2 July 2009 Edition

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Fógraí bháis: Death of Patrick Treanor

The passing of Patrick (Packie) Treanor of Drumdart, Tydavnet, Co. Monaghan, on Thursday 18 June, severs yet another of the last living links between the Republican Movement of the past forty years and the men and women volunteers of the 1950s.
Packie Treanor was a Saor Uladh volunteer who suffered gunshot wounds when his unit, led by Volunteer Alo Hand of Clones, Co. Monaghan, was challenged by undercover British forces on the night of 2 July 1958 in the townland of Clontivern, near Newtownbutler in Co Fermanagh. Volunteer Hand was killed in the ensuing exchange and Packie, following surgery at Enniskillen Hospital, was to spend the next number of years as a republican prisoner in Belfast’s Crumlin Road Prison.
Undaunted by his experiences, Packie from his release and over every year of the subsequent 45 years of his life gave his all in the service of his country’s struggle for freedom.
A farmer his lifetime, Packie was married to Mary and they have six sons, Brendan, Liam, Declan, Eamon, Kieran and Paul to whom we extend the sincere sympathy of republicans throughout the length and breadth of Ireland.
His tricolour-draped coffin, flanked by a thirty-strong Sinn Féin guard of honour and led by a lone piper, made its way from the home of his son Eamon at Drumdart to St Dympna’s Chapel in nearby Tydavnet village.
Following requiem Mass and the graveside obsequies, an oration was delivered by the Sinn Féin Dáil Leader and Cavan-Monaghan TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, a longtime friend of the deceased.
“I have known Packie from my earliest involvement in republican activism here in north Co Monaghan.  I do not have to explain to anyone gathered here today that Packie Treanor was an impressive man by any measure.  As we recorded in our testimony to him in 1998, he was a big man, big in frame and big in spirit.  He was also a gentleman in the truest meaning of that description,” said Deputy Ó Caoláin, who continued:
“He gave leadership by example.  He acknowledged that there was a time for war and there was a time for peace.  He gave each of these his all in the service of his country and its people.  His understanding of the republican struggle, and how it could manifest itself in many ways, was a hugely important contribution to its development over relatively recent times in these border areas but most especially here in north Co. Monaghan.  His appreciation of the importance of popular support and political strength came through time and again in his enthusiasm for Sinn Féin to succeed.”
I measc Laochra na hÉireann go raibh a anam dílis.

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