16 January 1997 Edition
Volunteer Patrick Sheehy remembered
SIXTY REPUBLICANS gathered on Sunday morning 5 January at the small graveyard on the top of a hillock at Ballysteen in Limerick to remember IRA Volunteer Patrick Sheehy, who died on 2 January 1991.
Against a background of snow-covered hills and fields, Limerick Sinn Féin activist Coireall McCurtain welcomed the gathering which included a number of republicans from neighbouring counties. He slated the presence of four car loads of Garda Special Branch, who videoed the procession to the cemetery, and remained outside the walls taking notes of who was there and what was said.
Describing Patrick Sheehy as ``a dedicated and brave Volunteer'', McCurtain said that like Patrick Sheehy, republicans ``would not be deterred from working for what we want - a free, independent Irish Republic''. He said that over the decades, despite the hardships which came with it, Irish men and women have taken up the cause of Irish freedom. In the last 27 years alone, over 400 Volunteers have lost their lives in the struggle and hundreds more remain incarcerated: ``The greatest memorial we here today can build to Patrick Sheehy is to remain united. There have been numerous attempts in recent years to split the Republican Movement, but these will not succeed. Nineteen ninety seven will go down as a new dawning, when we will see that the sacrifices of Patrick Sheehy and so many others will not be in vain.''
Against a background of snow-covered hills and fields, Limerick Sinn Féin activist Coireall McCurtain welcomed the gathering which included a number of republicans from neighbouring counties. He slated the presence of four car loads of Garda Special Branch, who videoed the procession to the cemetery, and remained outside the walls taking notes of who was there and what was said.
Describing Patrick Sheehy as ``a dedicated and brave Volunteer'', McCurtain said that like Patrick Sheehy, republicans ``would not be deterred from working for what we want - a free, independent Irish Republic''. He said that over the decades, despite the hardships which came with it, Irish men and women have taken up the cause of Irish freedom. In the last 27 years alone, over 400 Volunteers have lost their lives in the struggle and hundreds more remain incarcerated: ``The greatest memorial we here today can build to Patrick Sheehy is to remain united. There have been numerous attempts in recent years to split the Republican Movement, but these will not succeed. Nineteen ninety seven will go down as a new dawning, when we will see that the sacrifices of Patrick Sheehy and so many others will not be in vain.''