JOHN MORRIS, the Irish National Liberation Army member shot dead by gardai during a robbery in Dublin last week, was on "active service duty as a volunteer" at the time, mourners at his funeral were told yesterday.
Mr Morris, shot while trying to steal £889.40 from a newspaper distributor's warehouse, was engaged in a struggle against "British imperialism and Irish capitalism," said Mr Gary Adams, a senior member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, the INLA's political arm.
Mr Adams, who delivered the grave side oration, said the gardai and media had sought to smear Mr Morris's name, but there would be "many more like John prepared to take up the fight on behalf of the Irish working class".
The 26 year old Tallaght man was buried in a military-style ceremony at Bohernabreena Cemetery, with a 12-man colour party wearing black berets and sunglasses leading the procession.
There was a heavy Garda presence throughout the morning around Tymon North Green in Tallaght. Mr Morris's coffin was taken from his parents' home shortly after to a.m. to the Church of St Aengus at Balrothery.
Four motorcycle gardai flanked the cortege and guided traffic out of its way, while several carloads of detectives and vans carrying uniformed gardai followed. One unmarked Garda van contained a squad of officers in black overalls, carrying riot helmets.
Several detectives were positioned around the church, watching for any sign of a firing party, as an Air Corps helicopter circled overhead.
A crowd of about 500 attended at the church where Father Pat Lucey officiated.
He said it was "a sad occasion, a time of death, a time of loss for the family, of loss for the wider community".
"We pray for our brother John, who has died in Christ," he said.
Mr Daire O'Reilly, former principal at a local community school, told the congregation Mr Morris was "a lively young man, who might not have come to school as often as I would have liked to see him". He said even after a head injury suffered on the hurling field "Johnny Morris, or Johnny Morocco as he was known to me, never donned a helmet. He wasn't afraid of the blows".
He asked the congregation to pray for Mr Morris and for Mark O'Keeffe, fatally stabbed in Tallaght a week earlier. "They're our community, they're our people, and God will certainly welcome them into his arms".
With the coffin draped in the "starry plough" flag the cortege travelled the short distance to the cemetery where the mourners included the deceased's parents, John and Ann, and Mr Kevin McQuillan of the IRSP's ardchomhairle.
In his address, Mr Adams said that in Northern Ireland the circumstances of Mr Morris's shooting which happened at the Newspread premises in Inchicore would have brought demands for inquiries.
He accused the Garda of failing to act against drug dealers and politicians of helping to divide society. He said Mr Morris had observed the growth of economic inequality. "While some grew rich, many were ripped off and exploited."