Between the various stories, legends and events that took place during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, I firmly believe that the life of Mairéad Farrell, more than others, expresses the deep controversies and complexities that laid at the bottom of the whole conflict during the 70s and 80s.
Mairéad Farrell was an IRA member, shot dead by undercover British operatives along with Daniel McCann and Sean Savage while they walked along Winston Churchill Avenue in Gibraltar on 6th March 1988. She was 31 years old.
To better understand who Mairéad was and to tell her story, I’ll use her song, the “Ballad of Mairéad Farrell” composed by the Irish Brigade in 2017, as a starting point to get into the topic.
Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there I do not sleep, Do not stand at my grave and cry, When Ireland lives I do not die.
Mairéad Farrell, born in Belfast to a non-republican middle-class family, had a grandfather who was jailed during the Irish War for Independence. Raised in West Belfast and educated at Rathmore Convent School, she joined the Provisional IRA at 14. After leaving school at 18, she became a clerical worker.
A woman's place is not at home, The fight for freedom it still goes on, I took up my gun until freedoms day, I pledged to fight for the I.R.A.
In 1976, the British government withdrew Special Category Status for prisoners convicted under anti-terrorism legislation. This decision led to increased violence in Northern Ireland by the IRA. One such incident involved Mairead Farrell, who, along with others, attempted to plant a bomb at the Conway Hotel. She was arrested by the RUC. Farrell, refusing to recognize the court as a British institution, was sentenced to fourteen years in prison for explosives and firearms offences, as well as belonging to an illegal organisation.
In Armagh jail I served my time,
Strip searches were a British crime,
Degraded me but they could not see,
I'd suffer this to see Ireland free.
While at Armagh prison, Mairead Farrell served as the Officer Commanding of female IRA prisoners. She refused to wear a prison uniform upon arrival, protesting the classification of republican prisoners as criminals. In February 1980, Farrell initiated one of the famous dirty protests together with a hunger strike in solidarity with the one in Long Kesh. The dirty protest ceased in March 1981 as attention shifted to Bobby Sands' hunger strike in the H-Blocks. Farrell ran for election in the 1981 Irish General Election, securing 2,751 votes (6.05%) in Cork North-Central.
After her release from prison in October 1986, Mairéad Farrell briefly enrolled at Queen's University, Belfast, studying Political Science and Economics, but dropped out to rejoin IRA activities. In March 1988, she, along with Sean Savage and Daniel McCann, were sent to Gibraltar by the IRA to plant a car bomb targeting the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment during a changing of the guard ceremony. The British intelligence service MI5 became aware of the plan, and a special detachment of the British Army was sent to Gibraltar to intercept them.
Gibraltar was the place I died, McCann and Savage were by my side, I heard the order so loud and shrill, Of Thatcher’s voice, said shoot to kill.
The operation, codenamed Operation Flavius, resulted in Farrell, Savage, and McCann being confronted by plainclothes soldiers from the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS). During a reconnaissance, Farrell was shot three times in the back and once in the face, and her accomplices were also killed. Some witnesses claimed they were shot while attempting to surrender. The trio was found to be unarmed, but subsequent investigations revealed a car containing 84 kg of Semtex explosive, ammunition, and timers intended for the attack.
So do not stand at my grave, I am not there I do not sleep, Do not stand and my grave and cry, When Ireland lives I do not die.
The inquest into the deaths of Mairéad Farrell, Sean Savage, and Daniel McCann in Gibraltar resulted in a verdict of lawful killing by a 9–2 majority, which was the smallest majority allowed. Amnesty International's lawyer, Paddy McGrory, deemed it a "perverse verdict" that went against the weight of evidence. Independent witnesses claimed the security forces shot the individuals without warning, with no opportunity to surrender. Others stated that Dan McCann seemed within reach of the shooter before being shot. Pathologist Alan Watson's findings aligned with the witnesses. Several civil liberty organisations criticised aspects of the inquest and called for further inquiries into the killings in Gibraltar. Amnesty International's report emphasised the inquest's failure to address this fundamental issue.
The families of the victims, dissatisfied with the British legal response, took their case to the European Court of Human Rights in 1995. The court determined, by a 10–9 majority, that the 'Gibraltar Three' had been unlawfully killed, citing a breach of Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court criticised authorities for insufficient care in organising the arrest operation and noted the lack of caution in the use of firearms. While acknowledging the three were engaged in an act of terrorism, the court dismissed claims for damages and costs, emphasising its inability to overrule national decisions or annul laws. Some media outlets reported the decision as a finding that the killings were unlawful.
Let’s now just stop for a second and take a step back to metabolise the whole thing. The first time I listened to this Ballad, and subsequently read the background story, I felt pain, sorrow, and rage. This story shows us the atrocity of war, of occupation, of terrorism. The childhood of a 14-year-old child stolen in the early stages of her life, the pain suffered in prison, the disproportionality of the sentence, the brutality of the Special Forces.
We must all recognize that, regardless of any political belief, regardless of any specific and unique conditions present at that time, the martyrdom of Mairéad Ferrell is not an isolated case. We must acknowledge the reasons behind the actions she has undertaken – having the opportunity to start a new life and study at the university after 10 years in prison, at the age of 29, but instead of pursuing that path, coming back in the arms of the same Irish Republican Army that costed her everything at the age of 19. That is, in my view, the direct effect of the brutal measures undertaken by Downing Street, erasing every possible compromise, reconciliation, reparation. We must ask ourselves what drove her to make this decision, because that’s the final proof of how, at the time, everything was purely wrong. Again, war never changes. The brutality of the murder in Gibraltar, the British inquiry and then the European Court of Human Rights verdict. It doesn’t matter if the shots were fired lawfully or unlawfully: the killing of unharmed civilians, in accordance with the First Geneva Convention (1864) should always be unlawful, in war as in every other context.
My desire, with this small comment, was to share the story of a 31-year-old young woman who died for her country, in a foolish war: a war that should not ever have existed at all. Because as a spokesman from the The New York Times put it while examining the circumstances of Farrell's death: "To the people of Falls Road she was a patriot. To the British she was a terrorist. To her family she was a victim of Irish history".
Listen to the song, make others listen to the song and share her story.
Ask what happened in Armagh, what was a dirty protest, what was a "shoot to kill policy".
To avoid another Mairéad Farrell Ballad.
Song · 4:06
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