American IRA gun-runner praises 'courage' of republican priest who helped bomb people to death
An American IRA recruit has praised the "courage" of a republican priest who helped to kill multiple people in no-warning bombings.
Patrick 'Paddy' Ryan's funeral was held on Wednesday at The Church of Jesus Christ Our Saviour, Rossmore, Co Tipperary, after his death aged 95 in Dublin.
A video has since been circulated showing John Crawley – a former US marine who joined the IRA – delivering a graveside oration in the grounds of that chapel.
Ryan had been accused during the 1980s of being a major player in the Provo campaign after being caught at a Belgian safehouse.
He was brought back to the Republic, which then refused to extradite him to the UK.
In his latter years Ryan confessed that the accusations were true and said he regretted only that he had not been more "effective".
He was one of the key figures in the link between Colonel Gaddafi's Libyan dictatorship and the IRA, and also helped to fashion bomb timers for the group.
He had been a member of the Catholic Pallottine order, but left in around 1973.
Nevertheless, he was referred to by the title "Father" by the clergymen at his funeral, who also hailed him as God's "servant".
Mr Crawley – a gunrunner with ties to infamous Boston crime lord Whitey Bulger, and who was twice jailed for IRA activity – talked about Tipperary as a heartland of historical republicanism, and said: "It wasn't in a man like Father Paddy Ryan, from such a place and imbued with such a tradition, to stand idly by when the renewed fight for freedom called once again upon brave men and women to answer the call.
"Father Paddy wasn't impulsive – he was thoughtful and deliberate in his actions. He was both physically and morally courageous. That is a rare combination.
"Father Paddy never wavered in his devotion to the republican ideal.
"We may have interpreted it in different ways, but we knew what is meant by the republic: it is Ireland unfettered by foreign control or domestic divisions cultivated by the foreigner; it does not defer to Britain for terms and conditions regarding its unity and independence.
"The republic is a 32-county sovereign, secular state to which Irish citizens of all traditions give allegiance. It stands for freedom, social justice, and civic unity across the sectarian divide.
"Father Paddy stood by that republic his entire life."
During Ryan's funeral a black hat and a coat had been placed at the front of the chapel during the service.
Mr Crawley said this was "a coat Colonel Gaddafi gave him".
He concluded by bidding farewell to "a proud unapologetic Irish republican", adding: "I believe I speak for many republicans around Ireland when I saw to Father Paddy: thank you for your service and sacrifice…
"A man of faith, in his God and in his country, a man of steely determination. An authentic man. Father Paddy Ryan will be sadly missed but never forgotten as he enters the pantheon of Irish patriots and the pages of Irish history."
Two of the attacks which Ryan admitted involvement in were the Hyde Park nail bombing of 1982, which killed four soldiers and seven of their horses, and the Brighton Bomb of 1984 which killed five civilians and left dozens of others wounded.