The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
DEPUTY Cathal Crowe has said he intends to raise a Clare family’s objection to the naming of the Ennis Sinn Féin Cumann in the Dáil.
The cumann is named after Peadar Clancy (the Cranny native who fought in 1916 and was killed during the War of Independence) and Mairead Farrell (a Provisional IRA volunteer, shot dead in disputed circumstances at Gibraltar in 1988).
Deputy Crowe has recently re-engaged in an online spat with local Sinn Féin members, for the second time in the past two months, and he told the Clare Champion that surviving relatives of Peadar Clancy are unhappy about his name being linked with the party.
“Michael Neylon is a grandnephew of Peadar Clancy, who didn’t have his own children, so Michael and other grandnephews and grandnieces are the closest surviving relatives.
“Michael has contacted most if not all of them, and everyone he has contacted has the same view, that they do not want Peadar Clancy’s name used by the Cumann and they consider it to be an insult to his name and to his family’s legacy.
“I’ve asked them to put that in writing and I intend to raise it in the Dáil. In the past they have corresponded with Sinn Féin headquarters and been flatly ignored.”
While Clancy fought in the War of Independence, Mairead Farrell was active in the Troubles in the 1970s and 80s, and Deputy Crowe said the historical context is very different.
“Another member of the family said it is insulting that the name is linked to Mairead Farrell. This is a very separate moment in history, I don’t think anyone wants to speak ill of the dead, but Sinn Féin need to separate things out here. They don’t have family consent.”
He said that the party should change the name. “I hate to see things being distorted and normally I’d stay quiet, but in this case we have the historical inaccuracy and on top of that we have a family vehemently saying they don’t want his name used, and in the face of that I think they have to withdraw it.”
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
