Tiocfaidh ár lá

Tiocfaidh ár lá (Irish pronunciation: [ˈtʲʊki aːɾˠ ˈl̪ˠaː]) is an Irish language sentence which translates as "our day will come". It is a slogan of physical force Irish republicanism, in particular of its Provisional wing (the Provisional IRA and [Provisional] Sinn Féin). "Our day" is the date hoped for by Irish nationalists on which a united Ireland is achieved.[1] The slogan was coined in the 1970s during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and variously credited to Bobby Sands or Gerry Adams. It has been used by Sinn Féin representatives,[2][3][4] appeared on graffiti and political murals,[5] and been shouted by IRA defendants being convicted in British and Irish courts,[2][6] and by their supporters in the public gallery.[7][8] For Timothy Shanahan, the slogan "captures [a] confident sense of historical destiny".[9] Derek Lundy comments, "Its meaning is ambiguous. It promises a new day for a hitherto repressed community, but it is also redolent of payback and reprisal."[10]

Origins

The literal English phrase "our day will come" has been used in unrelated contexts, for example as the title of a 1963 pop song by Ruby & the Romantics. A foreshadowing of the republican slogan is in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, when the nationalist Michael Davin (based on George Clancy) says Irish freedom fighters "died for their ideals, Stevie. Our day will come yet, believe me."[11]

The Irish phrase tiocfaidh ár lá is attributed to Provisional IRA prisoner Bobby Sands,[12] who uses it in several writings smuggled out of the Maze Prison.[13] It is the last sentence of the diary he kept of the 1981 hunger strike in which he died, published in 1983 as One Day in my Life.[14][15] However, Diarmait Mac Giolla Chríost has antedated the slogan to a pamphlet published c. 1975–77 by Gerry Adams of his experiences in the Maze.[16] Adams himself has ascribed the slogan to republican prisoners generally, both men in the Maze and women in Armagh Prison.[17] Many republicans learned Irish in prison (a phenomenon known as "Jailtacht", a pun on Gaeltacht),[18] and conversed regularly with each other through Irish, both for cultural reasons and to keep secrets from the wardens.[19] The Irish language revival movement has often overlapped with Irish nationalism, particularly in Northern Ireland.[20][21][22] Tiocfaidh ár lá has been called "the battle cry of the blanketmen".[23] Republican consciousness raising around the hunger strikes increased awareness of the Irish language in Northern Ireland's nationalist community.[24]

Some Irish-language speakers, including Ciarán Carson, contend that tiocfaidh ár lá is ungrammatical or at least unidiomatic, reflecting L1 interference from English, a phenomenon dubbed Béarlachas.[16][25][26][27] Mac Giolla Chríost is less categorical, on the basis that tiocfaidh an lá ("the day will come") is standard Irish;[16] on the other hand, he says tiocfaidh ár lá typifies the "deviant" nature of Jailtacht Irish.[26]

Instances

Patrick Magee said Tiocfaidh ár lá after being sentenced in 1986 for the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing,[28] while his wife in the gallery wore a Katharine Hamnett-style T-shirt with the slogan.[29] Loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone got past the republican security cordon to commit the 1988 Milltown Cemetery attack by saying tiocfaidh ár lá.[25][30] One of four loyalist paramilitaries shouted the phrase at a court sentencing in 2002.[31] At the 2018 Sinn Féin ard fheis, new party leader Mary Lou McDonald concluded her speech with tiocfaidh ár lá.[32] The phrase, which was not on the script circulated in advance, was criticised by politicians from Fianna Fáil ("hark back to a very dark time"), Fine Gael ("irresponsible"), and the Ulster Unionist Party ("stale rhetoric").[32]

Tiocfaidh Ár Lá (TÁL) is the name of a fanzine for Celtic F.C.'s Irish republican ultras.[33] It was established in 1991, at which time Celtic were enduring a period of prolonged inferiority to Rangers F.C., their Old Firm rivals, giving "our day will come" an extra resonance.[34] Irish-American folk-rock band LeperKhanz released a 2005 album named Tiocfaidh Ár Lá.[35]

The 1992 and 1993 editions of Macmillan's The Student Book: The Indispensable Applicant's Guide to UK Colleges, Polytechnics and Universities advised potential University of Ulster students that "Tiocfaioh ar la" [sic] was a common greeting on campus and meant "pleased to meet you". This error, suspected to be the result of a prank, was expunged from the 1994 edition.[36][37][38][39] In A Reality Tour, a 2003 concert filmed at the Point Depot in Dublin, David Bowie says Tiocfaidh ár [lá] during the applause after "Rebel Rebel". Gerry Leonard claims to have suggested it to Bowie.[40]

In 2019, Una Mullally commented about an upsurge in the appropriation of Troubles-era slogans by young Irish people on both sides of the border: "There's a tacit understanding that a lot of the mindless repetition of IRA slogans such as 'Tiocfaidh ár lá', 'Up the RA' and 'Brits out' is purposefully goofy — even if the latter two at least are offensive."[41] A performance the same year in University College Dublin by Kneecap, an Irish-language hiphop trio from West Belfast, was terminated when they led the audience in a chant of Tiocfaidh ár lá, breaching the university's policies for "Dignity", "Respect", and "Equality, Diversity & Inclusion".[42] JD Sports apologised in 2020 when its online catalogue depicted branded kit for the Northern Ireland football team worn by a model with a visible tattoo reading "ticofaidh ár lá" [sic].[43]

The 2007 arrest of Irish-language activist Máire Nic an Bhaird in Belfast was allegedly in part for saying tiocfaidh ár lá to Police Service of Northern Ireland officers, although she claimed to have said tiocfaidh bhur lá ("your day will come").[44]

In 2014, a man who shouted the phrase outside a McDonald's in Belfast was convicted of disorderly behaviour when his defence of freedom of expression was rejected.[45]

In 2017, the Fair Employment Tribunal awarded damages to a Catholic employee who had been dismissed after taking sick leave in response to a Protestant manager shouting Tiocfaidh ár lá at her.[46]

Allusions

Poetry

Sinéad Morrissey's 2002 poem "Tourism", describing the economic boom that followed the peace process, states ironically "Our day has come."[47] Gearóid Mac Lochlainn, a Belfast-born Irish-language poet, uses the phrase in a 2002 poem, "Ag Siopadóireacht" ("Shopping"), characterised by Mac Giolla Chríost as "the voice of youthful rebellion, ... of hip-hop".[48] In Mac Lochlainn's own English translation of his poem, Tiocfaidh ár lá is left untranslated.[48] Paul Muldoon's 2011 poem "Barrage Balloons, Buck Alec, Bird Flu and You", dedicated to Dermot Seymour, contains the lines "Even Christ's checking us out from his observation post. / Even he can’t quite bend Tiocfaidh Ár Lá to the tune of 'Ghost / Riders in the Sky.'"[49]  Kevin Higgins' 2019 English-language poem "Tiocfaidh Do Lá" ["your day will come"] is a satire directed at a unionist who will be forced to learn Irish.[50]

Other

Margo Harkin's Derry-set 1990 film Hush-A-Bye Baby has "a witty scene which nevertheless offended many nationalists":[51] a republican youth confronts a British soldier with a disjointed mishmash of Irish-language names and phrases, ending with Tiocfaidh ár lá, only for the soldier to challenge him in fluent Irish.[51] Desmond Fennell's 1993 critique of the alleged neoliberalism and cultural cringe of the Dublin establishment ends with a call for a "deprovincialised, deimperialised world ... Tiocfaidh ár lá."[52] Gerald Dawe said this "reads like the old 'Irish-Ireland' cultural missal".[53] The introduction, by Stephen Brown of Ulster University, to a 2006 survey of "Celtic marketing" was titled "Tiocfaidh ár lá".[54]

Commenting on unionist Peter Robinson's impending retirement at a 2015 meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council, Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness said, "my day too will come at some stage", at which Robinson sparked laughter by responding, "It's Tiocfaidh ár Lá isn't it."[55] Bookmaker Paddy Power advertised its odds for the outcome of Ireland's 2015 same-sex marriage referendum using a photo of kissing men wearing paramilitary-style balaclavas and the tagline Tiocfaidh ár lá.[56]

Variants

Similar slogans include:

Beidh ár lá linn mural in Andersonstown in 1989
Beidh an lá linn
(Irish pronunciation: [bʲɛj ən ˈl̪ˠaː lʲɪnʲ]) literally translates as "the day will be with us".[25] Ciarán Carson says it is more idiomatic Irish than tiocfaidh ár lá.[25] The hybrid form beidh ár lá linn (Irish pronunciation: [bʲɛj aːɾˠ ˈl̪ˠaː lʲɪnʲ] "our day will be with us") is also found among republicans.[57]
Beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach!
(Irish pronunciation: [bʲɛj ˈl̪ˠaː ɛlʲə ɡə bˠiːɾˠəx], "Power will have another day!") were the last words from the gallows of Edmund Power of Dungarvan, executed for his part in the Wexford Rebellion of 1798. The phrase was often cited by Éamon de Valera.[58] It occurs in the play An Giall, by Brendan Behan; his English translation, The Hostage, renders it "we'll have another day". It is echoed in There will be another day, the title of republican Peadar O'Donnell's 1963 memoir.[59] The slogan is not exclusively a political slogan, and may simply mean "another chance will come".[60]

Parodies of tiocfaidh ár lá include:

Chucky
an English-language pronunciation spelling of tiocfaidh, it is pejorative for an Irish republican (sometimes shortened to Chuck).[61]
Tiocfaidh Armani
mocking Sinn Féin's move towards respectability from the peace process[62][63]
"Tiocfaidh Ar La La"
on T-shirts depicting the eponymous Teletubby as an IRA member.[64]
"Tiocfaidh Arlene"
various jokes about Arlene Foster, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and First Minister of Northern Ireland.[65]

See also

References

Sources
  • De Brún, Fionntán (2006). Belfast and the Irish language. Four Courts Press. ISBN 1-85182-939-3.
  • Mac Giolla Chríost, Diarmait (5 January 2012). Jailtacht: The Irish Language, Symbolic Power and Political Violence in Northern Ireland, 1972–2008. University of Wales Press. ISBN 9780708324974. Retrieved 9 December 2015.

Citations
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  2. Cusack, Jim (14 August 1984). "5,000 march in peaceful demonstration". The Irish Times. p. 1. Retrieved 3 April 2009. Both Mr Adams and Father Burke concluded their speeches with "Tiocfaidh ár lá," "Our day will come," the expression used by Republican prisoners at their sentencing at Belfast Crown Court.
  3. O Coilain [sic], Caoimhghin (30 June 1984). "Buiochas". Leitrim Observer. p. 7.
  4. Ó Súilleabháin, Cionnath (7 October 2000). "Sinn Féin thanks to Áine!". Southern Star. p. 11.
  5. Rolston, Bill (1991). Politics and painting: murals and conflict in Northern Ireland. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 111. ISBN 0-8386-3386-2.
  6. Geraghty, Tony (2002). The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 350. ISBN 0-8018-7117-4.
  7. "Six jailed for arms crimes salute as supporters shout 'Up the Republic'". The Irish Times. 20 January 1996. p. 22. Retrieved 3 April 2009. There was prolonged applause from about 30 supporters and shouts of "Up the Republic" and "Tiocfaidh Ar La" after the sentences were handed down.
  8. "Court told of gun battle as six jailed over bank raid". The Irish Times. 3 July 1990. p. 3. Retrieved 3 April 2009. there were shouts of "Tiocfaidh ár la" and "Up the Provos" from the public gallery after sentence was passed.
  9. Shanahan, Timothy (2009). The Provisional Irish Republican Army and the morality of terrorism. Edinburgh. p. 46. ISBN 9780748635290.
  10. Lundy, Derek. The Bloody Red Hand: A Journey through Truth, Myth and Terror in Northern Ireland. Toronto: Vintage Canada. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-0-676-97650-2. Retrieved 13 November 2020 – via Internet Archive.
  11. Joyce, James (1916). "Ch. 5". A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Retrieved 3 April 2009.; McGarry, Fearghal (2003). Republicanism in Modern Ireland. University College Dublin Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-900621-94-6.
  12. Toolis, Kevin (2000). Rebel Hearts: Journeys within the IRA's soul. Picador. p. 412. ISBN 0-330-34648-2.; Liam Harte; Yvonne Whelan; Patrick Crotty, eds. (2005). Ireland: Space, Text, Time. Liffey Press. p. 110. ISBN 1-904148-83-2.; Shanahan, Timothy (2009). The Provisional Irish Republican Army and the Morality of Terrorism. Edinburgh University Press. p. 46. ISBN 0-7486-3530-0.; Coogan, Tim Pat (2002). The IRA (revised ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. p. 499. ISBN 0-312-29416-6.
  13. Sands, Bobby (1998). Bobby Sands: Writings from Prison. foreword by Gerry Adams. Mercier Press. ISBN 1-85635-220-X.
  14. Walker, Breifne (November 1983). "Theology and Hope in Northern Ireland". The Furrow. 34 (11): 698–702: 698. JSTOR 27677735.
  15. Kearney, Richard (1988). Transitions: narratives in modern Irish culture. Manchester University Press. pp. 224–5. ISBN 0-7190-1926-5.
  16. Mac Giolla Chríost 2012, p.52
  17. Adams, Gerry (15 September 2011). "Presidential Speech at Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, Waterfront Hall, Belfast". Sinn Féin. Retrieved 14 November 2020. Let us make history and in the words of the blanketmen and Armagh women, tiocfaidh ár lá.
  18. Mac Giolla Chríost, Diarmait (2007). "The Origins of 'the Jailtacht'". Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium. 27: 317–336. JSTOR 40732064.
  19. Jarman, Neil (1997). Material conflicts: parades and visual displays in Northern Ireland. Berg. pp. 242–3. ISBN 1-85973-129-5.
  20. Tanner, Marcus (2006). The last of the Celts. Yale University Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-300-11535-0.
  21. O'Reilly, Camille C (2001). "Irish language, Irish identity: Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the European Union". In Camille C O'Reilly (ed.). Minority Languages in the European Union (5th ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 83–96. ISBN 0-333-92925-X.
  22. Nic Craith, Máiréad (2002). Plural identities—singular narratives: the case of Northern Ireland. Berghahn. pp. 150–1. ISBN 1-57181-314-4.
  23. Mac Giolla Chríost 2012 p.63
  24. Crowley, Tony (2005). Wars of Words: The Politics of Language in Ireland 1537–2004. Oxford University Press. p. 195. ISBN 0-19-927343-X.
  25. Carson, Ciarán (1998). The Star Factory. Arcade Publishing. pp. 41–2. ISBN 1-55970-465-9.
  26. Mac Giolla Chríost, Diarmait (2011). "Language as Political Emblem in the New Culture War in Northern Ireland". In Norrby, Catrin; Hajek, John (eds.). Uniformity and Diversity in Language Policy: Global Perspectives. Multilingual Matters. 145. Bristol; Tonawanda, NY; North York, ON: Channel View. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-84769-445-4.
  27. De Brún 2006 p.174; Williams, N. J. A. (2004). "Skeealyn Vannin: Stories of Mann". Béaloideas. 72: 256. doi:10.2307/20520862. ISSN 0332-270X. JSTOR 20520862.
  28. Hattenstone, Simon (10 December 2001). "The Monday interview: Bombs and books". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  29. "PA Wirepicture". The Irish Times. 12 June 1986. p. 8. Retrieved 13 November 2020.; PA Images (11 June 1986). "Eileen Magee in London wearing a T-shirt with the slogan in Irish "Tiocfaidh Ar La", which means "Our Day Will Come"". Alamy. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  30. Stone, Michael (31 May 2004). "15: Milltown". None Shall Divide Us: To Some He is a Hero. The IRA Want Him Dead. This is the True Story of the Artist Who Was Ireland's Most Notorious Assassin. John Blake Publishing, Limited. p. 113. ISBN 9781843589723. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  31. De Brún 2006 p.156; "Four loyalists jailed for gun offences". The Irish Times. 11 September 2002. p. 4. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  32. McQuinn, Cormac (12 February 2018). "New Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald under fire for 'tiocfaidh ár lá' speech sign-off". Irish Independent. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  33. Jarvie, Grant; Graham Walker (1994). Scottish Sport in the Making of the Nation: Ninety Minute Patriots?. Leicester University Press. p. 184. ISBN 0-7185-1454-8.
  34. "Tiocfaidh Ar La – For Celtic & Ireland". Retrieved 2 April 2009.
  35. ASIN B000CA2Q96
  36. Moriarty, Gerry (17 July 1993). "IRA slogan has become college "buzz word"". The Irish Times. p. 1.
  37. Klaus Boehm; Jenny Lees-Spalding, eds. (1992). The student book 93 : the applicant's guide to UK colleges and universities (14th ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-56700-5.
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  39. Klaus Boehm; Jenny Lees-Spalding, eds. (1994). The Natwest student book 1995 : the applicant's guide to UK colleges and universities (16th ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-59947-0.
  40. Clark, Stuart (1 February 2016). "David Bowie: A Celebration". Hot Press.
  41. Mullally, Una (26 March 2019). "Is it too soon, too unsettling, for pro-IRA chants to be trivialised?". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  42. Mullally, Una (12 April 2019). "Kneecap: 'Low-life scum' of west Belfast rap whose day has come". The Irish Times. Retrieved 13 November 2020.; Donnelly, Brían (8 March 2019). "VIDEO: KNEECAP pulled from stage early as students chant 'tiocfaidh ár lá'". University Observer. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  43. Hewitt, Ralph (24 January 2020). "JD Sports 'unaware' of Northern Ireland shirt model's republican tattoo". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  44. "Irish language teacher in Belfast guilty of disorderly behaviour". 26 February 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
  45. "Man who shouted Irish republican slogan Tiocfaidh ar la outside Belfast McDonald's is convicted of disorderly behaviour". Belfast Telegraph. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  46. "Woman awarded £20,000 after 'tiocfaidh ár lá' shouted at her". The Irish Times. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  47. Morrissey, Sinéad (2020). "Tourism". Found Architecture: Selected Poems. Manchester: Carcanet. ISBN 978-1-78410-932-5.; Collins, Lucy (2015). "Between Here and There: Migrant Identities and the Contemporary Irish Woman Poet". Contemporary Irish Women Poets: Memory and Estrangement (PDF). Liverpool University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-78138-469-5. JSTOR j.ctt1gpcbt1.7. Retrieved 14 November 2020.; McConnell, Gail (1 February 2018). "No "Replicas/Atone"" (PDF). boundary 2. 45 (1): 201–229. doi:10.1215/01903659-4295551.
  48. Mac Giolla Chríost 2012 p.79
  49. Muldoon, Paul. One thousand things worth knowing. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-374-22712-8.; Paul, Muldoon (12 December 2011). "Barrage Balloons, Buck Alec, Bird Flu and You". Plume (6). Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  50. Higgins, Kevin (24 December 2019). "Tiocfaidh Do Lá". culturematters.org.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  51. Cullingford, Elizabeth (2001). Ireland's others : ethnicity and gender in Irish literature and popular culture. University of Notre Dame Press in association with Field Day. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-268-03167-1.
  52. Fennell, Desmond (1993). Heresy : the battle of ideas in modern Ireland. Belfast: Blackstaff. pp. 274–275. ISBN 978-0-85640-505-1.
  53. Dawe, Gerald (1993). "Review of Heresy, the Battle of Ideas in Modern Ireland". Fortnight (323): 44. ISSN 0141-7762. JSTOR 25554350.
  54. Brown, Stephen (1 March 2006). "Tiocfaidh ár lá: introduction to the special issue". Journal of Strategic Marketing. 14 (1): 1–9. doi:10.1080/09652540500511206. ISSN 0965-254X. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  55. Williamson, Claire (11 December 2015). "Peter Robinson's parting words in Irish spark laughs as he exclaims 'Tiocfaidh ár Lá'". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  56. "Yes we (republi)can? Paddy Power reveals #MarRef odds in bombastic fashion". Newstalk. 27 April 1015. Retrieved 13 November 2020.; "Paddy Power "Tiocfaidh Ár Lá" by BMB". www.campaignlive.co.uk. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  57. Buckley, Michael (Spring 2000). "Image V: Andersontown (sic)". The Writing on the Wall: Continuity and Change as Represented in the Republican Murals of West Belfast. Stanford University. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  58. Hughes, Art J. (2007). "Possible Echoes from An tOileánach and Mo Bhealach Féin in Flann O'Brien's The Hard Life". In Séamus Mac Mathúna; Ailbhe Ó Corráin (eds.). Celtic Literatures in the Twentieth Century (PDF). Maxim Fomin. Centre for Irish and Celtic Studies, University of Ulster. p. 220, fn. ISBN 5-9551-0213-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2011.
  59. Murphy, John L. (2012). "Review of Jailtacht: The Irish Language, Symbolic Power, and Political Violence in Northern Ireland, 1972-2008 by Diarmait Mac Giolla Chríost". Estudios Irlandeses. 8: 189–190.
  60. Dillon, Charlie. "Beginners' blas: Sloinnte Normannacha". Blas. BBC Northern Ireland. Retrieved 3 April 2009. Hence the saying Beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach, meaning that another chance will come along.
  61. Stanage, Niall (8 March 2007). "Chuck Schumer, Militant Republican". The New York Observer. Retrieved 5 May 2007. it became so associated with the IRA that it entered popular slang – a "Chuck" or "Chucky" was a person known to support the guerrilla group's armed struggle.
  62. Hayes, Paddy (16 March 1995). "Sinn Féin". The Irish Times. p. 15. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  63. Holohan, Renagh (15 May 1999). "Now it's...tiocfaidh Armani". The Irish Times. p. 38. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  64. Marks, Kathy (15 December 1997). "Eh-oh! Can I have a terrorist for Christmas?". The Independent. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  65. McDowell, Iain (27 April 2017). "Newspaper review: 'Tiocfaidh Arlene' and Belfast clasico". BBC News NI. Retrieved 14 November 2020.; McFadden, Eithne (28 June 2017). "Theresa May's deal with the DUP". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 November 2020.; O'Connor, Amy (30 August 2019). "Electric Picnic 2019: Jehovah's Witnesses, Daniel and Majella, and a Child of Prague". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
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