Triple lock change would 'send Irish men and women off to die', Drumboe memorial told

Click on the arrows to go through the images by Joe Boland (North West Newspix)

Mairéad Farrell has criticised proposed changes to Ireland’s triple lock neutrality system.

The Sinn Féin politician was speaking at the annual Drumboe Easter commemoration on Easter Sunday.

The Galway West TD delivered a rousing address in which she blasted the draft legislation put together by the Government.

At the moment, the triple lock mechanism allows for the deployment of 12 or more soldiers when there is a UN mandate approved by the UN’s Security Council or General Assembly, as well as approval by the Government and the Dáil.

The legislation is proposing to remove the requirement for formal approval from the UN.

“We want no hand, act or part in anyone’s imperialist wars,” Deputy Farrell said.

“We see this government’s attempts at dismantling the triple lock for what it is: A precursor to sending young Irish men and women off to die in military misadventures and imperialist conflicts that have nothing to do with the interests of Ireland. 

“If we look at it, the parallels are stark when we look at 100 years ago when the Irish people were implored by the British Empire to fight under the Union Jack for the so-called freedom of small nations while our own country remained under the veil of colonialism.”

To the applause of those in attendance at the Republican memorial on Main Street, Stranorlar, Deputy Farrell said: “We have learned the lessons of history well and, Micheal Martin, may as well know that.”

She said that the Irish people’s solidarity with Palestine is “never been in doubt” and that this nation has a “responsibility” to “do everything we can do stop this genocide”.

She said: “Words of condemnation from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael ring hollow when they allow the use of our airspace to bring or send munitions to Israel, when they allow the use of Shannon Airport, when they don’t enact the Occupied Territories Bill. 

“We see them for what they are doing and we see them for what they are at - and we will shout stop.”

The Drumboe Martyrs - Charlie Daly, Sean Larkin, Daniel Enright and Timothy O’Sullivan - were executed in Drumboe in 1923.

The four anti-treaty IRA volunteers were captured when their safe house was surrounded by Free State Forces and they were executed on March 14, 1923 - just six weeks before the ending of Civil War hostilities.

Wreaths were paid by Gerard Duffy on behalf of the leadership of the Republican movement; by Ellen Gallen-O’Dwyer on behalf of the Tir Chonaill Commemoration Committee; Niamh McGuinness of the Donegal Comhairle Ceantair; Fergal Leonard of the West Tyrone Comhairle Ceantair; and Eunan Harkin of the Tyrone National Graves Association.

The Proclamation was read by Ellie McDaid with the Tir Chonaill Roll of Honour was read by Christina McGranaghan and the West Tyrone Roll of Honour by Paul Boggs. 

The attendance included a large crowd of Sinn Féin Cumann branches from Donegal and Tyrone while Cathal McCloskey lowered the tricolour in honour of 'all those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle for Irish freedom'.

Members of the Strabane Accordion Band, who also took part in the parade, played Amhrán na bhFiann to close the proceedings.

The Chair of the Drumboe Commemoration Committee, Maria Doherty, said it was important to commemorate “the men and women who rose in arms at Easter 1916 and proclaimed the 32-county Republic 109 years ago.”

Ms Doherty said: “It is appropriate that we gather here at this spot near Drumboe, where Charlie Daly, Sean Larkin, Daniel Enright and Timothy O’Sullivan died facing a Free State firing squad rather than accept a partitioned and unfree Ireland. 

“We salute their valiant efforts and recall the struggle they engaged in with pride. Their principles, ideals and objectives for which they fought and died have been set out for all time in the Republican proclamation of Easter 1916.”

Deputy Farrell’s aunt, also called Mairéad Farrell, was a member of the Provisional IRA who became one of three people killed by the British SAS in Gibraltar in March 1988. At her funeral in Milltown Cemetery, three men - including Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh, whose mother, Brid, was from Meenaleck - were killed when they tried to prevent an attack by Michael Stone. 

She said: “It is not lost on me that these four men were executed on the 14th of March, 1923 and 65 years later, nearly to the day, another man with strong Donegal links, Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh, was killed as he defended his community in Milltown Cemetery. It was a reminder to me how every single generation of Republicanism is intertwined.”

The Drumboe Martyrs were shot at dawn by a Free State firing squad in 1923.

“We want to remember their lives and everything that they sacrificed on that morning,” Deputy Farrell said. “The fact that they are remembered every single year is testament to the understanding and commitment and particularly the unbreakable bond that we have as Republicans together. 

“It is impossible not to get emotional when you read the final letters of these young men to their mothers. They were only informed at 4pm the day before that they would be executed at 7am the next morning. The Free State never let their families see those young men or other young men before they were executed. 

“To think that their former colleagues would inflict such horrendous pain, not just on them but on their mothers is absolutely devastating. The Free State executed more IRA prisoners in one year than the British Army did from 1916-1921. When we think about Republicanism and when we think about a United Ireland, we sure as hell need to do it for them and for their mothers.”

Easter should, she said, be a chance for people to “recharge our Republican activism and make sure that we are the generation who embrace Irish freedom”.