IRELAND WEPT
Angela Nelson, 28/01/2013
I want to share this with all those who were unable to attend today’s funeral as I know we have many friends throughout the world that wished they could go but for obvious reasons could not.
I left the house at 10.15am to make my way to St Agnes’s Chapel in Andersonsontown Road as I knew that there would be a large turnout for Dolours Price’s funeral and parking is a problem on most days. Luckily I was able to park quite close to the chapel and on entering was presented with the opportunity to sign a book of condolence for the Price Family. I also received the mass booklet which had a beautiful photograph of Dolours on the front and a photograph of Marian and Dolours on the back. This had been taken in Armagh Gaol in the late seventies, and when you looked at it you were struck at how pretty and young they both were then. As I made my way to a seat I saw my old friend Monsignor Raymond Murray who was to be the Celebrant of the mass. As I approached him I saw he was upset we hugged each other. We both expressed how sad the news was and how difficult the situation was because of Marian being unable to be there. We both struggled to keep back the tears and I left him to wait on the coffin coming into the chapel. The chapel started to fill and I recognised many faces, Republicans and ordinary people who wanted to pay their respects.
The coffin bearing the Tricolour was carried into the chapel by Dolours ex-husband, Stephen Rea and their two sons Oscar and Danny and Damian Price. I and others in the chapel cried silent tears to the sound of a single unaccompanied voice singing “Soul of My Saviour” an old hymn that reminded me of my childhood. A lot of the mass was in Gaelic and Monsignor Murray sang parts in Gaelic also. The first reading was by Clare Scott from the book of Wisdom (3:1-9) titled “He accepted them as a holocaust”, and the second reading was by Stephen Rea from a letter of St. Paul to the Romans (8:31-35, 37-39). I put in these references for those of you that wish to read these very profound scripts. The prayers of the Faithful were read by Sarah Mc Glinchey and Anna Price and the Offertory Procession Gifts were brought to the altar by Hugh Feeney and Damian Price.
The mass proceeded until it came to Monsignor Murray to speak of Dolours. He recounted how he first met her and Marian when they were repatriated to Armagh Gaol 1975 two weeks after their mother died and they were refused compassionate parole to attend the funeral. He said how sick they were after they arrived due to the 200 day Hunger Strike they had embarked on to be brought home to serve out their sentences on Irish soil of which 167 of those days they were force fed with tubes forced down their throats by 4 warders holding them down. I watched around me in that chapel and the silence while he spoke was unbelievable not even a cough was heard, people were just shaking their heads from side to side as they struggled to imagine how this must have felt to these two young women in an English hellhole every single day, twice a day. He told how when they were eventually released from Gaol they both suffered bad health because of this practice as Marian does now. On a lighter note he recalled Dolours many other talents, her love of the arts, poetry languages and her boys. How she was a very good mother that loved teaching the boys words and their definitions and expanding their knowledge. Her sense of humour, wit and intelligence that would have led to her being a teacher but did not happen due to her taking part in the struggle for Civil and Human Rights for Irish men and women. She joined The Peoples Democracy which was a new organisation and was at the Civil rights March in Derry that had been banned and the marchers were attacked by the R.U.C and she had to make her escape through a river. All of this eventually led to her joining the Republican Movement and the rest is history. As her coffin was carried from the chapel it was accompanied by the Uillean Pipes playing “Mise Eire”.
Outside the chapel everyone gathered to have a chat, seeing people that you only see at funerals or weddings. I could see many ex-prisoners from Armagh Gaol, many blanket men and ex-prisoners, Hunger Strikers, and “Hooded Men” as we know them as in republican communities and old Republicans like Billy Mc Kee. There were at least 1000 people there all in support of The Price family. The funeral cortege made its way down the road flanked by women ex-prisoners from Armagh Gaol while the rain pelted down with such force it felt to me that Ireland wept for the loss of one of her daughters. The heavy rain continued all the way to the cemetery and did not stop until Eamon Mc Cann started to speak, then the sun came out. It was as if Dolours wanted to hear what her friends were saying about her.
After the prayers at the graveside Eamon Mc Cann a well-known civil rights campaigner from Derry who told of knowing Dolours for 40 years and having good days and bad days with her as they discussed political issues. He said he loved her in the bigger sense and said it was the longest love affair that he knew of. This brought laughter to the crowd. He spoke so eloquently of Dolours and her dedication to achieving her goals and aspirations for Ireland. He was followed by Dolours good friend Bernadette Mc Alinskey who never minces her words as we know. She related that her and Dolours in the early days attended civil rights marches then might have skipped down to Donegal to have long conversation about what they could do next. She said many a night they shared a bottle of wine and put right the wrongs of the world. Bernadette said Dolours lacked patience and she wanted to see the changes there and then. It was a lovely tribute to her. It ended there.
I spoke to many people there today all were very sad; all were annoyed at the continuation of Marian’s imprisonment. Other than her family and their obvious grief I went over and spoke to her dear comrade Hugh Feeney who was deeply upset. He was one of the ten volunteers who were part of the London bombing operation that was jailed the others were split up but he and Marian, Dolours and Gerry Kelly were the four that were together and firmed strong friendships throughout that period. They were the four who went on hunger strike for repatriation to Ireland. Hugh Feeney attends every protest for Marian’s release and had remained close friends with the two girls all these years. He said this to me with tears in his eyes “of the four of us, she is buried, Marian is in a hospital prison, I am here”.
I will end here with these words, many of you genuinely could not make it to Dolour’s funeral but there were many that choose to stay away because of her different and critical views of the current strategy (as it is called), and to those individuals I say “Shame on you”. Dolours and Marian Price gave unselfishly for Irelands Freedom and did more than their fair share and have paid a heavy price for their sacrifice.
Shame on you for not paying her the respect she so earned.
