On July 24th, Frank McCallan died at the age of 43 in his home in Belfast. He received prominent media attention during the 1980s - as one of the friends of Brian Keenan, who successfully campaigned for the release of the Beirut hostage.
He was more widely known in the Northern Ireland trade union movement for his many years work in the public sector union, NIPSA, as branch secretary in the Belfast city hall, a member of NIPSA's Executive Council, and delegate to Belfast Trade Union Council. He was a committed socialist throughout those years, a member of the group Militant Labour, and a founder of the public sector unions' Broad Left. He fought against the tide of reaction during the Thatcher/Reagan era. During the 1984/85 miners' strike, he helped to organise financial and political support.
Born in Ardoyne in North Belfast, he bitterly resented the political and social system which created high levels of unemployment and poverty. He saw through the sectarian politics of the North's establishment parties and argued for a mass, non sectarian Socialist Labour Party.
When his young brother Colm was murdered in 1986 by loyalist paramilitaries, Frank called for no retaliation and appealed for youth to reject sectarian violence. He restricted his energies in recent years to developing hurling with his native Ardoyne GAA club, with whom he had been a prominent player in his youth. He dreamed (or fantasised) of sitting in the Cusack Stand cheering on Antrim to victory in an All Ireland final.
Frank was as nonconformist in manner and dress as he was antiEstablishment in his ideology. His preferred attire of denims and Doc Marten boots, with his untrimmed red beard and fiery eyes, captured the untamed nature of his personality. We often joked how his appearance had played a part in persuading the Hezbollah to release Brian Kennan, on condition that Frank also stayed away from the Middle East.
Frank McCallan was a Belfast character who injected humour and wit into any conversation. He excelled in that Belfast tradition of repartee, and his razor sharp tongue enjoyed a battle of wits in the Crown bar on a Friday night.
For many who knew him he was larger than life, and therefore the premature end to his life is all the more tragic and difficult to accept. He will be sorely missed by all who had the pleasure of sharing part of that life with him in particular, by his wife Kate, his five children Mary, Catherine, Frank, Oonagh, Suin and his other family members.
Farewell, old friend.