In Divis Flats on May 12th in Belfast, one INLA volunteer was shot dead after shooting at the British Army. He was Volunteer Emmanual McClarnon.

His funeral from Divis to Milltown was an occasion of great sorrow in West Belfast. As the coffin was being brought from the church, an INLA firing party stepped forward and fired three volleys.

All along the route to Milltown the crowds gathered to pay their last respects to an outstanding soldier. And at the graveside, James Daly gave the oration.

After expressing condolences to Emmanual's widow and family, he continued -

"Emmanual was only eight years of age when the first Civil Rights March was stopped and stoned in Dungannon by those paramilitary forces of the Stormont State the RUC, and their loyalist bully boys.

"He was only nine, when Patrick Rooney, also aged nine, was shot dead in his bedroom in Divis Flats by those same licensed murderers, leading the loyalist pogroms as they sprayed the people's homes with Browning machine gunfire from their Shoreland armoured cars.

"He was only ten when the British Army, sent in to aid the defeated local forces of law and order, imposed their illegal curfew on the people of the Lower Falls while loyalists were given a free rein to bomb and burn.

"At the age of fifteen, Emmanual revolted against this brutal arrogance and he threw in his lot with the oppressed people, and he joined the ranks of those soldiers who have unceasingly risen against im perialism since Ireland was first assaulted by the foreign invaders. He laid his young life on the line, and on the 12th of May 1981 his life, so full of warmth and tenderness, hope and promise, was ended by the murderous weapons of the British im perialist army."

In conclusion, James Daly paid tribute to the H-Block and Armagh prisoners - and to those who have died in the struggle for national liberation and socialism.

And following a short statement from the INLA, the crowd filed past the grave which was covered by scores of wreaths.

He had been arrested along with eight others in a flat in Divis. They were charged with possession of two pistols and a Russian grenade which were supposed to have been thrown out of the flat they were in.

In the Crum I got to know Matt as a genuine person who was easy to get on with. He was always one for having a good slag and keen for news of how the struggle was progressing outside. He was well got with his fellow prisoners, I.R.S.P. and Provos alike. He was very fond of his mother and also Rose his girlfriend who was later to become his wife.

The charges were dropped and Matt was released. Within a short while he was again active in the movement and showing even more determination than before. I was now in the same unit as him and he was always busy planning and carrying out regular operations against the forces of oppression.

Day in day out he talked about the prisoners and struggle for political status and how the people of Divis were suffering from the terrible housing conditions and the continual Brit and R.U.C. harrassment.

When Bobby Sands died Matt was out right away operating against the enemy. When Francis Hughes died he was even more angered as he knew him personally from prison. He went out, rifle in hand to avenge Francis Hughes and in doing so sacrificed his own life. Matt was shot in the back by a Brit sniper.

Matt McLarnon will be missed not only by his broken-hearted wife Rose and his mother and family, but also by his comrades, including myself. We pledge ourselves to continue the struggle for Irish freedom and socialism for which Matt gave his life.

We will not forget you Matt. The struggle goes on.

A FRIEND AND COMRADE.