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| Seán Clinton |
Seán was diagnosed with cancer a number of months ago and when he was up for a yarn I'd call to see him.
I first met Seán in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh where he was on remand and with me being on the camp staff I was able to get around Republican wings. I took to him right away and it may well have been the fact we were two cynics with strong opinions!
When we were released from gaol in the 1990s I'd occasionally meet him and most of our conversations were about the state of the movement and the direction in which they were going. It was a very frustrating time for many of us but we just got on with things.
In more recent years we would meet more often with a few others and discuss everything from Irish Republicanism to Imperialism and of course the genocide in Gaza. He was very well read and although serious he could be great craic.
When Seán was diagnosed with cancer I'd call to see him occasionally. He was younger than me and as we sat talking he'd tell me yarns about growing up on the Ormeau Road and like many who lived there he put up with harassment from the cops and Brits. He'd been set up a number of times for assassination by unionist gangs but he was very fortunate to evade them. I found out more about his personal life such as his love for boxing and other sports.
It was clear he was very close to his family and no doubt they'll be heartbroken at this time. He had a lot of friends and comrades and we too will miss him. This photo was taken at Lasair Dhearg's commemoration in Milltown cemetery on Easter Monday and although he wasn't well he spoke with others who knew him from prison and his involvement in struggle.
I was looking through my photos and came across this one from three years ago.
It was a cold, but bright day when the two of us were walking around Milltown and I told him of graves that I'd found recently and one was of Joe McKelvey's father. We often spoke about McKelvey and the many other Irish Republicans buried in Milltown and this grave is the only British war grave I would talk about. The irony is that Patrick McKelvey was buried there in 1919 and his son Joe was in attendance. He was shot dead by Free Staters in 1922 and buried two years later in the Harbinson Plot which is literally a stone's throw away from his father's grave. Seán and I would often talk about that period.
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| Padraic Mac Coitir is a former republican prisoner and current political activist. |
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