The Munster Honourees

Dan Harrington

Dan Harrington is a native of Passage West. The demands for civil rights of the nationalist community in the North, and their repression by the British state and its agents in Ireland, inspired Dan to join the Republican Movement in 1969.

He was a loyal and committed republican in the mould of his comrades Tony Ahern and Dermot Crowley, alongside whom he served.

Dan was imprisoned in 1974. On his release, he once again became active in the republican struggle. This included standing for election to Passage Town Council on behalf of Sinn Féin.

Marcus Fogarty

Marcus Fogarty is from Cashel and has been to the forefront of republicanism in Tipperary for over five decades.

Marcus has been an active republican since the 1950s, having joined after the Arbourfield raid in 1955.

He took part in the Border Campaign of the 1950s and has played a role in every phase of the struggle since, from Civil Rights through the opposition to internment, the Hunger Strikes, the anti-extradition campaign and the recent growth of Sinn Féin.

He played a role in the Westminster election campaign in the Six Counties in 1964 and took part in the defence of Divis Street in that year.

Marcus was one of the delegates who walked out of the 1969 Ard Fheis and took part in the historic meeting which established the Provisional Movement, although he believed even at that stage that Sinn Féin should drop its policy of abstentionism from Leinster House.

He has contested elections for Sinn Féin on a number of occasions in South Tipperary at both Leinster House and local authority level, and continues to be an active member of his local cumann in Cashel.

Bill Hayes

Bill Hayes was born in 1956, and joined the republican struggle in 1973. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1979 for his republican activities, which he served in Portlaoise.

Released in 1988, he immediately rejoined the struggle and played a crucial role in the revival of Sinn Féin in Waterford, culminating in the election of three Sinn Féin councillors last June.

Bill Hayes has one daughter, Aisling, and two grandsons, Liam and Euan, and lives with his partner, Helen.

He is actively involved with the promotion of the Irish language, and is a keen GAA supporter and member of Ferrybank GAA Club.

Marie Quinlivan

Marie Quinlivan has been an active republican since 1957. She comes from a strong republican family background. Her father, Maurice (Mossie) Hickey, was interned in the 1940s, being imprisoned at various times both in the Curragh and Mountjoy. Stephen Kennedy, her maternal grandfather, was the commander of republican forces based in King John's Castle during the Civil War in 1922.

Marie was a leading member of Cumann na mBan for many years, along with being an active member of Sinn Féin, in which she has held many positions at both local and provincial level.

She has participated in all republican election campaigns in Limerick and many more throughout the country over nearly half a century.

A founder member of the Limerick H-Block/Armagh Committee, Marie played a vital role in the 1980/'81 Hunger-Strike campaign in the North Munster region.

In the mid-1990s, she was involved in establishing the Saoirse campaign for the release of republican prisoners, for which she the main spokesperson in the Limerick area.

Over the years, Marie and Paddy Quinlivan have travelled the length and breadth of Ireland to attend and support republican events. Their home of many years at Ballynanty Beg, Limerick, always provided a warm welcome for republicans and not many people involved in the republican struggle have passed through Limerick without being, at sometime or other, being a guest of the Quinlivan household.

Through good times and bad, Marie and Paddy have been stalwarts of the struggle and remain so to this day.

Harry Duggan

Harry hails from Bodyke, East Clare. He joined Oglaigh na hÉireann as a young man. At the age of 21, Harry was one of a number of Volunteers from Munster and elsewhere who volunteered for active service in England.

This was a time of great turmoil in Ireland. Two years after Bloody Sunday, when 14 innocent civil rights demonstrators were murdered in Derry, 1974 was the year when Britain stepped up its dirty tricks campaign, with bombs in Dublin and Monaghan killing 27 people and injuring over 130.

Harry's unit attacked the British establishment at work, at home and at play. During the year when they were active in London, they carried out numerous operations, averaging one a week. Thousands of police and special forces scoured London before they were captured following a six-day siege after taking refuge in a Balcombe Street flat.

In February 1977, Harry, along with fellow Clare man Joe O'Connell, Eddie Butler, from Limerick and Donegal man Hugh Doherty, was sentenced to 30 years at the Old Bailey.

After serving more than 23 years, Harry and his comrades were repatriated to Ireland in May 1998. Soon after, they attended the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis to a rapturous and emotional welcome. Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, all four were released, along with many other republican prisoners.

Harry returned to live in rural Clare. Quietly spoken and modest, Harry is a reluctant honouree and would far rather be helping out gathering hay and making silage with his family back in the Banner County.

Pats and Cait O'Connor

Pats O'Connor (72), from Dromin near Caherciveen, has been a republican his entire life. Both he and his wife, Cáit, have been the backbone of Kerry republicanism down through the years and particularly during the darker days of the conflict.

Along with a number of other dedicated activists, they flew the flag of republicanism in South Kerry when it wasn't very popular to do so.

Pats, Cáit and their family have always shown great commitment to the struggle, and to this day remain dedicated to the cause of freedom, justice and equality.