Charlie Casey
DUBLIN mourned the loss of one of its leading stalwarts
over Christmas with the passing away of Charlie Casey.
Charlie was born in Keady in 1915, and his family moved
to Belfast nine years later after his father's death,
and it was there during the Hungry Thirties that he
developed an interest in republicanism and socialism.
A great reader, he practically lived in the Falls
Library, his favourite authors being Dostoevsky and
Shakespeare.
In the late Thirites, Charlie moved to London in search
of work. There he joined the Gaelic League and became a
member of the New Left Book Club. He considered joining
the International Brigade to fight in Spainish Civil
War, but his involvement in the Republican movement
took precedence.
Charlie was arrested in 1939, and sentenced to 14 years
penal servitude. He used his time in prison positively.
Prison was his university - there he further developed
his love for literature and his father's trade,
tailoring. It was from prison that he first
corresponded with his future wife, Margaret O Brien.
Upon his release in 1948, he settled in Dublin and
married Margaret in August 1950. He worked as a
builder's labourer with the South of Ireland Asphalt
Company until his retirement in 1980. Throughout this
time he was an active member of the IT&GWU.
Charlie had a tremendous influence on his five
children, giving them a sense that right should always
triumph over might. He raised his family in the words
of Connolly, Pearse and Mandela. An internationalist,
he followed closely the struggles of Llumumba in the
Congo, Castro and Guevara in Cuba and Ho Chi Minh in
Vietnam.
Charlie had a wide range of interests; literature,
music, chess, information technology. He loved
traditional and classical music, O Riada, the Bothy
Band, Cooney and Begley, Woody Guthrie, Beethoven and
Mozart. Among the last books he read were Gerry Adams'
autobiography and Seamus Deane's `Reading in the Dark.'
Until his recent illness he made the trip to O Connell
Street every week to pick up the latest copy of An
Phoblacht.
A life-long socialist he believed, like Connolly, that
``our demands most moderate are, we only want the
earth.'' Charlie passed away on 28 December.
Adding to the family's sorrow, Christmas also witnessed
the loss of Charlie's sister-in-law Lettie O Brien, who
passed away on 30 December.
Lettie's late husband Liam was a trustee of 44 Parnell
Square, Sinn Féin's Head Office.
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