Seán Sweeney

On 6 May, Seán Sweeney was buried at Tallanstown, Cemetery in his native County Louth. Sadly the majority of republican supporters and members of republican support groups in London were unaware of his death or of the enormous contribution that he had made to the collection and distribution of An Phoblacht in London in the turmoil that followed in the aftermath of the Birmingham bombings when, through deportations, harassment and intimidation the London Comhairle Ceanntair of Sinn Féin was rendered ineffective and the Cumainn structure barely existed.
Seán though not a member of the movement but an avid supporter of Sinn Féin volunteered to pick up the papers from the airport each week and supply the Traolach Mac Suibhne Cumann, Hammersmith and also a well known Irish Shop in Willesden High Road from which the An Phoblacht could be purchased or distributed to remaining activists in London. During this period anti-Irish hysteria was at its height and each week as Séan called to the Cargo Handling Depot he was met with abuse, insults and threats of physical assault from the handling staff. Séan always kept his dignity in these situations, knowing the importance of the papers to the Irish community when all sorts of distortions and untruths were being published by the British and Irish media about events in Six Counties, even if it meant returning to the airport time and time again until staff shifts changed or a sympathetic manager could be found. Séan never gave up and his endurance and tenacity paid off despite petty hold-ups and minor disputes which carried on for years afterwards. Séan and his young family left Acton and moved to the outskirts of London in the 1980s and we lost contact with him but are forever indebted to him as the An Phoblacht enjoys pride of place in the hearts of republican supporters in London to this day.
Go raibh maith ar a n-ainm uasail.
BY JIM McDONALD

Denis Carroll

Denis Carroll was a scholar, author, teacher, campaigner for justice and an Irish republican. Denis died after a long illness, borne with the steadfastness which had characterised his whole life.
Denis Carroll had what can only be described as a passion for truth and justice. He spoke out against injustice wherever it was manifested. He had a global outlook which, crucially, also encompassed his own country. He was not content to work on faraway causes only.
At a time when those who spoke out were subject to censorship and harassment, Denis campaigned publicly for the Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four, the Maguire Seven and Judith Ward. He anchored a weekly picket which was held outside the British Embassy in Dublin for several years. It rarely received media attention but was constantly under the unwelcome watch of the Garda Special Branch.
In 1987 when eight IRA Volunteers and a civilian were killed by the British crown forces at Loughgall, Denis Carroll, then a curate in Booterstown, spoke out against British state violence.
When the Irish government began to extradite political prisoners to the British system which had been responsible for so many travesties of justice, Denis again took a stand. He was prominent in the campaign against the extradition of Dessie Ellis to England and addressed public meetings during Dessie’s hunger strike.
Denis was a true scholar and the author of many books and articles on religious and historical subjects. He wrote biographies of the United Irishman Thomas Russell and of the socialist republican Fr. Michael O’Flanagan. His work reflected his progressive and positive outlook because he was himself a republican in the tradition of Russell and O’Flanagan.
No doubt his stand against injustice met disfavour in the back rooms in Church and State where power is wielded. It was significant that his biography of Fr. Michael O’Flanagan was entitled They have fooled you again. These were O’Flanagan’s words to Irish people who had been duped by churchmen and politicians to support Franco’s fascists in Spain. In the Ireland of the 1980s also, many were fooled by censorship and misrepresentation but Denis Carroll was one of the few intellectuals who spoke out with courage and conviction.
Though very ill, Denis accepted the invitation to attend the celebration meeting for Sinn Féin’s centenary in Dublin’s Mansion House in 2005. It was appropriate that he and his wife Orla were in attendance at that tribute to the many people who had tried to make the republican vision a reality. Denis was one of those people.
Denis died on 5 May, the 26th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands.
Deepest sympathy to Orla and to Denis’s brother Jerry and sister Margaret.
Suaimhneas síoraí dá anam uasal cróga.