I awoke to a message from an Ex-Prisoner the other day “Mickey is dead”. Ever since I have dodged the usual forums of debate and instead reflected on prison-craft projects that Michael and I worked on while in Portlaoise. The very mention of the name Mickey McKevitt conjures up major Republican and political imagery. His name alone is an education in Irish Republicanism. While I am thankful for the opportunity to pay a small tribute to such a great man, I can only write about his greatness in terms of the little glimmers and flashes of it that he let me see when, in 2010, I became a guest of E2 for over a year. One of the classes I attended while there was a photo-editing course.
Michael McKevitt was a meticulous man in every single thing that he did. This was the first lesson. When he asked you to do something you just knew that it would have to be done right and he asked me to assist him with a few photo-editing projects in our time. Each of them continue to possess deep personal value to me over a decade later.
One project was a commemorative calendar of the 1981 Hunger-Strike which he had printed and distributed. The other was a print for the family of his brother-in-law Óglach martyr Bobby Sands which was framed on the landing. The day he left the framed print out for his visitors he came to let me know that it had been collected and it would be displayed in the Sand’s home. This meant the world to me.
While on remand two-years previously, I was segregated after a prison-riot. Part of the punishment thereafter was that half my weekly gratuity payment of E14 per week was taken back by the administration to pay for the damage we had caused. One of Mickey’s jobs on E2 was to ensure that each prisoner got their weekly gratuity account sheet. One week Mickey came into my cell and asked me about the E7 that was being taken out of my account weekly. He had also noted that as I had not received any visits for some weeks, I had no income. He told me that it wasn’t a worry anymore. I still retain the Gratuity Sheet for that week, Internal Prisoner Transfer of E50 into my account. It wasn’t up for discussion or to be spoken off to others on the landing, but I wouldn’t be stuck whether a ‘guest’ or not.
Untold in ballads books or films, lengthy terms of political imprisonment lead to relationship breakdowns. I was caught up in all of this since being convicted and was reacting to it with the naïve and undisciplined arrogance of youth. Mixed into all of that was the emotional chaos caused by then vying political agendas in a Portlaoise Gaol that would both confuse an elephant and sicken a pike.
One project was a commemorative calendar of the 1981 Hunger-Strike which he had printed and distributed. The other was a print for the family of his brother-in-law Óglach martyr Bobby Sands which was framed on the landing. The day he left the framed print out for his visitors he came to let me know that it had been collected and it would be displayed in the Sand’s home. This meant the world to me.
While on remand two-years previously, I was segregated after a prison-riot. Part of the punishment thereafter was that half my weekly gratuity payment of E14 per week was taken back by the administration to pay for the damage we had caused. One of Mickey’s jobs on E2 was to ensure that each prisoner got their weekly gratuity account sheet. One week Mickey came into my cell and asked me about the E7 that was being taken out of my account weekly. He had also noted that as I had not received any visits for some weeks, I had no income. He told me that it wasn’t a worry anymore. I still retain the Gratuity Sheet for that week, Internal Prisoner Transfer of E50 into my account. It wasn’t up for discussion or to be spoken off to others on the landing, but I wouldn’t be stuck whether a ‘guest’ or not.
Untold in ballads books or films, lengthy terms of political imprisonment lead to relationship breakdowns. I was caught up in all of this since being convicted and was reacting to it with the naïve and undisciplined arrogance of youth. Mixed into all of that was the emotional chaos caused by then vying political agendas in a Portlaoise Gaol that would both confuse an elephant and sicken a pike.
Michael McKevitt was as tough as men come and he did not tolerate anything out of line on his landing yet he also possessed understanding and compassion. He chose to counsel me in the meaning of Republican integrity instead of the reprimands I had by now grown accustomed to. His example taught me that by embracing the concept of Republican integrity; discipline, as the corner stone of resilience, arrives as a natural state. He taught me that within the walls of the prison everyone struggles alongside you, learning to respect that makes life-easier. Loved-ones left behind suffer an absence more than the prisoner and therefore the prisoner has a duty to respect that whenever he is relating to loved ones from within. Visits soon resumed.
The most significant project he asked me to do was personal. I was shown two-photographs. The first was of a child near a stone-wall with some water in the background and the second was of a smiling adult wearing a graduation gown. I found Mickey to be great craic but it is fair to say he wasn’t a man given to over-elaboration or very much small talk. He wanted a sleeve made similar to that you would put on a CD or DVD cover with both photographs to be incorporated as best as I could.
This cover-project incorporated all of Mickey’s teaching and his subtle genius. The first picture showed a happy child, This was before a father was politically targeted by the Free-State and, on the word of a crooked F.B.I agent ,interned for twenty years. The father would be vilified wrongly, accused falsely, attacked unjustly and denied his rights day and daily for well over a decade by a puppet-state, its masters, the compliant media and many of his own kind too. His wife was robbed of her husband, the family business and their savings were then robbed as well. The entire disgraceful injustice was a vengeful attempt a wiping-out a whole family.
The most significant project he asked me to do was personal. I was shown two-photographs. The first was of a child near a stone-wall with some water in the background and the second was of a smiling adult wearing a graduation gown. I found Mickey to be great craic but it is fair to say he wasn’t a man given to over-elaboration or very much small talk. He wanted a sleeve made similar to that you would put on a CD or DVD cover with both photographs to be incorporated as best as I could.
This cover-project incorporated all of Mickey’s teaching and his subtle genius. The first picture showed a happy child, This was before a father was politically targeted by the Free-State and, on the word of a crooked F.B.I agent ,interned for twenty years. The father would be vilified wrongly, accused falsely, attacked unjustly and denied his rights day and daily for well over a decade by a puppet-state, its masters, the compliant media and many of his own kind too. His wife was robbed of her husband, the family business and their savings were then robbed as well. The entire disgraceful injustice was a vengeful attempt a wiping-out a whole family.
The second photograph was of the same child but in the here and now all these years later and that child still smiling. Succeeding in life in spite of it all! The father was smiling still too. Both pictures were now super-imposed on an albeit amateurish attempt at a CD or DVD cover for a celebratory project Mickey had planned for those he loved most.
I doubt anyone has to read about who Michael Mc Kevitt was in Republican terms. He is a legend. I’m not the best qualified to inform them if they do. Clearly he was the man who armed Ireland at war, the most successful QMG in the history of Óglaigh na h-Éireann. He was a man whose principles meant more to him than plaudits, wealth popularity or comfort. I wasn’t a part of or connected with his heroic Military legacy, his movement or his family, but one-time 10 years ago Mickey McKevitt let me in on a little photography operation in Portlaoise with him. Through that he showed me how a prisoner can smash three state agendas without any weapons when he needs to. Mickey McKevitt defeated every agenda ever waged against him with Republican Integrity and he continues to provide.
I doubt anyone has to read about who Michael Mc Kevitt was in Republican terms. He is a legend. I’m not the best qualified to inform them if they do. Clearly he was the man who armed Ireland at war, the most successful QMG in the history of Óglaigh na h-Éireann. He was a man whose principles meant more to him than plaudits, wealth popularity or comfort. I wasn’t a part of or connected with his heroic Military legacy, his movement or his family, but one-time 10 years ago Mickey McKevitt let me in on a little photography operation in Portlaoise with him. Through that he showed me how a prisoner can smash three state agendas without any weapons when he needs to. Mickey McKevitt defeated every agenda ever waged against him with Republican Integrity and he continues to provide.
Reflecting on my own personal experience of the man, he was an indefatigable teacher of Irish Republicanism and human decency which are inseparable. This is the most valuable lesson I learned under his care while he provided for me as his guest on the E2 landing of Portlaoise Gaol. I cannot imagine the deep sense of loss that his family now feel and my thoughts are with them all.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
⏩ Tarlach MacDhónaill is a former republican prisoner.
A nice tribute
ReplyDeleteIt is. I visited him in Portlaoise 6 years ago. He was no fool and very insightful. He merits a biography as his role was so central to the war. While such a work would be polarising it would immeasurably enhance out understanding of how things worked.
DeleteAm...
ReplyDeleteThere ya go.Get writing. No better man.
What a great tribute. Michael Mc Kevitt kept true to his Repubican ideals and never wavered,his story needs to be told so that years from now people can rightfully acknowledge his life long commitment , and his role in the fight for Irish freedom. ....When Ireland takes her place among the nations of the earth , then and only then let my epitaph be written.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely fantastic tribute, written beautifully.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant tribute, too a brilliant man may he rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteI could never understand the labelling of this man as a dissident. His position for the last 20 years was not to dissent from the republican position and stay through to the IRA objective of removing the British presence by physical force as opposed to surrender and working for the British in Ireland. RIP Michael.
ReplyDelete*typo in above comment - should have been true and not through
ReplyDeletejust delete your two comments and repost the one you are happiest with
Delete