IFI Irish Film Archive
Letter from Armagh Prison is from the Mairéad Farrell: An Unfinished Conversation Outtakes and part of The Loopline Collection Volume 1.
This Loopline documentary investigates the life and death of Mairéad Farrell who, in 1988, was shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar along with two other unarmed members of the IRA. The violent killing of the three was one of the most controversial incidents during the Northern Ireland Troubles and provoked an international outcry. Bríona Nic Dhiarmada, who was writing a book about Farrell at the time of her death, now attempts to contextualise and make sense of her friend’s life and death. She visits Armagh Prison where Farrell was incarcerated and explores her legacy through rare audio interviews, personal memories and conversations with historians, politicians and peers. Due to her youth, her gender and her stature within the IRA, Farrell was quickly subsumed into the pantheon of Irish republican martyrs. However, behind the mythologising and demonisation of Farrell, there was also a real person who was prepared to kill and die for her beliefs.
In this sound newsreel the Lord Major of Dublin, Alfred (Alfie) Byrne, discusses Anglo-Irish relations and the prospect of a United Ireland in this speech from 1936. Seated comfortably in an armchair in a garden and wearing his mayoral chain of office, Mayor Alfie Byrne assures Pathé Gazette viewers that there is no serious animosity between the North and South of Ireland and recommends removal of the border (which he refers to as a ‘festering sore’). He criticises the abusive political language of both unionists and republicans as, according to him, it ‘will not bring prosperity’, and finishes his speech by expressing his dream of a border-free Ireland in the near future. Alfred Byrne was a working politician who served ten times as Lord Mayor of Dublin. This film is part of The Irish Independence Film Collection – The Early Irish Free State that explores facets of Irish society after the War of Independence and up to the birth of the Irish Republic.
The majestic Giant’s Causeway, Co. Antrim, takes centre stage in this film from the Pathetone Weekly cinemagazine from 1935. A man clambers on some of the 37,000 basalt rock columns as a narrator describes the location as one of the ‘wonders of the world’. Most of the rocks are hexagonal in shape but there is one octagonal rock is known as the Keystone . Good fortune awaits those who sit in the Wishing Chair or drink from the Wishing Well. The narrator tells the legend of how an Irish giant built the causeway while trying to get to Scotland to fight a rival. He then adds how ‘it is probably really formed by volcanic action’ and is “one of the most superb rock formations in the world”. This film is part of The Irish Independence Film Collection – The Early Irish Free State that explores facets of Irish society after the War of Independence and up to the birth of the Irish Republic.
Large crowds gather on the streets of Dublin as Ireland’s first President, Dr. Douglas Hyde, is installed. This newsreel from 1938 depicts the military procession that leads Douglas Hyde past the Grand Central Cinema and the GPO on O’Connell Street, Dublin to the Phoenix Park where he is to be installed as President of Ireland. When he arrives at Áras an Uachtaráin he is greeted by Eamon de Valera, Prime Minister, and Seán T O’Kelly, Tánaiste who would succeed Hyde as President in 1945. Áras an Uachtaráin was built in 1751 in Phoenix Park, Dublin. It had been acquired for use by the Viceroys who oversaw British rule in Ireland until 1922 but became the President of Ireland’s official home in 1938. This film is part of The Irish Independence Film Collection – The Early Irish Free State that explores facets of Irish society after the War of Independence and up to the birth of the Irish Republic.
U2 footage: An Cat Dubh is from the Looking On Outtakes and part of The Loopline Collection Volume 1.