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6 September 2016

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Republican prison crafts central to prison history project

Former Armagh POWs Sinéad Moore and Anne Marie Quinn at the new Mná na hÉireann exhibition

A UNIQUE project exploring the history of prison crafts and the significance of these crafts for the families of former POWs is to be launched in Belfast’s Conway Mill on Monday 26 September.

Giving details of the project, ‘Irish Republican Prison Craft; making memory and legacy’ former H-Block POW Paddy O’Dowd, speaking during the annual prisoners’ day during west Belfast’s Féile an Phobail said “the aim was to explore the stories between a particular handicraft piece, the POW who made it and the family or whoever it was sent out to”.

Paddy added that “sharing such narratives is essentially a very positive thing, people have a deep pride in what they came through, they cherish their symbols of resilience and for many the craft piece is a proud reminder of a loved one who is no longer with us. Each piece is unique and each story is personal so the project is an opportunity to record for posterity at least some of those stories that are part of our collective memory and legacy”.

O’Dowd, who volunteers with ex-prisoners group Coiste na nIarchimí, said that the “project needed to be an oral history project whereby peoples’ stories, the stories of ex-POWs and their families are woven through the history of the piece of art or craft. Most pieces have been in a household for many years and the status of the piece over that time has inevitably changed and contains the narrative of more than one generation”.

Also speaking about the project during prisoners day held in the Felon’s club were An Seanadóir Niall Ó Donnghaile and Ballymurphy activist Maureen McGuinness.

Ó Donnghaile told the story of his grandfather’s ‘Fáinne’ made by his comrades on the prison ship Al Rawdah after he achieved his gold fáinne (fluent) level in the Irish language while McGuinness outlined the importance to her of the crafts sent to her from the various prisons over the years.

Prisoners day also saw the launch of a new exhibition with images and a narrative outlining the role of women in the struggle, including an outline of the story of Armagh Women’s Prison and the women’s constant battles with the administration over the years.

One of the women behind the project Anne Marie Quinn described the exhibition as “a fitting tribute to the women POWs and those who died in the war”.

In his address to the audience Michael Culbert (pictured), director of Coiste, outlined some of the work the organisation has been involved in over the past year on behalf of the political ex-prisoner community.

Michael Culbert

In particular he highlighted the issue involving employment that saw a number of political former prisoner either losing their jobs or being refused employment because they were political prisoners.

He focused on the case of Martin Neeson who was sacked from his job with Conservation Volunteers after 18 years, but with the support of Coiste took a successful case against the Department of Finance and Personnel and was re-instated in July.

Culbert also acknowledged that freedom of travel was still an issue for former POWs and mentioned the refusal of the United States to allow political ex-prisoners to travel through US airspace. He highlighted the case of Pat Magee who was effectively deported from Mexico due to US intervention in November 2015.

“Essentially ex-political prisoners are being denied equal citizenship due to their role in the conflict,” said Culbert, “and these are examples of this. Our aim is to have the prison records of the 25,000 or so people from our community expunged so that they can benefit from the peace process.”

POW exhibition launch

  • On the panel, chaired by veteran republican Joe Austin, are Seanadóir Niall Ó Donnghaile, Carál Ní Chuilín and Ballymurphy activist Maureen McGuinness

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