Free State Post

Letter boxes in the UK (including Ireland) were green until 1874, when they were changed to red. After independence, the Irish (Free State) boxes were painted green and new boxes were cast without mention of the British monarch (Roaring Water).

Royal Mail letter boxes in CNR areas of Northern Ireland have occasionally been painted in green-white-and-orange (Republican Mail | Tricoloured Post Box) as a political statement.

The letter box shown above (which is not an original) stands on the Ballymoney Road in Armoy.

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Pat Ward

The 39th Bundoran (RSF) hunger strike commemoration took place at the end of August, scaled-back due to the coronavirus pandemic (RSF). The poster above, on the electrical box on Northumberland Street, includes Pat Ward alongside the twelve “traditional” hunger strike deaths (for the first inclusion of Gaughan and Stagg, see Remember The Hunger Strikers from 1985) Ward, a Donegal fisherman and IRA volunteer, took part in four hunger strikes, lasting 148 days in total, including 45 in Portlaoise in 1975. He died in 1988. (RSF | Pensive Quill)

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Silence Is Complicity

“Don’t hand him over. Don’t play England’s game. Stop the extradition of Liam Campbell now.” Liam Campbell is wanted, for a second time, in Lithuania on charges of running guns to the Real IRA in 2006-2007. He was arrested in Dundalk in December 2016 and will appeal his extradition in January next year (Irish Times). The posters of support are from Republican Sinn Féin and the Republican Network For Unity.

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A Pension For All Victims

The pension plan for the injured of the Troubles was scheduled to open at the end of August, rather than the end of June, because of a dispute over the eligibility of those who suffered at their own hand. The Tar Anall boards shown here (in N Queen St and the Antrim Rd) recommend “a pension for all victims” but in the end, they were considered not to be eligible. Another source of the delay was the dispute over how the scheme would be funded (Irish Times | BelTel).

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Copyright © 2020 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
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A Heart In A Heart

Here is a final selection of images from north (N Queen St, Yorkgate, New Lodge) and west Belfast (Kennedy Way) in support of the Noah Donohoe campaign. (Previously: #RememberMyNoah | Justice For Noah | The Wide Blue Yonder | Gloria Ab Intus)

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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#RememberMyNoah

14 year-old Noah Donohoe went missing on June 21st while cycling in the York Road area en route from his south Belfast home to the Cave Hill. His body was found in a north Belfast storm drain six days later and the postmortem showed death by drowning (Irish News). Many details of his last hours remain unknown, however, including how he came to drown in the drain. His mother, Fiona, started a campaign on August 11th on Facebook and Twitter to press for answers and signatures are being collected for a petition into the PSNI handling of the case. CCTV images of Noah were released on Friday by the BBC. An inquest will be held in January, 2021 (BelTel) with a preliminary hearing on September 30th.

Previously: Gloria Ab Intus

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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