Across the museum’s tightly confined space is a treasure trove of handcrafted items, produced by prisoners throughout the history of internment and imprisonment of republicans in Ireland.

Katie Markham - The Irish Times

The Museum’s Story

www.eileenhickeymuseum.com 

The Eileen Hickey Irish Republican History Museum situated in the heart of West Belfast along the Falls Road in the Conway Mill Complex. The mill itself dates back as far as 1842 and has been in community use for the last 40 years. The museum was opened in February 2007 on the first anniversary of the passing of Eileen Hickey. Eileen was one of the biggest contributing factors to the majority of artefacts that you may see inside the museum today. She had spent many years collecting and retrieving different pieces of Irish and British History to store and show to the next generation for the purpose of education and remembering the hard times of the past.

Now open 10 years the museum still recognises the hard work that Eileen put in to make the Irish History Museum what it is today. There have been hundreds of additional exhibits donated by families from all over Ireland and abroad to be preserved and put on display for the public to come and see.

Key Exhibits Include:

• A jacket worn by IRA Volunteer Mairead Farrell while in prison.

• A cell door and bed removed from Armagh's Women's prison.

• A life size model of a prison cell from the Armagh Prison

• A library and interpretive centre to help with educational projects and those conducting historical research

• A large array of images, posters and newspapers related to the conflict

• Ammunition and spent brass recovered from the Successful Kilmichael Ambush 1921

• Various Irish Republican Craft Made By Irish Prisoners of War

• Various Weapons used by the Irish Republican Army Against the British Occupier and it's Colonialist Crown Forces

• Original Copy of the I.R.A.s Secret Green Book

War Crimes Committed By The Black and Tans in Ireland 1919-1921

In January 1921 the Irish Republican Army carried out a successful ambush in a valley on the Cork and Kerry border in a place called Tureengarriv Glen. After the ambush the Black and Tans took out their revenge by burning several homes and businesses in the nearby villages of Ballydesmond and Knocknagree. During this rampage the most despicable of their action occured in Knocknagree when a group of children playing in a field outside the village were machine gunned by the Black and Tans.

The official report of the Knocknagree tragedy issued from British military headquarters stated that troops entering the village called on a group of “suspicious armed civilians in a field” to halt and when they refused, the troops opened fire on them. The official line from the authorities was that one young man was killed and two others injured. The young man was in fact a 14 year old boy called Michael John Kelleher while the wounded were his 9 and 11 year old friends. The only arms they carried were hurleys and the suspicious activity they were engaged in was a game of hurling.

On April 21st 1921 Patrick Goggin aged 7 was with his father in the family farmyard in Ballineen West Cork. Patrick informed his father he was going to a nearby field to count the cows and within minutes of his departure shots rang out and a blood curdling scream filled the West Cork countryside. The 7 year old boy had been shot by Black and Tans who were in a lorry which was bogged down in a nearby dirt track overlooking the field. He died days later and the Goggin family were left without an apology or a reason for young Patrick’s death.

On February 11th 1920 Black and Tans went raiding houses in the village of Clondrohid. As they hurtled towards the sleepy village in their crossly tenders, frightened locals ran in all directions. 15 year old Daniel O’Mahony was sprinting across the road to find safety when he was brought down by a bullet to the back which killed him instantly.

On the night of January 3rd 1921 Black and Tans raided homes in Derryfineen near Ballingeary in the Irish speaking area of West Cork. The occupants of one of the remote homesteads were woken in the dead of night when Black and Tans burst in the door and turned the dwelling upside down in search of IRA arms, of which they found none. 16 year Jeremiah Casey managed to escape out the back door and made a dash into the darkness but the Black and Tans pursued the terrified youngster and shot him dead.

In the early evening of January 6th 1921 a lorry load of Black and Tans approached Kanturk in Noth Cork to carry out raids.  On route they spotted a group of youths by a bridge outside the town. The youths ran when they saw the approaching lorry, knowing all too well the behaviour of those it was carrying. 15 year old John MacSweeney was shot in the back as he fled. The authorities claimed it was right shoot at the youths because they ran. This excuse was used in most cases of civilians shot by British forces in Ireland during the War of Independence.

In Cork City a 5pm curfew had been imposed and on the night of January 23rd 1921 city dwellers defied military orders and gathered on Shandon Street outside curfew hours in a show of resistance to the oppressive regime. A lorry of Black and Tans arrived from the nearby military barracks and shot into the crowd in order to disperse them. As the crowd scattered they left one body lying lifeless in the street – 10 year old Richard Morey who was shot through the heart.

On June 30th 1921 a convoy of Black and Tans were cruising through the countryside near Millstreet in North Cork when, for sheer sadistic sport, they decided to take pot shots at those working in the fields on that Summers day. 18 year old Bernard Moynihan was shot dead as he was cutting hay with his neighbours.

List of Children/Nationalists Murdered By the British Crown Forces 1969-2020

Rubber and Plastic bullets were invented by the British Ministry of Defence for use against rioters in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, and were first used there in 1970. 

Violence - List of People Murdered by British Crown Forces 'Rubber' and 'Plastic' Bullets

Material is added to this site on a regular basis - information on this page may change

List of People Murdered by British 'Rubber' and 'Plastic' Bullets

The list contains brief details of the 17 people who have been killed in Northern Ireland by members of the British Crown Forces who were using rubber or plastic bullets (also referred to as 'baton rounds'). The list is in chronological order. Eight of the 17 Murdered were children. All but One of those killed were Catholics.

Rowntree, Francis

22 April 1972 (11) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: British Army (BA)

Shot by rubber bullet, Divis Flats, Belfast.

Molloy, Tobias

16 July 1972 (18) Catholic

Status: Irish Republican Army Youth Section (IRAF), Killed by: British Army (BA)

Shot by rubber bullet during street disturbances, outside Lifford Road British Army (BA) base, Strabane, County Tyrone.

Friel, Thomas

22 May 1973 (21) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: British Army (BA)

Died five days after being hit by rubber bullet during street disturbances, Creggan Heights, Creggan, Derry.

Geddis, Stephen

30 August 1975 (10) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: British Army (BA)

Died two days after being hit by plastic bullet, Divis Flats, Belfast.

Stewart, Brian

10 October 1976 (13) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: British Army (BA)

Died six days after being hit by plastic bullet near his home, Norglen Road, Turf Lodge, Belfast.

Donnelly, Michael

09 August 1980 (21) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: British Army (BA)

Shot by plastic bullet at the junction of Leeson Street and Falls Road, Belfast.

Whitters, Paul

25 April 1981 (15) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)

Died 10 days after being shot by plastic bullet, Great James Street, Derry.

Livingstone, Julie

13 May 1981 (14) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: British Army (BA)

Shot by plastic bullet while walking along Stewartstown Road, Suffolk, Belfast.

Duffy, Henry

22 May 1981 (45) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: British Army (BA)

Shot by plastic bullet while walking along street, Bogside, Derry.

Kelly, Carol Ann

22 May 1981 (12) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: British Army (BA)

Died three days after being shot by plastic bullet while walking along Cherry Park, Twinbrook, Belfast.

McCabe, Nora

09 July 1981 (30) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)

Died one day after being shot by plastic bullet, Linden Street, Lower Falls, Belfast.

                                                                                       Doherty, Peter

                                                                                   31 July 1981 (36) Catholic

                                                              Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: British Army (BA)

                                                          Shot by plastic bullet at his home, Divis Flats, Belfast. 

                                                                                          McGuinness, Peter

09 August 1981 (41) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)

Shot by plastic bullet outside his home, Shore Road, Greencastle, Belfast.

McConomy, Stephen

19 April 1982 (11) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: British Army (BA)

Died three days after being shot by plastic bullet, Fahan Street, Bogside, Derry.

Downes, Sean

12 August 1984 (22) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)

Shot by plastic bullet, during anti-internment march, Andersonstown Road, Belfast.

White, Keith

14 April 1986 (20) Protestant

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)

Died 15 days after being shot by plastic bullet, during street disturbances, Woodhouse Street, Portadown, County Armagh.

Duffy, Seamus

09 August 1989 (15) Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ), Killed by: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)

Shot by plastic bullet while walking along Dawson Street, New Lodge, Belfast.

Majella O'Hare (12)

(Another Innocent Child)

What happened 

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/majella-ohare-shot-independent-investigation 

On 14 August 1976, Majella O’Hare was on her way to church with a group of friends in the Armagh village of Whitecross. They walked past an army patrol and, when she was about 20 or 30 yards beyond it, shots were fired from a general-purpose machine gun.

Three shells were found on the ground - two of the bullets had hit Majella in the back. Majella was airlifted to Daisy Hill hospital in Newry alongside her father and Alice Campbell, a neighbour and nurse who gave her medical attention, but she was confirmed dead on arrival.

An investigation by the Royal Military Police (RMP) which lacked the necessary independence followed. The soldier claimed he fired in response to an IRA sniper attack and was charged with manslaughter in 1977. The judge in the case, sitting alone with no jury, accepted the soldier’s testimony and acquitted him.

NONE OF THE VICTIMS OR THEIR FAMILIES EVER GOT JUSTICE. 

"Our Revenge Will Be The Laughter Of Our Children"-ÓGLACH BOBBY SANDS, 1980 🇮🇪