Saturday 6 June 2009

Fógraí bháis: Marshall Mooney


Former Political Prisoner; Marshall Mooney RIP
THE death has taken place of veteran Belfast republican Marshall Mooney. Marshall’s remains were taken to Whitecliff Crescent en route from Killough to Roselawn Cemetery. The coffin, flanked by a republican guard of honour and led by a piper, proceeded to the local memorial garden.Sinn Féin Councillor Maire Cush chaired the proceedings and Annie Cahill recited a decade of the Rosary. The main speaker was West Belfast MP Gerry Adams. Wreaths were laid on behalf of the extended republican family.
Born in little Edward Street in the historic ‘Half Bap’ district of Belfast on 9 April 1947 to Francis and Susan Mooney, Marshall moved to the then new estate of Ballymurphy in the early 1950s before eventually settling in the Turf Lodge estate from 1961 onwards. Marshall had seven sisters – Teresa, Susan, Helen, Mavourneen (RIP), Margaret (RIP), Anne (RIP) and Pat – and one brother, Paul.As it did on so many of his generation, the events of 1969 and the latest wave of pogroms against Catholics in the North of Ireland had a radicalising effect on Marshall.
He joined the Republican Movement and was initially active in the Clonard area. After the introduction of internment in August 1971, Marshall joined the Ballymurphy unit of the IRA – ‘B’ Company, 2nd Battalion, of the Belfast Brigade. Marshall was imprisoned without trial in the early 1970s. While interned he tried to escape from Cage 6 one Christmas Eve along with Tommy Tolan, Marty O’Rawe and Gerry Adams.Gerry Adams reckons it was Marshall’s bald spot that got them caught as the searchlight reflected off his head. The Screws saw this and caught Marshall first. In true Marshall fashion, he tried to deflect attention from the others but, unfortunately, all the would-be escapees were spotted.Marshall was released in the mid-1970s and played a considerable role in the reorganisation of the IRA that took place at this time.
MEDIATION and YOUNG PEOPLE
Marshall was not only a republican in the philosophical sense, he also applied his republicanism on a day and daily basis in a very practical way as well. Constantly concerned with building better communities and creating a better life for all people, the military cessation of 1974 enabled Marshall to concentrate on using his natural gifts and ability at mediation and resolving conflict.Marshall had a talent for not only putting people at ease as soon as he entered a room but also for getting people to resolve their differences in an amicable and agreed fashion. Marshall took particular delight in working with young people, especially in the Whiterock area, and in helping many young people throughout Ireland in creating better lives for themselves.
Instrumental in the design and development of the local Community Safety Forums, Marshall, as always, was willing to consider a particular project in relation to how it improved or bettered the quality of life for people. It was important to Marshall that people felt better in their lives after they had engaged with him.
CR GAS
Ceartais – a group set up by republican ex-POWS to highlight the use of CR gas on the prisoners in Long Kesh on October 16, 1974 – once again has another name to add to the ever-growing list of ex-POWS who have died of cancer.Jim McCann, a friend and comrade who spent time with ‘Big Mick’ in Long Kesh, said:“The fact that the British Army used CR gas during the burning of Long Kesh is well-documented by the POWs affected, by prison officers of all ranks, by loyalist prisoners, by British soldiers and by senior British civil servants at a meeting with the then O/C of the internees, George Gillen (RIP).“Unfortunately, the unwillingness of the British Government to release the results of blood samples taken from the prisoners when asked nearly 10 years ago at our request means that any chance of early diagnosis by medical staff was denied to the long list of prisoners like Marshall who have died or who are trying to cope with the cancers they obtained in Long Kesh many years ago.”
To his wife Ann, to his children Conor, Laura, Linda, Ann, Marshall and Ciara, and to the wider extended family, we send our deepest sympathy.The Republican Movement has lost a brave and gallant activist. Marshall Mooney is away to join the ‘Big Battalion’ up in the sky.
The above article was printed in AP/RN; 4/6/09

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