Memorial unveiled honouring Moate soldier killed by the IRA

A memorial monument honouring the late Moate resident, Private Patrick Kelly, was unveiled in Ballinamore yesterday (Monday).

Private Kelly and Recruit Garda Gary Sheehan were both killed by the IRA outside the county Leitrim village forty-one years ago today, on December 16, 1983.

Both men were part of a joint Garda/Irish Defence Forces search party involved in the rescue of kidnapped businessman Don Tidey. They were confronted by a Provisional IRA gang at Drumcornan Wood, Ballinamore, and shot dead.

Pte Kelly was living in Moate with his family and stationed in Athlone's Custume Barracks when he was killed at the age of just 35.

The son of Pte Kelly, David Kelly, who was nine years old when his father was shot, spoke to RTÉ's Morning Ireland ahead of the unveiling of the monument.

He said his memories of his father are very precious because "soon he was gone, and our father-son relationship was over".

He also said the "psychological effect" of what had happened "was not appreciated enough at the time," and suggested that his late mother, who was "left a widow with four children under the age of ten," would have benefited from professional psychological support.

While families and friends did their best to help her, "her whole world just collapsed in upon itself."

David added that the location of the memorial in Ballinamore was also significant.

"There had been nothing up there, in the public area, to acknowledge what happened. That's why today is so important to us."

He concluded by thanking the Garda Siochána and Defence Forces for hosting the unveiling ceremony, and the people of Ballinamore for "this tribute to my late father and Gary Sheehan."

The remembrance ceremony commenced on Monday with a mass at 11.30am at St Patrick’s Church in Ballinamore, followed by a ceremonial parade performed by the Garda Ceremonial Unit and Garda Band to the unveiling of a monument at Ballinamore Garda Station and wreath-laying ceremony.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris was joined at the ceremony by Minister of State at the Department of Justice, James Browne TD; Brigadier General Rossa Mulcahy of the Irish Defence Forces, and members of the Sheehan and Kelly families.

In his address at the ceremony, Commissioner Harris said: "Today we unveil a specially designed monument of remembrance to these fallen heroes.

“Today we honour their service to their country.  Today we pay tribute to their bravery and courage. Today their sacrifice is etched in stone, just as their loss is etched in our hearts and minds.

"They paid an eternal price, and so it is right and just that their memories are eternally recognised here in Ballinamore.

"Today is a day filled with complex emotion. The Sheehan and Kelly families have lost a son, brother, father and it does not matter that 41 years have gone by, that loss is felt as deeply now and is it was in 1983.

"In memorialising Gary and Patrick here today, we hope that it provides an opportunity to commemorate their life, mourn their loss, and acknowledge the huge sacrifice they made.

"Today’s memorial portrays both men aptly in the form of two pillars standing tall. It will serve as a permanent reminder of the sacrifice they made for the people of Ireland.”

The memorial was designed by sculptor Jackie McKenna from Dromohair, Leitrim, with the support of the Office of Public Works.

The design of the memorial portrays two standing stones set beside each other, representing the two pillars of society, the Gardaí and the Defence Forces.

The circular hole in the centre of the monument represents the hollow void left in the families’ lives following the death of their loved ones.