Seamus Ó Mongain

Seamus Ó Mongain of Doohoma, Co. Mayo died on 12 October last. Seamus was a lifelong republican and social activist who had an abiding love for the Irish language and culture and who worked incessantly towards the empowerment of the common people.

Born in 1914 in the Mayo Gaeltacht, Seamus spent long periods away from his birthplace.

He came from a strong republican tradition and continued in this when he joined the Republican movement in Liverpool in 1932.

After his return to Ireland Seamus was attached to the Irish Republican Publicity Bureau under Sean McNeela from Ballycroy, who later died on hunger strike in Arbour Hill jail. Following a Special Branch raid on Ashgrove House, HQ of the IRA Radio Station, on New Year's Eve 1940, Seamus was arrested and later sentenced to a term in Arbour Hill. Conditions in Arbour Hill were desperate. The Free State authorities were engaged in a full-scale campaign intended to break the spirit of the republican prisoners through systematic brutality and depravation, all cloaked under the draconian censorship laws of the time.

It was these conditions which led to the death on hunger strike of Sean McNeela and his comrade, Tony D'Arcy of Galway.

Before he was arrested in December 1939, Seamus took part in the raid on the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park. This operation, clinically executed and entirely successful, caught everyone, including the IRA organisation, by surprise. So great was the haul of ammunition-over one million rounds-that safe dumps could not be found in time and unfortunately, subsequent raids by the authorities recaptured all or most of the ammunition.

On completion of his sentence, Seamus was interned in the Curragh Camp. There, the brutality of the camp authorities matched, if it did not surpass, that of Arbour Hill.

Nuair a scaoileadh Seamus saor, d'anneoin a chailíochtaí mar mhuinteoir ní raibh sé in ann post ar bith a fháil ag múineadh. Ag an am sin, bhí an "Liosta Dubh", in aghaidh na Poblachtánaigh, faoi lán-tseoil.

D'éirigh leis post a fháil mar mhaor ar Scéim na Monadh i bPáirc an Fhionnuisce, áit a d'fhostaigh sé na ceadta dá chomhrádaí a bhí tar éis teacht amach as an ngeibheann. Thug se fostaíocht, chomh maith dá chomarsána ón nGaeltacht.

In 1950, Seamus finally managed to secure a teaching position in St Patrick's secondary school in Swinford, Co Mayo. He was to teach there until his retirement in 1979.

During his long life, Seamus was a determined and tenacious campaigner on behalf of the poor and the underprivileged

Along with other Mayo republicans, notably Cathal Quinn of Killala, he organised numerous workers' cooperatives for small farmers and fishermen in Mayo and Galway.

He was the architect of "Comhar na gComharsan", a social philosophy based on cooperativism which was to form one of the central planks of the social policy of the Republican Movement.

Sa bhreis ar an obair seo, bhí Seamus de shíor ag eagrú agus ag cuidiú le cur chun cinn na teanga agus an t-athnuacháin cultúrtha. Bhí grá mór aige don teanga agus don cheol Gaelach agus trid is trid a shaol, bhí sé ina bhall de Comhltas Ceoltoirí Éireann.

Seamus' going heralds the loss of a true Gael. As a thinker and innovator, as an organiser and teacher, and as a volunteer, Seamus' contribution was enormous.

He will be sadly missed by his family and all who knew him.

Tá Seamus i measc laochra na nGael. Solas na bhflaitheas da anam uasal.

Liam McShane

It is with deep regret that republicans from the Beechmount and Iveagh areas of West Belfast learned of the sudden death of their friend and comrade, Liam McShane. Liam was born and reared in the Beechmount area of Belfast, where he was a well known republican activist. As a schoolboy, he joined the republican struggle and in 1976 he witnessed the death of his close friend, Neil McCrory who was murdered by a loyalist death squad on 3 November 1976. Liam had been with Neil earlier that night.

Liam was married with children and was continuously harassed by the British Army and RUC. On numerous occasions he received severe beatings and ended up in hospital. Liam's ill health, he suffered from a severe form of diabetes, did not stop him increasing his role in the republican struggle, the consequences of which led to him spending three terms of incarceration in Crumlin Road jail.

On one of those occasions, he was captured with a lifelong friend, Anthony Saddler, who later died in a car accident. The beatings, the raids, the harassment continued unabated, but Liam was not to be deterred or put off, so much so that he spent three weeks in hospital in the South after becoming violently sick because of his diabetes while on a training camp on active service.

His proactive role in the struggle was an inspiration to us all. Even the threat from loyalist death squads colluding with the state was taken in his stride. Liam was a dry, witty character, recognised by his militaristic dander and the deep black moustache of which he was so proud.

A comrade related a tale to me recently describing how Liam was arrested on one occasion. One day, a few years before the IRA's cessation of military operations, the Brits had stopped and searched Liam and a few friends on the street, as was usual for them.

After a few minutes it came across the radio that a few of Liam's friends were to be arrested but not Liam. As the jeeps drove off to the barracks with their prisoners, Liam jumped onto the roof of one jeep with a friend and stayed there until they reached the barracks.

Instead of jumping off outside the barracks, in they went and were promptly arrested by the waiting guards. He was never to live that one down.

We have lost something from his early death at 41 years of age; still a young man, he had a lot to live for. He will be remembered by us all in our own individual and special way. To his family and friends we offer our sincere condolences and heartfelt sympathy. We will always remember him. Go ndeana Dia trocaire ar a anam.

BY SEANDO

Tom Keegan

Friends and acquaintances of the Keegan family of Enniscorthy were saddened to hear of the death of Tom Keegan in Dubriqua, Iowa, USA on 31 July last after a serious illness of three years duration.

Tom was born in New York 75 years ago, the eldest in the family of Pat and Ellen Keegan (nee Roche), who had emigrated from Enniscorthy shortly after the civil war. The family returned to Enniscorthy when Tom was three years old, after the birth of their second son, George. Tom grew up there and was apprenticed to the family cooperage, becoming an accomplished Journeyman in spite of the effect of a serious boyhood injury which he carried all his life. He returned to the US in 1946, firstly to New York, and later to the Mid-West where he lived out his life.

His family was one of generations of involvement in the Republican Struggle - his grandfather, George, was a Fenian who managed to escape to America after the Rising. His father, Pat, was Commandant in the Irish Volunteers in 1916 and played an active part in the Tan War and in the Civil War, ever true to the republican cause, while his two aunts were members of Cumann na mBan and his younger brother, George, paid the supreme sacrifice in the Edentubber explosion during the border campaign in the '50s. It was no surprise, then, that Tom was a committed republican all of his life, and was deeply involved in republican activities on both sides of the Atlantic, making several trips home to work to this end.

Those who knew Tom remember a huge man who made light of his physical limitations, good humoured with a quick wit and an ability to make valued friendships and hold them forever.

Tom's remains were brought home shortly before Christmas for a private family interrment, and he now rests with his late brother George in the Republican plot in Enniscorthy.

He is survived by his sister Mary (Nolan) and brothers, Stephen and Pat.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Christy O'Callaghan

A lone piper played a lament, a republican guard of honour was provided and Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris gave a graveside oration for lifelong republican Christy O'Callaghan when he was laid to rest on 21 November.

The 85-year-old bachelor, a native of Ardfert, was one of many Kerrymen interned by the deValera government in the Curragh during WWII. Christy was incarcerated from 1942 until the end of the war in 1945 and was one of the six prisoners to go on hunger strike in a protest over poor conditions. They concluded their strike after 32 days when the authorities conceded on some of the internees' demands. A daily visitor to him while he was on hunger strike was his brother Dan, of Blennerville, who spent all the war years as an internee. Dan had been arrested in 1940 and after three years in the Curragh was transferred to Arbour Hill as punishment for burning down huts at the Kildare detention centre.

After Christy gained his freedom at the end of the war, he went to England, where he worked for many years in the building industry. For a period he was one of the famous "McAlpine Fusiliers". He finished his working life as a foreman with Kerry County Council.

Christ, who was one of 14 children, is survived by his brothers Dan and Michael (England) and sisters, Sheila (Ballyduff) and Kathleen (England). Christy was a strong supporter of Sinn Féin and the direction taken in the ongoing peace process. He will be sorely missed in Kerry and throughout the republican family.