The legacy of one of Ireland’s War of Independence martyrs has become a fresh battleground for Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil.
More than 100 descendants of Clare man, Peadar Clancy, have this week signed a petition requesting that his name not be associated with any current political party.
Mr Clancy, who fought in the Four Courts during the Easter Rising and was second-in-command of the Dublin Brigade during the War of Independence, was executed by his prison guards on Bloody Sunday, 1920.
Six years ago, the Ennis cumann of Sinn Féin was named jointly for the west Clare native and for Mairead Farrell, a Provisional IRA volunteer killed in Gibraltar in 1988.
Late last year, a social media post highlighting the connection between the cumann and the executed Clare man caught the attention of Michael Neylon, a grandnephew of Peadar Clancy.
Mr Neylon contacted the Sinn Féin cumann, said that the descendants of Peadar Clancy had not been consulted about the name, and requested that the cumann change its name.
[ Bloody Sunday, 1920: ‘By their destruction the air is made sweeter' Opens in new window ]
Spokesperson for the Ennis cumann Tommy Guilfoyle said that they have received permission from Chris Clancy-Wilson, a Kildare-based great-grandniece of Clancy’s.
This impasse came to a head earlier this month when Clare Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe announced his intention to raise this issue in the Dáil on behalf of Mr Neylon.
Earlier this week, Mr Neylon contacted all the Clare-based descendants of Clancy’s and, to date, 106 have signed a petition calling for his name not to be associated with any political party.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Neylon accused Sinn Féin of bypassing the local descendants of Clancy’s and instead travelling to Kildare to “root out” a descendant to give them permission.
“They could easily have engaged with a very active and well-known local committee who organise the annual Peadar Clancy Festival. There are 44 grandnieces and grandnephews in Clare and none were contacted,” he said.
“Instead they had to go to Kildare and root out this descendent who has provided them with the consent that they say they have.
“There isn’t much that we can do about this, anyone can use your name once you pass away. There is nothing we can do about this from a legal point of view or any other point of view.
“They [Ennis Sinn Féin] are hijacking his name for their own benefit. It is certainly not in my family’s interest or for respect of Peadar. Our wish and our hope is that some day they will see sense and respect the wishes of our family.”
In a statement issued through Ennis Sinn Féin, Ms Clancy-Wilson said her granduncle would be “turning in his grave” at the recent policy decisions of Fianna Fáil.
“Peadar was a member of Sinn Féin and he was murdered before Fianna Fáil were formed. Since the formation of Sinn Féin, our family has been active members of Sinn Féin and we are proud that Peadar was effectively one of the founding fathers of the true republican party on the island of Ireland,” she said.
“Peadar would be turning in his grave at the state Fianna Fáil have left our country in. Peadar suffered enough in his short life, but achieved so much, and this attack on his name is beneath him.
“At no point did the Crowe campaign reach out to our family and we are very upset at the fact that he is bringing this to the Dáil, while the electorate, the good people of Ireland have nothing, no food, no heat, no health service and sadly no homes.”
[ Sinn Féin councillor calls for Taoiseach to apologise for Civil War executionsOpens in new window ]
To date, no face-to-face meeting has taken place between Mr Neylon and representatives of the Ennis cumann.
Mr Neylon says he is happy to meet if the cumann provides him with details of what they wanted to discuss. Spokesperson for the Ennis Sinn Féin cumann, Tommy Guilfoyle, says he has offered to meet Mr Neylon on several occasions but he has refused.
“If we sit down face-to-face with the people who are related to Peadar Clancy, we will inform them that we respect Peadar, and that his name is used with the greatest respect and dignity by our cumann,” said Mr Guilfoyle.
Michael Neylon is a grandson of Peadar Clancy’s sister, Susan while Chris Clancy-Wilson is a great-granddaughter of Peadar Clancy’s older brother, Tomas.
Mr Neylon and Ms Clancy-Wilson spoke digitally during the pandemic but the distant relatives have yet to have a face-to-face meeting.
