31 May 2001 Edition

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Martin Doherty remembered

Several hundred people came to pay tribute to Martin Doherty at a commemoration held in Glasnevin, Dublin, last Saturday, where the terrible events of that night seven years ago, when the IRA Volunteer lost his life, were recalled. Martin, known to his friends as `Doco', removed a bomb that had been planted by enemy agents below a Sinn Féin function. The attackers shot him outside on the street.

``Many of you here today attended that function. We would not be here had it not been for the bravery, and amazing quick-witted choice that Martin Doherty made that night,'' said Dublin Councillor Dessie Ellis in a powerful oration at the graveside.

Amongst those who came to pay respect were friends, comrades, neighbours, his parents, and many young people, especially from Finglas. ``There is no more selfless act than to lay down your life for your friend. Doco's foresight that night was an act of special courage. This explains not only his life and his death, but also just why we won't be defeated on the road to building political strength, said Ellis.

Jim Clarke, who was himself a prisoner in the H-Blocks through the years of the blanket protest and hunger strike, spoke of the death of the hunger strikers and of Doco's death. ``All laid down their lives for their friends,'' he said.

``It is a source of pride,'' said Councillor Larry O'Toole, ``that we can count these people, like Dessie Ellis, Jim Clarke, Doco, like the hunger strikers, and so many more, as our comrades and our friends, through this struggle of which all of us here are a part.''

An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland