 40s. We have a long history and we have a long memory and we dont forget and those men who were executed during that period by Eamon De Valera and his government who knew so much about the IRA that they said they were going to defeat them for all times and when the men of the 1940s we owe a huge deal of respect to for keeping things together during those lean years, men who lay in English jails, men who lay in the Curragh, who lay in Portlaoise and the sacrifice made by men like Charlie Kerins, Maurice O'Neill and so on and so forth McNeela and Darcy who died on hunger strike and all the sufferings, women in jail in England who fought on and said we will have the whole thing, the Irish Republic or nothing. And at the end of that period when the people were released from the Curragh concentration camp and all the others came out of English jails De Valera and his cohorts said we have the IRA put down for all times but they were making a sad mistake but I can tell you one thing, they were the nearest people who came to defeating the IRA and they failed and when they failed nobody else will succeed. We had then right on to the 1950s campaign in which Sean South paid the supreme sacrifice along with Fergal O'Hanlon the Border campaign and many more the Wexford men, Michael Watters and all those people kept the tradition going and that campaign then they thought it had fizzled out they thought the IRA were gone again. But in 1969 when Bernadette Devlin and her comrades came to Burntollett bridge a new generation of Irishmen on the march again. And then we had a glorious campaign that was fought for over 30 years and with victory in sight we had men who got greedy men who wanted power, who wanted to take part of the apple and not the whole apple and what did they do they had their Good Friday Agreement and everything that went with it and they turned around and said the path of fighting are over now we will go back to the politics that our former friends De Valera and Cosgrave and all those who came before them were going to free Ireland with this type of politics. But there was only one type of politics that the British understood and that was the politics that came from the point of a gun and that was the only message that they had ever answered and so McGuinness and Adams and all his friends are lying there now in Leinster House and lying in Stormont and they are over in London and they are taking big salaries and they have forgotten about the men who died in the H-Blocks, they have forgotten about the men who have fought and struggled for the last 30 years but there are still people who havent forgotten about them and those people will come back and they will reorganize the Republican Movement and if it wasnt achieved by a generation in the past it will be achieved by a generation in the future and there will always be men who are prepared to fight and to die to liberate their country and while the last generation was a great generation there will come a greater one and we have to struggle on to achieve what hasn't come to fruition. And we have all types of propaganda now from the British and from this side and that side from former comrades and we had recently in the last few days British papers released on something that happened over 30 years ago. They have released the papers and what the British version is on what happened on the Hunger Strike of 1981 when ten men paid the supreme sacrifice once more, and Maggie Thatcher was embarrassed by what the outside world would think about her and now they are coming along and saying that she wanted to end it, that they were attempts made to end it and that Bobby Sands was prepared when he was near to death to compromise and talk but in the previous Hunger Strike that they had to give up there was compromise and there was talk and what was given was never given so it was organised during the H-Block hunger strike in which they died that there would be no compromise and let them not try to besmirch the name of Bobby Sands or Patsy O'Hara or anyone else and saying that when they were on their death bed they were prepared to take food there was nothing on offer and they cannot take away what those men stood up and fought for, they stood up and fought for political status for Irish Republican prisoners and they fought for the liberation of their country and all these people talking from one to the other the British agent who was supposed to be an expert on it was talking to a man in Belfast and Martin McGuinness was involved in it and they are all clapping one another on the backs and they are all getting big salaries. We are standing here today as the true standard bearers of Irish Republicanism and we will continue on to encourage and support everybody who opposes British rule in Ireland and who uses whatever means is at their disposal to get rid of it that there be no peace in Ireland until the last brit is gone out of it. Finally, I wont hold you much longer but in conclusion and coming back to Sean South and Fergal O'Hanlon. Sean South was a very inspirational figure not alone to those who fought side by side with him but to those who came after him and many of the Volunteers who died in the struggle over the last twenty years I am very sure that a lot of them were inspired by Sean South and I would like to conclude by saying that he was an inspiration to all of us in the struggle for Irish independence and I will conclude by referring back to the opening lines in the introduction of that famous balled that has been sung by Irish people all over the world Sean South of Garryowen and in that version of the song it said "sad are the homes around Garryowen, since they lost their joy and pride and the banshees cries over every vale along the Shannonside the city of the ancient walls and broken treaty stone undying fame surrounds your name Sean South from Garryowen" An Phoblacht abu.
The event was organised by the Munster executive of Republican Sinn Fein.
Members and supporters marched from Mulgrave St to Mount st Lawrence cemetery led by a colour party.
The commemoration was chaired by Geraldine McNamara national PRO.
In her opening address she said “Sean South was a scholar, a fluent Irish speaker and a freedom fighter and we honour him today by continuing that struggle in the same honourable way that he and his comrades did.
It is an honour to be here amongst respectable members of Republican Sinn Fein who have had to endure a great deal in the past for the cause for Irish freedom”
Wreaths were laid on behalf of the republican prisoners by Adrian O’Hare, on behalf of Republican Sinn Fein by Joan Kennedy and on behalf of the Republican Movement by Donal Malone.
A decade of the rosary was recited by John Mangan which was followed by a minutes silence and the last post.
Thomás Ó Curráin read the New Year statement from the Leadership of Republican Sinn Fein.
The main oration was then given by Dan Hoban, who said,
“Friends and fellow Republicans, I feel deeply honored to be asked here today to pay tribute to Sean South the soldier of the Irish Republican Army who gave his life in the fight for Irish freedom fifty five years ago on New Years eve 1956 and in doing so he was continuing a tradition of the Irish people and those who never accepted British rule in Ireland. For 800 years the Irish people have resisted British rule and Sean South was part of that resistance movement and he gave his life on New Years eve 1956 and he also handed on that tradition to those who came after him. We have a long history of battle to liberate ourselves from British rule in this country and it has gone on for over 800 years, but in every generation we haven't been successful so far to achieve our goal, but every generation of Irish men and Irish women have come out at different times when all the forces that were against us thought they had Republicans defeated. Right up to the proclamation of 1916 when you had Padraig Pearse and his comrades who so gallantly fought in Easter week and then were executed by firing squad. At that time we had the Proclamation, the Proclamation which Republicans are still true to today, those who believe that we will achieve that ultimate goal. Many have fallen by the wayside in the meantime but Republicans have stuck together and eventually will come out and achieve that goal and one time there recently the patron of Republican Sinn Féin who is not with us here today Ruairí Ó'Brádaigh when he was asked in an interview is this it have we gone into politics now? and are the McGuinnesses and the Adams and all those going to take over? and his answer was this "while British rule remains in Ireland there will always be some form of an IRA, somebody will take on the powers that be". We had that glorious fight in 1916 and then we had the treaty of surrender in 1922 when Irish men were divided over what course we should take and at that particular time people were compromised when they went over to London and they signed a deal but then there were others, true Republicans who said we will not have this deal we will fight on and then further on down the road we had people who stood with the Republican cause decided they had enough and we had the formation of Fianna Fail, and we had De Valera and his cohorts said put your guns away they will be needed another time but the next time they were needed was to execute men in the 30s and the 40s. We have a long history and we have a long memory and we dont forget and those men who were executed during that period by Eamon De Valera and his government who knew so much about the IRA that they said they were going to defeat them for all times and when the men of the 1940s we owe a huge deal of respect to for keeping things together during those lean years, men who lay in English jails, men who lay in the Curragh, who lay in Portlaoise and the sacrifice made by men like Charlie Kerins, Maurice O'Neill and so on and so forth McNeela and Darcy who died on hunger strike and all the sufferings, women in jail in England who fought on and said we will have the whole thing, the Irish Republic or nothing. And at the end of that period when the people were released from the Curragh concentration camp and all the others came out of English jails De Valera and his cohorts said we have the IRA put down for all times but they were making a sad mistake but I can tell you one thing, they were the nearest people who came to defeating the IRA and they failed and when they failed nobody else will succeed. We had then right on to the 1950s campaign in which Sean South paid the supreme sacrifice along with Fergal O'Hanlon the Border campaign and many more the Wexford men, Michael Watters and all those people kept the tradition going and that campaign then they thought it had fizzled out they thought the IRA were gone again. But in 1969 when Bernadette Devlin and her comrades came to Burntollett bridge a new generation of Irishmen on the march again. And then we had a glorious campaign that was fought for over 30 years and with victory in sight we had men who got greedy men who wanted power, who wanted to take part of the apple and not the whole apple and what did they do they had their Good Friday Agreement and everything that went with it and they turned around and said the path of fighting are over now we will go back to the politics that our former friends De Valera and Cosgrave and all those who came before them were going to free Ireland with this type of politics. But there was only one type of politics that the British understood and that was the politics that came from the point of a gun and that was the only message that they had ever answered and so McGuinness and Adams and all his friends are lying there now in Leinster House and lying in Stormont and they are over in London and they are taking big salaries and they have forgotten about the men who died in the H-Blocks, they have forgotten about the men who have fought and struggled for the last 30 years but there are still people who havent forgotten about them and those people will come back and they will reorganize the Republican Movement and if it wasnt achieved by a generation in the past it will be achieved by a generation in the future and there will always be men who are prepared to fight and to die to liberate their country and while the last generation was a great generation there will come a greater one and we have to struggle on to achieve what hasn't come to fruition. And we have all types of propaganda now from the British and from this side and that side from former comrades and we had recently in the last few days British papers released on something that happened over 30 years ago. They have released the papers and what the British version is on what happened on the Hunger Strike of 1981 when ten men paid the supreme sacrifice once more, and Maggie Thatcher was embarrassed by what the outside world would think about her and now they are coming along and saying that she wanted to end it, that they were attempts made to end it and that Bobby Sands was prepared when he was near to death to compromise and talk but in the previous Hunger Strike that they had to give up there was compromise and there was talk and what was given was never given so it was organised during the H-Block hunger strike in which they died that there would be no compromise and let them not try to besmirch the name of Bobby Sands or Patsy O'Hara or anyone else and saying that when they were on their death bed they were prepared to take food there was nothing on offer and they cannot take away what those men stood up and fought for, they stood up and fought for political status for Irish Republican prisoners and they fought for the liberation of their country and all these people talking from one to the other the British agent who was supposed to be an expert on it was talking to a man in Belfast and Martin McGuinness was involved in it and they are all clapping one another on the backs and they are all getting big salaries. We are standing here today as the true standard bearers of Irish Republicanism and we will continue on to encourage and support everybody who opposes British rule in Ireland and who uses whatever means is at their disposal to get rid of it that there be no peace in Ireland until the last brit is gone out of it. Finally, I wont hold you much longer but in conclusion and coming back to Sean South and Fergal O'Hanlon. Sean South was a very inspirational figure not alone to those who fought side by side with him but to those who came after him and many of the Volunteers who died in the struggle over the last twenty years I am very sure that a lot of them were inspired by Sean South and I would like to conclude by saying that he was an inspiration to all of us in the struggle for Irish independence and I will conclude by referring back to the opening lines in the introduction of that famous balled that has been sung by Irish people all over the world Sean South of Garryowen and in that version of the song it said "sad are the homes around Garryowen, since they lost their joy and pride and the banshees cries over every vale along the Shannonside the city of the ancient walls and broken treaty stone undying fame surrounds your name Sean South from Garryowen" An Phoblacht abu.