Fógraí bháis: JOE BRADY

JOE BRADY: The last republican internee from the 1940s to be freed?

JOSEPH BRADY was born in Leeson Street in the Lower Falls area of Belfast in 1923 in the wake of partition and the sectarian pogroms that came with the establishment of the Six-County state. The sectarianism of the Northern state and its effects on Joe in his early years influenced him in later life.
In the late 1930s, Joe joined the IRA and became active in Army operations. As with many republicans, this led to his arrest and he was interned in Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast from 1940-1946. Joe may have been the last republican internee to be freed after the 1940s campaign came to an end.
After internment, Joe and other comrades found it hard to get work in Belfast, so they headed off to England. Due to ill-health, from which internees suffered due to the conditions they were held in, Joe came back to Belfast a year later. However, he returned to England in the 1950s. He went to London and it was there that he met his future wife, Anne, a Derry girl, who came from one of the only five Catholic families that lived in the mainly unionist Waterside area at the time.
They married in London in 1961 and their first child, Brian, was born there. The family moved back to Ireland and lived in Derry for a short while before moving to Belfast. Joe got a job in Mackey’s, working in the furnaces and more children – Paula, Joe, Liz and Pete – were born.
The early 1970s saw the family move up to Lenadoon. Like most people in nationalist areas and the time, they got regular visits from the British Army. Anne would open the windows, blast out rebel music and pour holy water across the front door before the Brits entered.

FAMILY FOCUS
Anne died in April 1983 at the age of 45 from cancer. Joe left Mackey’s to look after his children; they became his main focus in life for many years.
He got involved in a lot of community work within the area, being on various committees in the lower Lenadoon area. He was also one of the founder members of Emerald ABC.
He loved singing and his favourite song was Killarney. He often went camping to Lisdoonvarna with friends, then later they stayed in B&Bs. On one of his trips he sang Killarney and not only did he get a standing ovation from the crowd of 400 or more but the tourists, from China, Eastern Europe, America and elsewhere wanted their photos taken with him. But the international stardom didn’t go to his head. The only thing that ever went to Joe’s head was his ‘cap’, which was his trademark – it never left his head.
He also liked a ‘wee bet’ but cost himself a fortune by not reversing his forecasts. He was also the original ‘Simon Cowell’ when it came to music: it was either “brilliant” or “crap”.
Joe’s life, like a lot of others of his time, was not easy and a lot of history gets lost when they die. What didn’t die in Joe was his love for his wife Anne, his children and his republicanism. Ask him about anything else and he would just say “crap”.