Seamus Flynn

The death occurred on Easter Saturday, 7 April, of Belfast republican Seamus Flynn. Among his myriad republican activities, Seamus was a delivery driver for An Phoblacht. We carry here an edited version of the funeral oration delivered by Gerry Kelly at the interment of Seamus's ashes in Milltown Cemetery on Wednesday, 18 April.

Firstly, a chairde, I want to extend my own deepest personal sympathy, as well as that of Sinn Féin, to the family of our good friend and comrade Seamus Flynn – to his wife Josephine and to their children – Seamus Óg, Katrina, Eoin, Patrick and Rachael. To his mother Alice, sister Anne, and his brothers – Patrick, and twin Ciarán. And also to the wider Flynn and McKenzie family circles.
As well as being part of your family, he was also a much loved member of what we call the ‘republican family’, and in these words here today I want to try to tell something of both parts of the life of Seamus Flynn.
Seamus was born – a few minutes before Ciarán – on  24 March 1964 in the Donegall Pass area of South Belfast, and the family moved into the Markets shortly after. He was a typical young man growing up in an area like the Markets, a republican district in the Belfast of the 1970s, with a war raging on our streets. He became involved with republicanism in his mid teens, firstly through work for the Green Cross and selling Republican News. He was soon an active member of the local Nolan-Downey Sinn Féin Cumann, and was key to the reorganisation of what was then North/South/East Belfast Sinn Féin in the early 80’s.
Seamus had moved out to Greencastle at this time, as in the early 80s he had met, and fallen in love with Josephine McKenzie – a ‘countrywoman’ from Greencastle village far from the inner city Markets. It was an area that Seamus was to come to love, with its closeness to the lough and to the countryside.
Seamus and Josie married in August 1984, and it was a marriage which would bring them five fine children. Seamus Óg was to be followed by Katrina. After Josephine fought a battle with cancer, which Seamus helped and nursed her through, their second son Eoin was born, and nothing would do Seamus but that one of his names would  be Peregrine – the patron saint of cancer sufferers.
Indeed all of the five Flynn children have three Christian names each – the deciding of which, according to Josie, was the subject of negotiations with Seamus which would have dwarfed some of the recent negotiations between Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley. Following Eoin came Patrick – one of the line of Patrick Flynn’s – and then their youngest child, and second daughter Rachael.
Seamus was a devoted and loving father, and as they continue to grow up, his children can be proud of their father, and treasure the many good memories of their time with him.
Living now in Longlands, Seamus’ republican activity continued, and as with many nationalist and republican families in the late 80s and early 90s the spectre of collusion between loyalism and the British state would visit the Flynn household.
Seamus and Josie’s home in Longlands Road was sprayed with gunfire in 1993 by loyalist gunmen, and it was only by luck that no-one was  badly injured or killed, as many others – including friends of Seamus’s – had been  during that dark period.
It was around 2002 that Seamus brought his energies and creativity into the republican structures in North Belfast, with the formation a Sinn Féin cumann to cover the Bawnmore, Longlands and Arthur area. Typical of Seamus, while people were still getting around to giving the cumann a formal name, a memorial notice printed in the Republican News informed us all that it was to be the Newtownabbey Martyrs Cumann – Seamus had taken one of his executive  decisions as he sat in the paper’s offices on the Falls Road!
Of the many people I spoke with over the last few days, one of the main qualities they remarked on was of Seamus being a very caring person – both for the living and for the dead. He would be quick to do a good turn if he could, for family, friends and neighbours, and many here will have their own stories of the things he did for them, often unprompted or unasked for.
He had a special devotion to the republican dead, and was meticulous when it came to making sure that their sacrifice was marked. Recently he had been his normal energetic self in making sure that  everything was sorted for Easter Saturday, and for the families of the three Volunteers  whose anniversary occurred that day, 7 April, an anniversary that sadly Seamus now  shares with them.
To say that Seamus was well known would be an understatement. His work for Sinn Féin and his travels around Ireland delivering An Phoblacht ensured that he touched the lives of thousands of people.
One of those to count Seamus as a friend was singer Shane McGowan, and they would meet up regularly. Another of Seamus’ regular conversations was with the Cuban Ambassador to Ireland, Noel Carrillo, who sent a lovely message of condolence to Seamus’ family for his funeral. Seamus’ devotion to Cuba, its people and its revolution were legendary.
He had an infectious enthusiasm, and when he embarked on a project it was with 100% effort and passion. His work in support of Cuba was one. Another was his devotion to the memory of Winifred Carney, a veteran of the GPO in 1916 who had lived in the Whitewell area. Seamus almost single-handedly organised a very successful commemoration for her, getting a plaque erected on Finlay’s shop on the Whitewell Road, and a function held in the Fountain. Indeed on Easter Saturday, Seamus approached the Cumann to say that he had bought his own wreath for the parade, in memory of Winifred, which he wanted to lay at the memorial garden in Bawnmore. It was the wreath he was carrying when he died, and something about that summed up his devotion to the likes of Winifred, and the other republicans he held in such high esteem.
Seamus Flynn was a much loved friend and comrade, but most of all he was a much loved and already much missed family man, and once again I want to extend our deepest and most heartfelt sympathies to Josie; to Seamus Óg, Katrina, Eoin, Patrick and Rachael, and to his mother, sister and brothers.
I measc laochra na nGael go raibh sé.