Dan Keating est decede a l'age de 106 ans.
C'etait la personne la plus agee en Irlande, et le dernier combattant de 1919-1921, guerre civile et de la campagne de l'IRA en Angleterre en 1939. Jusque a sa mort, il etait le president honoraire de Republican Sinn Fein. Il a refuse jusque a son deces une pension car il ne reconnaissait pas la legitimite de la "Republique" et de son gouvernement de Dublin (avec laquelle certains sur ce site esperent une 'reunification' et croinet que c'est pour bientot, enfin il y en a toujours qui ont cru a Santa Claus) et a renvoye a Mary McAleese sa lettre de feliciation lorsqu'il est devenu centenaire. Il etait oppose au "processus de paix". C'est un modele de vertu et de quelqu'un qui ne trahit pas ses principes et ne s'est pas laisse acheter.
Je reproduit ci-dessous le communique de RSF, l'oraison funeraire, et inclut un lien avec un bon article de la BBC sur lui et un de ses interviews
Republican Sinn Féin
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill,
223 Parnell Street
Dublin 1, Ireland
Sinn Féin Poblachtach
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill,
223 Sráid Pharnell, BÁC 1, Éire
For release
Deireadh Fómhair 3ú/ October 2007
Death of Dan Keating
DAN Keating was born in 1902 in the townland of Ballygamboon, Castlemaine, Co Kerry. In 1917, Dan went to work in Tralee at Jerry McSweeney's Grocery, Bar and Bakery. Jerry McSweeney's uncle, Richard Laide, was shot in the attack on Gortalea barracks which was the first barracks to be attacked in Ireland.
Dan joined the Fianna in Tralee in 1918 and about two years later he joined the Irish Republican Army. Others to join at that time were Gerry Moyles, Donnchadh Donoghue, Tommy Vale, John Riordan (Kerry All-Ireland footballer), Jerry O'Connor (better known as "Uncy"), Matt Moroney and Paddy and Billy Griffin.
In the meantime Dan met a soldier who used to frequent the bar where he worked and during conversations procured a rifle from him. This was then handed over to Johnny O'Connor of the Farmers' Bridge unit. Dan was later to join this unit which included men of the calibre of Johnny Duggan, Johnny O'Connor, Timmy Galvin, Moss Galvin, Jack Corkery, Jim Ryle, Mick Hogan and Jamesy Whiston. This unit was very active from 1920 to 1924 and many of its members took part in the Headford ambush which claimed the lives of approximately 20 British soldiers. Volunteers Danny Allman and Jimmy Baily also lost their lives at Headford.
Dan took part in the ambush at Castlemaine in which eight RIC and Black-and-Tans were killed. Gerry Moyles was severely injured in this encounter. The last ambush in Kerry took place in Castleisland on the night before the Truce and Dan also participated in this. Four RIC members were killed in this action and Volunteers Jack Shanahan, Jack Prenderville, John McMahon and John Flynn also lost their lives.
In 1922 Dan was transferred to a unit in Tralee which was commanded by Tommy Barton of Ballyroe when they occupied Ballymullen barracks for a period of three months. Dan took part in the attack on Listowel barracks, now occupied by the Free Staters, in which one Free Stater was shot dead.
In Limerick, Dan, along with comrades from Kerry, fought the Free State troops over a period of ten days. Republican Volunteers Patrick Foran, Charlie O'Hanlon and Tom McLoughlin lost their lives there, Dan was then sent to Tipperary to instruct Gerry Moyles to return to Kilmallock but on the way they were surrounded by Free Staters. After a battle at Two Mile Bridge Dan and his comrades were taken prisoner and held in Thurles barracks for two days before being conveyed to Portlaoise jail where he was held for six months. This was to be the first of many times Dan was interned by the Free State.
During this period in Portlaoise the jail was burned and Volunteer Paddy Hickey from Dublin was shot dead. Dan was then transferred to the Curragh Internment Camp and was held there until March 1923. a Free State soldier named Bergin from Nenagh, who became friendly with the Republican prisoners and acted as a courier to Republicans on the outside, was executed by the Staters.
Dan was charged with possession of a shotgun in 1930 and was issued a summons but did not attend court and was fined £1. In the true Republican tradition he refused to pay and was sent to Limerick and held for one week. During a court case in Tralee involving Johnny O'Connor and Mick Kennedy, in which they refused to recognise the court, their supporters in the courthouse cheered loudly and when things died down the judge ordered Dan Keating to be brought up before him and gave him three months for contempt. Dan was jailed in Cork with Johnny O'Connor but after a hunger strike by Johnny both were released after three weeks.
The next time Dan was interned was after O'Duffy's visit to Tralee; he was sentenced to six months in Arbour Hill. Dan was later captured in Carrigans in Clonmel by a policeman who had previously arrested him in Tralee and was taken first to Thurles and from there to the Curragh where he was held for three years and six months. In this period the camp was the camp was burned and Barney Casey from Longford was shot dead.
Dan was also on active service in England during the early 1940s.
Dan returned to work in Dublin and operated as a barman in the Eagle House, James Street, the Cornet and the Kilmardenny public houses.
Dan's other great interest was Gaelic games, and indeed between football and hurling he has attended more than 140 All-Ireland senior finals including replays, which must be a record in itself. When Dan retired he returned to Kerry in 1978 and resided at Ballygamboon, Castlemaine.
In 2004 Dan Keating replaced George Harrison of Mayo and New York as the fourth Patron of Sinn Féin Poblachtach since 1986, following in the footsteps of such illustrious Republicans ad Comdt-General Tom Maguire and Michael Flannery of Tipperary and New York.
During his long, healthy and adventurous lifetime Dan has seen many splits and deviations from Republican principles, but he remained loyal and true to the end.
Dan Keating died in Tralee on October 2, 2007, after a short illness. I measc Laochra na nGael go raibh sé
ENDS
"Dan Keating (105 years) regarded 'peace process' as a Surrender Process"
Oration delivered by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, President Republican Sinn Féin at the funeral of Republican Veteran and Patron of Republican Sinn Féin Dan Keating in Co. Kerry on Friday October 5.
"We stand by Dan Keating s grave in all humility, for this was an Irishman and a Kerryman who gave more than 90 years of service to the All-Ireland Republic of 1916 and the First (All-Ireland) Dáil. But we are fiercely proud of his long lifetime of service.
For more than four score and ten years since he first took the Oath of Allegiance to that Republic, Dan fought in defence of it, stood by it and adhered faithfully to it until his death last October 2 at the great age of 105 years. He was an inspiration to succeeding generations of Republicans, never deviating from the hard road of service and suffering, striving to place All Ireland and its future in the hands of the Irish people.
Uinseann Mac Eoin, in his book The IRA in the Twilight Years1923-48, published in 1997, gives us a glimpse of Dan Keating:
A man who has travelled to almost every All-Ireland final in Croke Park and whose fighting goes back into Tan times.
Tall and spare, at more than 90 years of age he is not stooped, carrying himself with an easy grace; his face soft, not weather beaten. Yet he has spent much of his life standing, having been a barman, in a string of public houses in Dublin; for a number of years in London, and then back again in Dublin, two cities that are well known to him.
Dan joined Fianna Eireann at the end of1916 and went on two years later to enrol in the ranks of the Irish Republican Army, first with Kerry No 1 Brigade, and later with Kerry No 2 under its Brigade O/C, John Joe Rice. His combat duty included the highly successful ambush of British forces in his native Castlemaine in1921. Later he saw service in the Castleisland ambush where casualties were also inflicted on the occupation forces, but four of his Volunteer comrades were also killed in action.
Following the Treaty of Surrender, Dan fought against Free State forces in Limerick and Tipperary before being captured and interned in Portlaoise jail and later in Tintown Camp on the Curragh.
Released in 1924, he was back in harness in the Republican Cause.
He endured several short terms of imprisonment in the 1930s, before going to England to take part in the 1939-40 Sabotage Campaign there. He soldiered alongside Sean McNeela of Mayo, JJ Reynolds of Leitrim and Richard Goss of Dundalk.
Back in Ireland, Dan was interned without trial at the Curragh 1940-44. A Republican leader whom he met at that time and respected greatly was George Plant of Tipperary. The re-organisation of the Republican Movement afterwards was long and difficult. Larry Grogan of Drogheda, Frank Driver of Kildare and Mick McCarthy of Cork were men he looked up to.
When he retired from work and settled in his native Co Kerry in 1978, Dan threw himself into local Republican activity. In 2004, he was elected by the Ard-Fheis of Republican Sinn Féin to be its Patron. This was in succession to Comdt-Gen Tom Maguire of Mayo, Michael Flannery of Tipperary and New York and George Harrison of Mayo and New York.
Dan Keating attended and spoke at Ard-Fheiseanna, gave interviews to newspapers, and on radio.He was at all times very clear as to what was required: Ireland was one country, one nation and one people. The English government had no right to be in any part of Ireland; they must go and then the Irish people, acting as a unit, would decide their own future. He accepted that this would be best resolved through a four-province federation, as proposed by Republican Sinn Féin, under one over-arching national parliament.
When he was chosen as Munster Honoree at the annual dinner of CABHAIR (the Prisoners Dependants Fund organisers) some years ago the citation included the following:
Dan' s other great interest is Gaelic games, and indeed between football and hurling he has attended over 138 All-Ireland senior finals, including replays, which must be a record in itself. He now resides at Ballygamboon, Castlemaine.
During his long, healthy and adventurous lifetime, Dan has seen many splits and deviations from Republican principles, but he had remained loyal and true, and there is no more fitting recipient of this honour than this noble son of Kerry.
Dan Keating regarded the so-called peace process as a surrender process and would not accept any British government presence in Ireland, regardless of how it was presented to the Irish people.
Long may his ideals live in the hearts of the Kerry people he loved and the Irish people to whom he gave a lifetime of service.
Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis."
ENDS
BBC necrologie:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7026951.stm
Le debat sur Indymedia:
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84473
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