DAN MOORE
Dan was born in 1939 to a family of ten children on the outskirts Newry. He joined the Fianna in the 50’s. Shortly after graduating to the IRA in 1957, he was arrested while posting manifestos around Newry (click here to read the story and background) He was sent to the juvenile wing of Crumlin Road Gaol for 12 months, and when his sentence was up he was interned. He recounted some memories of prison life for the Newry Journal, which are reposted together here.
He was released in the early 60’s and rejoined his unit, but he returned to prison several times throughout the decade. Growing up his father would hoist the tricolor every Easter, and now Dan did the same as part of the IRA's color party, though the flag was banned under the Emblems Act. His recurring prison terms made him a local legend and to this day, for old-timers, his name brings back memories of those principled stands.
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| Dan, third from the left, at a commemoration in the early 60's. |
In 1961 he was carrying the tricolor when the police attempted to seize the flag mid-parade. A scuffle inevitably broke out and Dan was arrested for "conduct likely to lead to a breach of peace."
In 1962 he was jailed for two months for organizing the Easter commemoration in Newry, and his brother Eugene was given two months for assisting him.
In 1964 it was for organizing a parade without permission in a town a few miles away in Armagh, where the Newry republicans were helping to re-organize. Dan was arrested some time after the fact along with John Lynch, Hugh Trainor, and Patrick Crilly.
In 1966 he carried the flag for the 50th anniversary of 1916. With thousands watching, the police made no interference and Dan was left in peace for once.
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| Dan Moore, holding the tricolor aloft at the bottom center. |
THE CIVIC WEEK HUNGERSTRIKE
His most dramatic arrest was that of the Civic Week Hungerstrike in 1967.
Civic Weeks were designed in the mid 60’s as a "bridge" event to bring people together through shared pride in their communities. They were part festival, part expo for trade, local, and government organizations, and the founders hoped it would close the sectarian divide. Newry was one of seven towns to host the new event in 1966, and was overall considered a wonderful success, which organizers hoped to repeat.
Then in 1967 the Newry town council invited the British Army. The Royal Ulster Rifles were to give a concert, show off their military equipment, and some recruiting was planned. The republicans supported Civic Week but took exception to this latter step, which in a mostly nationalist town was no surprise. On behalf of the Oliver Craven Republican Club, Dan Moore, a 50's veteran and ex-prisoner, announced he would start a hungerstrike until the invitation was rescinded. "The Civic week previous to this was a very good thing for the town" he explained later, "but on this the committee went a step too far. . . In the protest we stated that the main reason for objecting was that the B.A. were recruiting young Newry men, and the possibility was that within a few years they could be used to shoot people from Newry."(1)
Dan seated himself outside the town hall, placard in hand. He made a fairly lonesome sight, but he wasn’t there for long. A policeman approached and asked him to move somewhere else, as the Town Hall was in a Unionist area; protests usually confined themselves to Margaret Square, a Nationalist area, and where one of them was seen protesting more were sure to join. But the object of his protest - the council - met in the town hall and outside the town hall Dan would stay. He was asked again shortly after and again refused. Finally, a little later he was arrested for "conduct likely to lead to a breach of the peace."(2)
He was given the option of 10 pounds bail and one year of good behavior, or two weeks in the Crum. Like any republican he opted for the Crum, and announced the hungerstrike would continue in prison. Several vital organizations pulled their support, including the National Cycling Association and the local GAA club. The Nationalist Party expressed their displeasure with the Army's invitation and their support for Moore. The Council was left with no option but to cancel it. With that, Dan Moore was released from prison and called off his hungerstrike.
Civic Week went ahead, was a great success, and all seemed well except for the fact that in the treasurer's report there was no mention of the money paid to the Army, which was not reimbursed. Dan raised issue with this several times to no avail. "Sad to say the B.A. did come to the town a few years later and shot young men carrying out quite legal business at the Post Office."(3) (a reference to the 1971 "Newry Killings" by the Royal Green Jackets.)
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In between bouts in jail, he found time to help with the "Wolfe Tone Societies," an invitation-only think tank for the movement's "new direction." They acquired a membership of various personalities from across the political spectrum. Dan Moore represented his home town.(4) Dan was also one of the founding members of the local Citizen's Action Committee, set up to organize civil rights events, and chief steward of the People's Democracy march through Newry in January of 1969. He was an outspoken advocate for the Republican Clubs, quickly banned by the state but whose branch in Newry was a popular vehicle for local activism.
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| Dan, flanked by Old IRA veterans, carrying the tricolor at the 1969 commemoration. |
1969
In August of 1969 he helped with activities organized to divert the police’s resources from the beleaguered Bogside in Derry. This took the form of barricades and attacks on police stations. "The support of the people that night and each night after was amazing." After several days, their objective being realized, they set the barricades alight and Dan and the volunteers fled to the safety of Omeath. On the way some had the idea to attack the Killeen customs hut. "Reluctantly I agreed." His misgivings were well founded; his former O/c’s son, Colman Rowntree, almost died in the burning embers. "We broke in and doused the place in petrol. Most had then retreated outside but before we were all out someone struck a light and the place went up. I was knocked to the floor and was crawling to the door when I heard a shout from inside. It could have been one of us or a security man but I went back and managed to drag him out. It was then that I discovered it was Colman. We loaded up and headed for the Alexian brothers at Calvary on the far side of Omeath. (They) opened their house to us and arranged for ambulances to take our injured to (Dundalk)." Colman was later shot after being taken prisoner by the British Army. (5) Dan spent three months recovering from his burns.
ANTI-SECTARIANISM
Dan’s republicanism (like the other Newry veterans as a group) was socially conscious. They stewarded marches, organized protests, and worked through the Republican Clubs to address day-to-day issues that affected the people of Newry. "He was never a narrow Nationalist,” a former comrade eulogized, “and the respect he commanded allowed him to cross the sectarian divide to make clear the difference between Nationalism and Republicanism, and he done all he could to dispel the myths and stereotypes that feed the evil of sectarianism."(6) "I worked in Haldane Shields's (prior to his 1957 arrest),” Dan recalled, “and we had all sorts there. When I was in prison Bob Haldane came down to me in prison to confirm that my job was still there and that none of the staff were against me coming back. That was Catholic, Protestant and dissenter, the whole lot. They would have been glad for me to come back after coming out of prison. . . Newry always was a happy town, a happy city where people lived together irrespective of their class or creed. There never was any troubles among the people that way, but others, to justify themselves, helped to create sectarianism into republicanism and that was more an attack on the official republican movement, nothing more nothing less. The official republican movement incidentally was founded more by Protestants than Catholics so it never was a Catholic or a Protestant organisation."(7)
When the split happened he remained with the Officials, as did almost all of the Newry veterans, from Operation Harvest going back to 1916. “(They) were first at the time to recognize," he later said, "that armed conflict was counter-productive and was leading the people into a bloody sectarian cul-de-sac driving the people further apart.”(8) His brother Tom recalled for the Irish Times that “He was very much against what the Provisional IRA were doing and saw it as pure sectarianism. He was sorry and disgusted to learn about so many killings but there was one particular murder, of Bob Mitchell, that stayed with him. I remember him calling me after and asking ‘how bad are things going to get before people notice what’s happening?’”(9)
LATER YEARS
After leaving the hospital he continued to support the movement but stayed in the Free State to "recover from it all." He found work as a bartender around the east and southeast. During this period he met his wife Noreen, and they moved to her hometown of Dublin. There he became a social worker and this vocation he pursued for many years (other Newry exiles like veteran republican Sam Dowling and Fr. Peter McVerry took up the same cause in the city as well). "He spent some years working with young people affected by addiction through the Merchant’s Quay drugs project and worked closely with the Daughters of Charity and the St Vincent de Paul Society to help set up the Rendu Apartments initiative which provides housing to women and children experiencing homelessness. He also helped set up the Money, Advice and Budgeting Service to support people on dealing with debt issues."(10) He was also a horse enthusiast, and pursued this passion through the Irish Draught Horse Society.
In his later years he, along with most of the Newry veterans of the 50's and 60's, aligned with the Official Republican Movement (ORM). Dan served on the organization's National Executive Committee. "He would often travel to meetings and events all over Ireland, even though his health was failing, and he sometimes found it difficult to walk but he would always find a way to be there, many times travelling by bus or train from Dublin to Newry, Belfast, Derry or wherever and always arriving early and ready to lead by example." [11]
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| At the newly dedicated memorial to Colman Rowntree and Martin McAlinden in 2014 |
Dan died on February 8th, 2021.
[1] Dan Moore
[2] Irish Independent Friday, June 02, 1967; Page: 9
[3] Dan Moore
[4] Sean Swan, Official Irish Republicanism
[6] Oration by Martin Mckevitt
[7] https://www.newry.ie/news/newry-civil-rights-commemoration-takes-to-the-streets
[8 ]Dan Moore, oration at the 40th anniversary of Colman Rowntree and Martin McAlinden https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/vols-colman-rowntree-martin-mcalinden-40th-commemoration/
[9] Irish Times Obituary https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/lives-lost-to-covid-19-dan-moore-dedicated-his-life-to-helping-others-in-need-1.4499211
[10] Ibid
[11] McKevitt
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