Herself Alone in Orange Rain
Page 40
The bedroom door opens. Patrick smiles in at us.
‘Is he sleeping?’
‘He is.’ I’m sitting on the bed, peering through the bars of his cot at the wrinkled face, the eyes, now closed, that blinked, blue glittering, at me: Daideo’s eyes.
‘Are you OK?’ Patrick murmurs, perching beside me.
‘Oh, aye, grand, having just squeezed something the size of a watermelon out of a hole you couldn’t hardly get a matchstick through,’ I joke.
Patrick shudders and rubs my back.
‘No, I’m fine. It takes more than that to break me,’ I say with a grin.
‘I don’t think there’s anything can break you,’ Patrick replies.
I stretch forward, pulling my empty belly taut, to stroke the doughy cheek, brush the downy hair and scrape my thumb against the sharp fingernails smaller than a match-head. ‘Let’s hope we never find out.’
We watch Cian sleep.
‘Are you happy?’ Patrick asks.
‘Are you?’
‘I am.’
‘That’s two of us.’
‘Go raibh maith agat.’
I laugh. ‘What’re you thanking me for?’
Patrick gestures to the cot. ‘I mean it. Go raibh maith agat. Tá mé i ngrá leat.’
‘Tá fáilte romhat. Tá mé i ngrá leat fosta.’ I lean against him, letting the weight off my spine and shoulders for an instant.
Patrick brushes my hair, blonde again, growing out of its Army crop. ‘You did it, Caoilainn,’ he says. ‘You survived. Your war is over.’
Cian stirs, bringing a hand to his face, fingers curled into a peaceful fist. The fear that must have swarmed Daideo’s heart when he looked on newborn me fills mine now, a codicil to his legacy. I understand why he sent me away.
I straighten up, a reassuringly familiar load pressing down through me.
My war isn’t over: it’s just been reborn.
Belfast—4th May, 1989
Hunt for Missing IRA Girl
‘Blonde Bomber’ Disappears
in Republican Heartlands
Police are searching for clues in the disappearance of a prominent Republican woman who went missing from her Tyrone home sometime yesterday.
Caoilainn Duffy, nee Devoy, (27) was last seen on Tuesday when she returned to her remote cottage in Ballygawley after spending the weekend in Belfast with her husband, well-known Republican lawyer Patrick Duffy, and their eight month old son.
Mrs Duffy is described as; 5ft 5inches tall, slim build with fair shoulder length hair. She was last seen wearing jeans and a leather jacket, riding a Norton Navigator motorbike, registration BHZ 9144.
Police were alerted to Mrs Duffy’s disappearance after she failed to return to Belfast on Wednesday morning as planned. Concerns were raised when the motorbike she was travelling on was found abandoned on the A5 near the border with the Irish Republic. A search of the Ballygawley cottage confirmed that she appeared not to have taken significant personal possessions with her. An RUC spokesman said they were investigating possible connections between Mrs Duffy’s Republican activity and her disappearance but refused to comment on whether they suspected the involvement of Loyalist paramilitaries.
A friend of the family said they were worried for Mrs Duffy, adding, ‘She’s never gone off like this before. It’s not like her. She’s a loving mother and wouldn’t just abandon her wee boy.’
In 1985 Mrs Duffy, then using the name Kaylynn Ryan, was convicted for IRA membership. She was also tried for the 1982 Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings that killed eleven members of the Household Cavalry but the case against her collapsed when it was revealed that charges had been brought solely on the word of a ‘supergrass’. She served two years in Armagh jail. There is speculation that she returned to active service with the IRA on her release and only left the Movement following the birth of her son.
Sinn Fein have confirmed they are aware of Mrs Duffy’s disappearance and announced they are conducting their own investigation into the circumstances surrounding it. A Republican spokesman said, ‘In cases like this is it clear the RUC have little interest in doing their jobs,’
Police denied Mrs Duffy’s past would have any bearing on their efforts to find her and asked Mrs Duffy or anyone who knows of her current whereabouts to contact them.
Inquiries into her disappearance are ongoing.
Killed by The Troubles
…our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
Easter 1916 by W. B. Yeats
Killed by the Troubles
Fiona Finnighan 3 September, 1963 Monaghan
Cathal Finnighan 11 May, 1964 Monaghan
Fergus O’Neill 18 January, 1978 Derry
William Stephenson 31 December, 1980 Belfast
Patrick William Finnighan 29 April, 1981 Dublin
Bobby Sands 5 May, 1981 H-Block, Maze
Frances Hughes 12 May, 1981 H-Block, Maze
Raymond McCreesh 21 May, 1981 H-Block, Maze
Patsy O’Hara 21 May, 1981 H-Block, Maze
Joe McDonnel l8 July, 1981 H-Block, Maze
Martin Hurson 13 July, 1981 H-Block, Maze
Kevin Lynch 1 August, 1981 H-Block, Maze
Kieran Doherty 2 August, 1981 H-Block, Maze
Thomas McIlwee 8 August, 1981 H-Block, Maze
Mickey Devine 20 August, 1981 H-Block, Maze
Richard Hanson 3 October, 1981 Belfast
Cathy Keenan 25 December, 1981 Belfast
Steven Carlton 9 January, 1982 Belfast
Anthony Rapley 25 March, 1982 Belfast
Nicholas Malakos 25 March, 1982 Belfast
Daniel Holland 25 March, 1982 Belfast
Anthony Daly 20 July, 1982 London
Simon Tipper 20 July, 1982 London
Jeffrey Young 20 July, 1982 London
Roy Bright 20 July, 1982 London
Graham Barker 20 July, 1982 London
Robert Livingstone 20 July, 1982 London
John McKnight 20 July, 1982 London
George Mesure 20 July, 1982 London
Keith Powell 20 July, 1982 London
Laurence Smith 20 July, 1982 London
John Heritage 20 July, 1982 London
Brian Campbel l4 December, 1983 Coalisland
Colm McGirr 4 December, 1983 Coalisland
Aiden O’Neill 4 December, 1983 Coalisland
Noel Lane 17 December, 1983 London
Jane Arbuthnot 17 December, 1983 London
Philip Geddes 17 December, 1983 London
Kenneth Salvsan 17 December, 1983 London
Jasmine Cochrane-Patrick 17 December, 1983 London
Stephen Dodd 24 December, 1983 London
Anthony Berry 12 October, 1984 Brighton
Eric Taylor 12 October, 1984 Brighton
Roberta Wakeham 12 October, 1984 Brighton
Jeanne Shattock 12 October, 1984 Brighton
Muriel Machean 13 November, 1984 Brighton
David Henderson 4 December, 1984 Belfast
Brendan Gallagher 26 December, 1984 Newcastle
Declan Arthurs 8 May, 1987 Loughgall
Seamus Donnelly 8 May, 1987 Loughgall
Michael Gormley 8 May, 1987 Loughgall
Eugene Kelly 8 May, 1987 Loughgall
Patrick Kelly 8 May, 1987 Loughgall
James Lynagh 8 May, 1987 Loughgall
Patrick McKearney 8 May, 1987 Loughgall
Gerard O’Callaghan 8 May, 1987 Loughgall
Anthony Hughes 8 May, 1987 Loughgall
Rupert Wilkinson 22 July, 1987 Ballymackilroy
Christopher Bates 22 July, 1987 Ballymackilroy
Lee Weston 23 July, 1987 Fivemiletown
Joel Swinburn 23 July, 1987 Fivemiletown
Ian Miller 23 July, 1987 Fivemiletown
Peter Scott 23 July, 1987 Fivemiletown
Harry Jackson 23 July, 1987 Fivemiletown
Marie Wilson 8 November, 1987 Enniskillen
Samuel Gault 8 November, 1987 Enniskillen
Georgina Quinton 8 November, 1987 Enniskillen
John Megaw 8 November, 1987 Enniskillen
Wesley Armstrong 8 November, 1987 Enniskillen
Bertha Armstrong 8 November, 1987 Enniskillen
William Mullan 8 November, 1987 Enniskillen
Agnes Mullam 8 November, 1987 Enniskillen
Kit Johnston 8 November, 1987 Enniskillen
Jessie Johnston 8 November, 1987 Enniskillen
Ronnie Hill 8 November, 1987 Enniskillen
Mairead Farrel 16 March, 1988 Gibraltar
Daniel McCann 16 March, 1988 Gibraltar
Sean Savage 16 March, 1988 Gibraltar
Caoimhin MacBradaigh 16 March, 1988 Belfast
Thomas McErlean 16 March, 1988 Belfast
John Murray 16 March, 1988 Belfast
Derek Wood 16 March, 1988 Belfast
Robert Howes 19 March, 1988 Belfast
Further Reading
Books (non-fiction)
Aretexaga, Begoña, Shattering Silence: Women, Nationalism, and Political Subjectivity in Northern Ireland, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997)
Behan, Brendan, Confession of an Irish Rebel, (London: Arrow Books, 1990)
______. Borstal Boy, (London: Arrow Books, 1990)
Coogan, Tim Pat, The I.R.A., (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000)
______. The Troubles, (London: Random House (UK) Ltd., 1995)
D’Arcy, Margaretta, Tell Them Everything, (London: Pluto Press Ltd., 1981)
Devlin, Bernadette, The Price of My Soul, (London: Pan Books Ltd., 1969)
Fairweather, Eileen; McDonough, Roisin and McFadyean, Melanie, Only the Rivers Run Free: Northern Ireland – the Women’s War, (London: Pluto Press Ltd., 1984)
Foster, R. F., Modern Ireland 1600-1972, (London: Penguin Books, 1989)
Graham, Scott, Shoot to Kill, (London: Blake Publishing Ltd., 2002)
Hart, Peter, The IRA and Its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork 1916-1923, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999)
McAuley, Chrissie (ed.), Women in a War Zone: Twenty Years of Resistance, (Belfast: Republican Publications, 1989)
MacDonald, Eileen, Shoot the Women First, (London: Fourth Estate Ltd., 1991)
Magee, Patrick, Gangsters or Guerrillas: Representations of Irish Republicans in ‘Troubles Fiction’, (Belfast: BTP Publication Ltd., 2001)
McIntosh, Gillian and Urquhart, Diane (eds.), Irish Women at War: The Twentieth Century, (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2010)
Moloney, Ed, Voices from the Grave, (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 2010)
Ryan, Louise and Ward, Margaret (eds.), Irish Women and Nationalism: Soldiers, New Women and Wicked Hags, (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2004)
Taylor, Peter, Brits: The War Against the IRA, (London: Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2002)
Urban, Mark, Big Boys’ Rules: The SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA, (London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 1993)
Williams, Maxine, Murder on the Rock: How the British Government got away with Murder, (London: Larkin Publications, 1989)
Books (fiction)
Bradby, Tom, Shadow Dancer, (London: Bantam Press, 1998)
Devlin, Anne, The Way-Paver, (London: Faber and Faber, 1986)
Doyle, Roddy, A Star Called Henry, (London: Vintage, 2005)
______. Oh, Play That Thing, (London: Vintage, 2005)
______. The Dead Republic, (London: Jonathan Cape, 2010)
MacLaverty, Bernard, Cal, (London: Vintage, 1998)
Murray Bell, Liam, So It Is, (Brighton: Myriad Editions, 2012)
Urch, Marian, Violent Shadows, (London: Headline Book Publishing, 1996)
Film/Documentary
Death of a Terrorist, dir. by Willian Cran (WGBH, 1989)
Mná an IRA, dir. by Martina Durac (Loopline Films, 2011)
Mairead Farrell: An Unfinished Conversation, dir. by Martina Durac (Loopline Films, 2014)
Brighton Bomb, dir. by Stephen Finnigan (Mentorn, 2003)
Hunger, dir. by Steve McQueen (Blast! Films, 2008)
Fifty Dead Men Walking, dir. by Kari Skogland (Running Man Ltd, 2008)
Britain’s Secret Terror Force, dir. by Leo Telling (Twenty2 Vision, 2013)
Websites
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1312378.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/histry/events/three_ira_embers_shot_dead_in_gibraltar
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/events/michael_stone_kills_three_at_ira_funerals
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/events/army_corporals_killed_at_ira_funeral
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/index.htmlhttp://www.everyspec.com
http://www.theguardian.co/uk/2002/sep/29/northernireland1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/mar/13/gender.uk/print
http://www.theirshobserver.com/loughgall-martyrs
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/northerireland/9560100/Republicanism
1 Quoted from a letter dated 3rd May 1916 written by Pearse from his cell at Kilmainham Prison to his mother. (Last Words ed. Piaras F. MacLochlainn, 1990) [return to Acknowledgements]
2 little sister [return to Michaelmas Term 1911]
3 good night [return to Michaelmas Term 1911]
4 please [return to Trinity Term 1912]
5 friends [return to Trinity Term 1912]
6 fortified residence [return to Michaelmas Term 1912]
7 you’re welcome fortified residence [return to Michaelmas Term 1912]
8 Good luck, lads [return to Michaelmas Term 1912]
9 heaven [return to Hilary Term 1913]
10 hero [return to Hilary Term 1913]
11 friend [return to Hilary Term 1913]
12 return to action [return to Hilary Term 1913]
13 friend [return to Hilary Term 1913]
14 home [return to Hilary Term 1913]
15 what [return to Trinity Term 1913]
16 Pleased to meet you [return to Michaelmas Term 1913]
17 sir [return to Michaelmas Term 1913]
18 well done [return to Michaelmas Term 1913]
19 welcome [return to Michaelmas Term 1913]
20 good morning [return to Michaelmas Term 1913]
21 Merry Christmas [return to Michaelmas Term 1913]
22 stop [return to Hilary Term 1914]
23 hello [return to Hilary Term 1914]
24 well done [return to Hilary Term 1914]
25 good morning [return to Hilary Term 1914]
26 good night [return to Hilary Term 1914]
27 Excellent [return to Trinity Term 1914]
28 brother [return to Trinity Term 1914]
29 darling/my dear [return to Trinity Term 1914]
30 Duty [return to Trinity Term 1914]
31 thank you [return to Michaelmas Term 1914]
32 for goodness sake [return to Michaelmas Term 1914]
33 thank you [return to Trinity Term 1914]
34 little sister [return to Michaelmas Term 1915]
35 many happy returns [return to Michaelmas Term 1915]
36 health and long life to you [return to Michaelmas Term 1915]
37 I am Irish [return to Michaelmas Term 1915]
38 my father [return to Michaelmas Term 1915]
39 there [return to Michaelmas Term 1915]
40 brother [return to Michaelmas Term 1915]
41 ∗ my boy/lad (literally) but also a term used to refer to Cúchulainn and one used by Pearse for his ideal of an heroic yet scholarly young Christian/Celtic warrior [return to Michaelmas Term 1915]
42 Good luck [return to Hilary Term 1916]
43 son (affectionate term) [return to Hilary Term 1916]
44 thank you [return to Hilary Term 1916]
45 hello [return to Hilary Term 1916]
46 promise me [return to Hilary Term 1916]
47 I promise you [return to Hilary Term 1916]
48 I love you [return to Hilary Term 1916]
49 cheers [return to Hilary Term 1916]
50 used here to refer specifically to Cúchulainn [return to Hilary Term 1916]
51 welcome [return to Hilary Term 1916]
52 Ireland forever [return to Holy Thursday 20 April]
53 coward [return to Good Friday 21 April]