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The coffin of civil rights leader Austin Currie is carried to his second funeral service at St Malachy’s Church in Edendork, Co Tyrone. Oliver McVeigh/PA

Austin Currie remembered for his ‘fearless, immense courage’ at funeral

The leader of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland was laid to rest in his native Edendork, Co Tyrone, on Saturday.

AUSTIN CURRIE HAS been remembered for his “fearless, immense courage” and as a giant of the civil rights movement.

A service was held at St Malachy’s Church in his native Edendork, Co Tyrone, on Saturday for the former SDLP and Fine Gael politician, following a ceremony in Co Kildare on Friday.

Archbishop Eamon Martin, former SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell, long serving members Joe Hendron and Denis Haughey, MLAs Justin McNulty and Daniel McCrossan, Tyrone County Board chairman Michael Kerr, along with Currie’s local GAA team Edendork St Malachy’s, were among those to pay their respects.

Tributes have been paid across Ireland to Currie, 82, who was one of the key figures in the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland who also helped to found the nationalist SDLP party and was elected to parliament on both sides of the Irish border.

embedded263684202 Austin Currie died peacefully on Tuesday Brian Lawless / PA Brian Lawless / PA / PA

His daughter Estelle said: “What a force for change you have been, what a force for good.

“The youngest member of the Stormont parliament, a civil rights leader, a founding member of the SDLP, elected Teachta Dala (TD) for Dublin West, and still only 50 years old when asked to represent Fine Gael in the 1990 presidential election.

“I don’t think we can call him an underachiever.

“Then as a minister of state, the first to represent children’s rights, and the only one to serve in government in both the north and the south.

“There have been so many tributes paid since Tuesday, the finest, fearless, immense courage, a true giant of civil rights and constitutional politics.

“Daddy was always a hero to us. And now we know he was a hero to so many others too.”

embedded263701433 The coffin of Austin Currie is carried into St Malachy’s Church in Edendork, Co Tyrone (Oliver McVeigh/PA)

Currie died in his sleep at his home in Derrymullen, Co Kildare, on Tuesday.

He was born in Co Tyrone, the eldest of 11 children.

Currie’s decision to squat at a council house in Caledon in June 1968 is widely seen as the beginning of the civil rights movement, which challenged inequality and discrimination against Catholics.

His daughter said that at that moment, her father “felt a very strong sense of injustice”.

She added: “He felt they tried everything else. The civil rights movement was the most successful political action in Ireland.

“For daddy, it was the defining moment.”

austin-currie-death Former SDLP leader Dr Alasdair McDonnell attended the service on Saturday (Oliver McVeigh/PA) PA PA

She recalled how her father was often at risk of his life, sleeping with a gun by his bed and checking his car for bombs before doing the morning school run.

“Daddy reached the great old age of 82,” she added. “He died peacefully in his own bed. If you’d said that to him, aged 30, he wouldn’t have believed it.”

Gifts presented at the funeral service included a poster from the civil rights march in Derry on October 5, 1968, a garden tool, GAA jerseys for Tyrone and Edendork, a remote control – reflecting his love of news and media – and a copy of his book, All Hell Will Break Loose.

The funeral concluded with a performance of We Shall Overcome, a song that became synonymous with Northern Ireland’s civil rights movement.

Currie was laid to rest in the cemetery adjoining St Malachy’s Church.

He created the SDLP along with John Hume and Gerry Fitt in 1970.

In 1989, he won a seat in Dublin West for Fine Gael and pursued a career as TD and minister in the Republic until he retired in 2002.

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    Mute Luke Lee
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    Jun 6th 2020, 12:30 PM

    Leo’s too busy watching Netflix doing research for his next speech .

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    Mute ☘
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    Jun 6th 2020, 12:43 PM

    Abolish it

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    Mute Paul Power
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    Jun 6th 2020, 12:51 PM

    @☘: they tried.

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    Mute Stephen Kearon
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    Jun 6th 2020, 1:13 PM

    @☘: we had a referendum in 2013 and the people voted not to abolish the Seanad

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    Mute Aidan O' Neill
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    Jun 6th 2020, 3:04 PM

    @Stephen Kearon: there was massive Seanad reform planned and agreed though. Never happened. I think it’s important to have a 2nd house but all members should be elected by the public.

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    Mute D Mems
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    Jun 6th 2020, 4:05 PM

    @Aidan O’ Neill: what would be the difference between the Dail and the Senate in your model?

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    Jun 6th 2020, 12:38 PM

    ‘In the end, it’s only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it’ll shine out the clearer.’ 
    J.R.R Tolkien “Lord of the rings” Leo Varadkar “Phase 2 Announcement”

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    Mute Paul
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    Jun 6th 2020, 12:46 PM

    @Logan Shepherd: if they are gonna quote films they may as well use the best!

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    Jun 6th 2020, 1:01 PM

    @Paul: True, certainly better than all the buzz words. I wish he had credited Tolkien though.

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    Mute Gareth
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    Jun 7th 2020, 6:19 AM

    @Logan Shepherd: Leo credits no one but himself, the swine.

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    Jun 6th 2020, 1:24 PM

    Does anyone other than Labour quislings listen to Bacik?

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    Mute Fionn Darland
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    Jun 6th 2020, 3:12 PM

    Once I saw Ronan Mullen’s name as a signatory I am against whatever this group are for!

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    Mute D Mems
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    Jun 6th 2020, 4:07 PM

    Well if the Dail has been allowed to sit over the years with various seats vacant and awaiting by-elections without creating a constitutional crisis I can see the grounds for the Senators query as to why they can sit whist in effect also waiting for a by-election of sorts

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