Le Chéile 2011 Honourees

SIX REPUBLICANS who have given outstanding service to the cause of Irish freedom are being honoured at the 2011 Le Chéile celebration being held around the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis.

ANNIE CAHILL

Annie Cahill

ANNIE CAHILL was born 10th April 1935 at Whiterock Drive, Belfast. She was one of nine children born to Edward and Ethel Magee.
It was on Bodenstown Sunday in 1953 that Annie first met Joe Cahill in Dublin after missing the bus home. Annie met Joe again some months later at a céilí in The Barman’s. They dated for a couple of years and married on Easter Monday 1956 in St John’s Church on the Falls Road.
In 1957, Joe was arrested as the IRA Border Campaign started.  Annie found out she was pregnant with eldest son Tom and moved in with Joe’s sister, Tess, living in Annalee Street. The chaplain of the prison told Annie that the cheers were loud on the wing when he told Joe that their baby son was born.
In 1960, Annie moved to Divis Street, next to Joe’s mother and father. She had returned to work in Templemore Avenue until Joe was released. This was followed by two daughters being born in the same year. Ten years later, in March 1970, they moved to Beechview Park in the Whiterock area. Soon after, Joe went ‘on the run’, leaving Belfast and Annie to raise their seven children. Family was the most important thing to Annie; she gave up work to look after the children ensuring stability in their life.
Times were difficult for Annie as she had been turned down for any benefits from the Social Security. She had to rely for many years on the financial support of Green Cross and her sister.
Soon after they moved to Beechview Park (in 1972), the British Army moved into McRory Park with the main entrance facing her home. This resulted in raids on their home and windows being smashed on many occasions.
Joe returned to Belfast and settled with Annie in Andersonstown in 2001 where they enjoyed a normal family life for a number of years.

HARRY THOMPSON

Harry Thompson

HARRY THOMPSON, known affectionately as ‘Wee Harry’, has been a republican activist for most of his adult life. He is a very proud son of Ballymacarrett in east Belfast, born in Bryson Street in 1944, the youngest of eight sons and two daughters to Elizabeth and Arthur Thompson.
In 1962, as the 1950s campaign was coming to an end, Harry joined the republican struggle.
In 1964, Sinn Féin was a banned organisation but the party stood candidates in the October Westminster general election campaign under the banner of ‘Republican’ in each of the 12 constituencies. Harry was active in east Belfast, where David McConnell was the candidate. It was an election best remembered for Ian Paisley’s threat to take the Tricolour out of the election office window in Divis Street and for the days of rioting that followed the violent removal of the national flag by the RUC.
Harry remained active throughout the 1960s. It was a turbulent time within Irish republicanism as efforts were made to learn the lessons of the failed Fifties campaign and to map a new way forward. At the end of that decade, Harry briefly went to England. On his return in 1971 he was soon back in the thick of the struggle. In 1973, he was involved in establishing Green Cross which over the years did amazing work in providing financial and other support for the families of political prisoners.
In 1974, he was interned and he was held in Long Kesh until December 1975, when he was among the last of the internees to be released.
In June 1976, Harry married Kathleen Largey, who was the voice of The Flying Column and one of the finest ballad singers of her generation.
Kathleen, a member of Cumann na mBan, sang patriotic songs and ballads that told the story of resistance to the British military occupation in Ireland.
Her first husband, Eamonn Largey, was killed in a car accident in July 1973. He and Kathleen had two daughters: Áine was about 18 months old while Máire was six weeks.
Harry and Kathleen married shortly after she had been diagnosed with cancer. He was a devoted husband and father to the two girls and together Harry and Kathleen worked hard in support of the political prisoners. Kathleen died in February 1979.
In 1980, he moved to Galway where he stayed active in the republican struggle.
Four years later, he married a Galway woman, Kathy Lydon , and they moved back to Belfast. Harry and Kathy have five beautiful daughters over whom Harry dotes: Ellen, Louise, Mairead, Niamh and Aisling.
From then until now, Harry has remained an active republican. He has travelled with Gerry Adams to the USA, to meetings in Downing Street, and two years ago he was part of a delegation which visited the Middle East, including Gaza.

PHYLLIS CAMPBELL

Phyllis Campbell

PHYLLIS CAMPBELL of Dooriel, Ballycroy, County Mayo, represents the countless women and families who opened their doors to many republican activists and sustained them during times of conflict.
Those who stayed with Phyllis and her late lifetime partner, Danny, are many. They know who they are and their stories and the invaluable support Phyllis and her family gave republican activists are a fascinating part of our history, the details of which may be able to be told in the fullness of time. It is a story worth waiting for.
Republicans from all over Ireland will be grateful for the generosity of hospitality and camaraderie from a family whose strength was forged in a community that has struggled against the adversity of poverty that has affected their lives.
They will recall how the Campbells’ inclusiveness in their community enhanced their stays and the many nights of sitting around the Aga cooker after the days’ activities, discussing people and politics “and solving all the problems of the world”.
Phyllis is a member of Seán McNeela Sinn Féin Cumann, Ballycroy, and works tirelessly to ensure Sinn Féin’s political success in the area.
The Republican Movement owes a great debt of gratitude to Phyllis and Danny and their family, who represent those individuals and communities who quietly played a crucial part in the republican struggle.

Harry Carr

Harry Carr

HARRY CARR was born in Coatbridge, Scotland, in April 1958, the third-born in a family of four. Harry’s grandparents hailed from County Cork and Harry is fiercely proud of his Irish heritage.
In 1978, Harry joined the Coatbridge Harp Flute Band, which was then affiliated to the Ancient Order of Hibernians. It wasn’t long after that the band decided to break away from the AOH and become a republican flute band because of the AOH’s reluctance to support the armed struggle. The 1981 H-Blocks Hunger Strike was the catalyst for a network of support in Scotland that exists to this day.
Harry, his brother James, Jamie Toal and Spike McKeown began to organise Coatbridge  into the most effective republican group in Scotland, the aim being to support the Republican Movement by whichever means possible.
Out with the band, Harry set up a network of people collecting money for the POWs and also writing letters to them. All through the 1980s, Harry worked alongside well-known Glasgow republican Willie Rossini and was tireless in his efforts in fund-raising.
Harry is a frequent visitor to Ireland and especially the Lower Falls area of Belfast, where he is a familiar figure. One of Harry’s projects was to raise funds for the memorial garden to ‘D’ Company Volunteers. He is immensely proud of the part ‘D’ Company played in the struggle for Irish freedom.
In 2004, republicans from Ireland and Scotland set up a new organisation, Cairde na hÉireann, as a sister organisation of Sinn Féin to carry out fund-raising, marches and political work in Scotland.
Harry is a leading light in the Coatbridge Cairde cumann and continues to work tirelessly in support of Sinn Féin and the republican cause.

BILL HAYES

Bill Hayes

BILL HAYES was born in Waterford in July 1956, the eldest of four children, to John and Elsie Hayes. He attended the local national school in Ferrybank and played hurling and football for his local GAA club.
Events such as Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972 had a profound and lasting effect on him.
In 1976, Bill joined the Irish Republican Army and was active in his local unit until his arrest and imprisonment in 1979. Sentenced to 12 years in Portlaoise Prison, Bill used his time to further study Irish history and became a fluent Irish speaker.
While in prison, Bill’s daughter, Aisling, was born and the first few years were difficult for both of them because of the closed-wire units in Portlaoise. But they persevered and it wasn’t until Bill’s release in 1988 they really got to know each other.
Following his release, Bill rejoined the republican struggle and was also active on the ground locally, becoming Irish-language officer for Ferrybank GAA Club. He has fully backed the Peace Process and was instrumental in the resurgence of Sinn Féin as a political force in Waterford.
This led to a breakthrough in 2004 with Sinn Féin winning four council seats between the city and county. Sinn Féin still has four council seats in Waterford and Bill was also a driving force behind Senator David Cullinane’s rise up the political ranks.
Bill now lives with his partner of 13 years, Helen, in the Ballygunner area of Waterford City. Helen comes from County Kildare. Both Bill and Helen are active in their local community and have held positions on their residents’ association for over 10 years. They are both well-known and respected within the area.  Bill works as a caretaker in the local Youth Centre and is also involved in the anti-drugs campaign in the area.
Bill is a committed republican and has remained loyal to the Republican Movement down through the years. A lover of all things Irish, especially the language and the ancient game of hurling, he is also a member of an Irish-language group in Waterford City, Gaelgeoirí na nDeise, and would also dearly love to see his native Waterford win an all-Ireland hurling title.

COLUM HEGARTY

Colum Hegarty

COLUM HEGARTY was born on 1st June 1929 in Desertmartin, County Derry, into a staunch republican family. His mother, Brigid, was a member of Cumann na mBán and his father, Patrick, chair of the local GAA club. The second eldest of a family of eight Colum as a young man lived and worked on the family’s dairy farm.
In 1954, Colum married Eithne and set up home and continued farming in Desertmartin. They had five children: Paidín, Catherine, Brighín, Colum and Eithne. Colum became a member of the Civil Rights Movement from the early stages and when the military campaign commenced he recognised that this campaign was necessary to achieve our goals at the time. The Hegarty home was well-known as a safe place for republican activists and as a result of his commitment to the struggle Colum was targeted by the state forces and unionists. Colum escaped a number attempts on his life and in 1979, due to continued harassment, intimidation and threats, Colum moved himself and his family to Dundalk where he ran The Dundalk Bar until his retirement in 1990. He maintained strong links with family and friends in Desertmartin and throughout the Six Counties.
In Dundalk, Colum joined the Worthington/ Watters Sinn Féin Cumann and then the Watters Brothers Sinn Féin Cumann. He was active in the Louth Comhairle Ceantair and Leinster Cúige and at 82 years of age continues to be a strong voice in his local cumann.
An experienced canvasser, Colum likes nothing more than to be out knocking doors and promoting Sinn Féin candidates and policy at every opportunity, and this year he took great delight in canvassing for the party leader in the general election. He was also heavily involved in the anti-extradition and H-Block campaigns.
Colum had and still has an open house policy for any republican in difficulties and is never found wanting when it comes to the Republican Movement.