Dicing With Death

While there was terrorist-related activity happening somewhere in Northern Ireland daily, Belfast bore the brunt of it, and the two-mile stretch of road between Willie’s home and the school had more than its share. He travelled that corridor of death to and from school every day. In school, he was prepared to put his life on the line protecting the rights of disaffected young people. He tried to keep the older boys out of the arms of the IRA, who would recruit them into the Fianna (Junior IRA), and out of reach of the security forces who would arrest them for petty crimes and then release them on condition that they became informers. He was ready to protect them against all comers. He walked the middle ground, neither on one side nor the other. The police and the soldiers were professionals. They could look after themselves. He did not support the IRA, nor take orders from them, nor allow himself to be used by them. He saw his role as protecting the young people in his care. He was walking on quicksand, knowing that if he put a foot wrong, he could vanish without a trace.

Willie McCarney was born in Wales but grew up in Northern Ireland. His father encouraged him to embrace education as a way out of poverty. He passed the 11+, studied hard and graduated as a teacher in 1961. He was firmly of the view that every child should be given the chance to be educated to the limits of his/her talents. When The Troubles, broke out in August 1969 he was teaching in St Peter’s Secondary School in West Belfast, literally in the eye of the storm. Seemingly oblivious to the guerrilla war raging around him, he set out to promote the rights of disaffected young people in St Peter’s. He never dreamt that his project would grow into an international, worldwide, campaign for the rights of all children.