Martin Meehan

The veteran Irish Republican Martin Meehan has died suddenly, reportedly after suffering a heart attack at his home.
Mr Martin Meehan who was 62, was the first person to be charged with membership of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
He was a major IRA figure from the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, who later became an Assembly member.
Martin Meehan (1945 – 3 November 2007) was a Sinn Fein politician and former volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Meehan was the first person to be convicted of membership of the Provisional IRA, and he spent over twenty years in prison during the Troubles.

Sinn Fein assembly member Gerry Kelly said he was "shocked and saddened" by the death, and said his thoughts were with Mr Meehan's family.
"From a friendship and comradeship point of view, Martin sort of embodied what republicanism was all about," Mr Kelly said.
"He gave his whole life to serve both his ideals in republicanism and also the people."

Martin Meehan was born in 1945 in the Ardoyne area of Belfast in the north of Ireland. He also grew up in the Ardoyne, an embattled Irish district in North Belfast. He joined the republican movement in 1966. His father had been imprisoned for republican activities in the 1940s. Meehan left school aged 15 and began working at Belfast's docks, and in 1966 he became a member of the Irish Republican Army. Twenty-seven of us went to the recruiting class,” he recalled. During training “two or three dropped out each week. There were five left for the swearing in, and two of them pulled out. That left three.” He was sworn in by the old Official IRA Officer Billy McMillen, and described joining as "a big occasion, like joining the priesthood".
In 1968 he was arrested for the first time, after he assaulted a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) during a civil rights march in Derry.During the August 1969 riots in Belfast he was one of a handful of IRA members who tried to defend Irish areas from attack, and resigned as a result of the organisation's failure to adequately protect Irish areas. Meehan was arrested on 22 August 1969 for riotous behaviour, and was badly beaten before being imprisoned. The beating was so severe Meehan was given the last rites, the first of four occasions he has received them. He was released after spending two months in prison. After his release the legendary Billy McKee first OC of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade. convinced Meehan to rejoin the IRA. Meehan sided with the Provisional IRA following the split in January 1970, and by mid-1970 was a senior IRA leader in the Ardoyne area. On 27 June 1970 rioting broke out across Belfast following a parade by the Orange Order, and a gun battle started in the Ardoyne area. Meehan states:
“ Three loyalists were shot dead and fifteen wounded. There were three or four nationalists wounded. No one was killed. [After the shooting] every door in Ardoyne was opened. The IRA had proved beyond a shadow of a doubt what they said they were going to do, they had done. The date—27th of June 1970—is more significant for that than anything else. As a result, the whole broad spectrum of the nationalist people actually supported what the IRA was doing. Everybody, man, woman and child came out and supported us in any way possible. I never saw support like it in my life. It was unbelievable.”

In the six weeks following the introduction of internment in August 1971, six soldiers from the Green Howards regiment were killed by the IRA in north Belfast. Meehan became one of the most wanted IRA members in the area, and when arrested he was badly beaten by soldiers and needed 47 stitches to the back of his head. Meehan was imprisoned without charge under the Special Powers Act in Crumlin Road Jail. Meehan and two other IRA members escaped from prison on 2 December 1971. The men covered themselves in butter in order to keep warm, then hid inside a manhole for six-and-a-half hours before scaling the prison walls using ropes made from knotted blankets and sheets.

Meehan escaped across the border to Dundalk in the Republic of Ireland, and on 27 January 1972 he was arrested by the Garda along with seven other IRA members following a four-hour cross-border gun battle between the IRA and soldiers from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. Meehan told reporters "We pasted them. You could have heard them squealing for miles", but despite over 4,500 rounds of ammunition being fired the only casualty was a farmer's prize winning pig. The IRA members were arrested in possession of an anti-tank gun, a carbine and seven rifles, but were acquitted at their trial the following month due to lack of evidence. Meehan returned to the north of Ireland, where he was arrested on 9 August 1972 and he became the first person to be convicted of membership of the Provisional IRA. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment in Long Kesh, and was released on 4 October 1974. Following his release he was again interned without trial, and on 5 December 1975 he was the last internee to be released after internment had been abolished.

Following many other incidents including more imprisonment and beatings, Meehan became a leading member of Sinn Fein, serving on the party's national executive, or Ard Comhairle.
He was also chairman of Saoirse, an organisation which campaigned for the release of paramilitary prisoners. Meehan stood in the 1998 elections to the the north of Ireland Assembly in South Antrim, receiving over 3,ooo votes.
On 7 June 2001 he was elected a local councillor for Antrim Borough Council. In the 2003 elections to the the north of Ireland Assembly in South Antrim, Meehan lost by just 181 votes to Alliance Party of the north of Ireland leader David Ford.

I backed the ceasefire but with reservations,” Meehan recalled. However, he added that he believed “wholeheartedly in the peace process.” He compared the armed struggle to “hitting your head against a brick wall. Now we go over it or under it.” He said he thinks that the British unionists have been outmaneuvered.
Irish Community Images

As councilor, Meehan highlighted the racist attacks against Irish in his area. He drew attention to the intimidation of Irish Catholic workers at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Antrim town. His district, once overwhelmingly British and Protestant, has now five Sinn Fein cumainn. He hoped the party would win it in the next assembly elections.

Recent plans to turn the Belfast courthouse into a luxury hotel had Martin Meehan on his best humour.
Having five High Court trials there meant he might miss the building more than most. when asked if he would like to check into the keep out the cold.
"I would book into the wedding suite, lie there and reminisce," he said.
Adding on a serious reflective note
"Those were very sad times too, although there were some happy times. But politics is the way forward. There were no winners, everybody was losers - the community and the different groups of combatants."
Martin Meehan is survived by his wife Briege, children and grandchildren

Register

The Irish Community have posted
5 REPLIES TO THIS TOPIC
for logged in members to view.

Irish Forums Message Discussion :: Martin Meehan

Martin Meehan