ADVANCE PRAISE FOR BELFAST DAYS
‘The author’s honest, humane voice throughout reaches a climax in a passionate, clear-eyed epilogue ... Buy it for yourself but, above all, ensure your teenagers read it to appreciate the peace and opportunities they have now which were denied to that earlier generation.’
Anne Cadwallader, author of Lethal Allies
‘Funny, touching, vivid and real.’
Robin Livingstone, Editor, Andersonstown News
‘Vivid and disturbing – the terror of war invades the everyday life of a sensitive girl.’
Susan McKay, Derry-born journalist and author of books including Bear in Mind These Dead and Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People
‘A time machine to the turmoil, trouble and terror of ‘70s Belfast, Belfast Days is a remarkable memoir, bringing heartache and healing in equal measure. A passage into a wretched world of warfare through the unblinking eyes of a teenager whose steady gaze surely shames us into ensuring this path is not walked again.’ Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, Former Lord Mayor of Belfast
‘Belfast Days will be a book you’ll want to save for your children and grandchildren to read. Although they might not be growing up in the terror of war and conflict, Eimear’s diary will inspire them to use their own unique talents and gifts to bring about a more peaceful world. An object lesson in tolerance and resilience, we can all learn from this book, no matter what our age.’
Laurel Holliday, author of the Children in Conflict series
Belfast Days
A 1972 Teenage Diary
Eimear O’Callaghan
First published in 2014 by Merrion Press
an imprint of Irish Academic Press
8 Chapel Lane
Sallins
Co. Kildare
© 2014 Eimear O’Callaghan
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
978-1-908928-89-4 (paper)
978-1-908928-33-7 (PDF)
978-1-908928-90-0 (epub)
978-1-908928-91-7 (mobi)
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Printed by ScandBook AB, Sweden.
Inside design by www.sinedesign.net
For my Father and Mother
Jim and Maura
CONTENTS
Prologue ‘Prayer is our only hope, seeing we haven’t got a gun!’
1‘Wish something big would hurry up and happen.’
2‘Sure there will be serious trouble.’
3‘Blitzed, strife-torn corner of the earth.’
4‘Two months to bury our dead.’
5‘The glory of the Lord.’
6‘My nerves are shattered.’
7‘Unchristian type of satisfaction.’
8‘All I could do was pray.’
9‘Too good to be true.’
10‘The inevitability of civil war.’
11‘All my childish instincts.’
12‘Cèpes à la bordelaise.’
13‘Dirty, horrible, backward, dark Belfast.’
14‘A pity ALL the Catholics hadn’t been killed.’
15‘We’ll all be butchered.’
16‘No longer is anyone unlikely to be shot.’
Epilogue ‘Thankful to be alive.’
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For as long as I remember I have dreamed of writing a book but before 15 June, 2010 I never planned writing this one. The seed for Belfast Days was planted that day when The Irish Times published an article I wrote about the Bloody Sunday Inquiry Report, containing extracts from my teenage diary.
It was the first time that I shared the diary’s contents with anyone. I am indebted to The Irish Times editor Geraldine Kennedy who made space for the article that would arouse curiosity about my journal at home and further afield. A special mention must also go to BBC producer, J.P. Devlin, who gave me an opportunity to speak about it on Radio 4 and was the first person to suggest I should write a book.
Laurel Holliday, initially a stranger living on the west coast of America, also deserves my thanks. The author of the Children in Conflict series tracked me down via the internet after hearing my radio interview and has been unstinting in her advice, support and encouragement ever since.
My heartfelt thanks are owed to the wonderful people at Irish Academic Press/Merrion. I thank Conor Graham in particular for understanding and caring about this book from the moment he received my manuscript. Conor, Lisa Hyde and Maria McGuinness have earned my deepest gratitude for all they have done to make this book the best it can be.
My dear friend and long-suffering colleague Paul McFadden accompanied me on each step of this journey, reading and re-reading every line of each page. He restored my faith in the book when my belief faltered. For his endurance, judgement and candour, I am forever in his debt.
Finally, and most importantly, I have to thank my family. I will always be grateful to my parents, Jim and Maura, for loving and protecting my brothers and me during the darkest days of Northern Ireland’s history and for encouraging in me a love of the written word.
This book would not have been possible without the enduring love and support of my husband, Paul McElhone, and our next generation, Maura, Paul and Orla, of whom I am so proud. Thank you all for waiting on me patiently through long days and late nights. A special thanks, too, to our old dog Dustin for keeping me company when the others went to bed.
Thank you all for convincing me I could finish the book and for being a daily reminder