Time to make United Ireland a reality
By Seán Mac Brádaigh
The weekend of 18 and 19 January saw Irish republicans from Sligo, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Roscommon, Cavan and further afield mark the 50th Anniversary of the death of IRA Volunteer Kevin Coen through commemoration and reflection.
A native of Rusheen, near Riverstown Co Sligo, Kevin was a Volunteer with the IRA’s South Fermanagh Brigade.
He joined the ranks of the Defense Forces in the pivotal year of 1969 in response to the tumultuous events of that year which saw conflict ignite across the north of Ireland.
While on active service on 20 January 1975 at Cassidy’s Cross, Mullan, near the Fermanagh village of Kinawley and close to the Cavan border, Kevin was fired on by undercover British soldiers who were in an unmarked civilian car. Shot from a distance of just a few feet, he died at the scene.
Kevin Coen’s death came as a severe blow to republicans across the surrounding countryside of Fermanagh, Cavan, Leitrim and Roscommon as well as to his family and friends in his native Co. Sligo.
His body was treated in a particularly disrespectful manner while being brought to the Erne Hospital by British soldiers.
At Kevin’s funeral several days later, the graveside oration was delivered by Sinn Féin’s John Joe McGirl who had just been released from Long Kesh Internment Camp some weeks beforehand.
During the course of his remarks, John Joe said of Kevin: “He felt strongly that the nationalist people of the Six Counties should not have to fight the war for freedom on their own. Kevin felt that the people of the North should not be left alone”.
“One thing is clear – republicans are sincere that the Irish people should live and work together as Kevin did with his neighbors – but the intruder in Irish affairs must withdraw so that lasting freedom and peace can be brought about in Ireland”.
