PADDY DEVLIN – THE GALWAY GUNMAN
Date Posted: November 7, 2023
PADDY DEVLIN – THE GALWAY GUNMAN
Wednesday 8 November
TG4 9.30pm
‘Paddy Devlin – The Galway Gunman’ an Imagine Media production for TG4, with support from Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund.
Dubliner Elayne Devlin explores why her uncle Paddy and nearly 70,000 other Irish men and women ignored Irish neutrality to fight for Britain in World War II.
Teenager Paddy Devlin travelled from Galway to Belfast to enlist in the British Army in 1941 and became one of its deadliest snipers. As a member of the Royal Ulster Rifles, he served in a glider battalion which fought on D-Day and in the invasion of Germany. Paddy saved the lives of many of his comrades after crossing the Rhine but was himself seriously wounded.
His niece, RTÉ journalist Elayne Devlin, explores why her uncle Paddy and so many others risked death in battle and hostility at home to fight as a soldier of the Crown. Irish men and women who joined up to fight the Nazis were given a warm welcome in Britain during the war, but often found a cold house on their return home. It was a tale largely written out of Irish history for more than a half a century. Their huge involvement in the Allied war effort was largely ignored, and tens of thousands of families did not speak about their families’ role in it.
A silence descended on Irish servicemen which only began to be lifted from the 1990s onwards, when the northern Troubles were coming to an end. It is only now that their heroic sacrifices in a struggle which claimed the lives of 5,000 Irishmen are being fully recognised.
This ground-breaking documentary, told through the experiences of one family, lifts the lid on that secret history.
Eolas Preasa – Irish
PADDY DEVLIN – GUNNADÓIR NA GAILLIMHE
Dé Céadaoin 8ú Samhain
TG4 9.30 i.n
‘Paddy Devlin – Gunnadóir na Gaillimhe’, léirithe ag Imagine Media do TG4, le tacaíocht ón Chiste Craoltóireachta Gaeilge, Scáileáin Thuaisceart Éireann.
Fiosraíonn Elayne Devlin, as Baile Átha Cliath, na fáthanna go ndearna a huncail Paddy agus beagnach 70,000 Éireannach eile neamhaird ar neodracht na hÉireann le dul chun troda don Bhreatain sa Dara Chogadh Domhanda.
Thaistil déagóir Paddy Devlin ó Ghaillimh go Béal Feirste chun liostáil in Arm na Breataine in 1941 agus d’éirigh sé ina snípéir marfach.
Mar bhall de na Royal Ulster Rifles, rinne sé seirbhís i gcathlán faoileoirí a throid ar D-Day agus in ionradh na Gearmáine. Shabháil Paddy beatha cuid mhór dena chuid comrádaithe i ndiaidh dó an Réin a thrasnú ach gortaíodh é féin go holc.
Pléann neacht s’aige, iriseoir RTÉ Elayne Devlin, na cúiseanna gur chuir a huncail Paddy agus go leor eile a mbeatha i mbaol sa chath agus gur fhulaing siad naimhdeas sa bhaile le dul chun troda mar shaighdiúir den Choróin. Cuireadh fearadh na fáilte sa Bhreatain roimh fhir agus mná na hÉireann a liostáil le troid in aghaidh na Naitsithe i rith an chogaidh, ach níor cuireadh an fáilte céanna rompu in Éirinn nuair a d’fhill siad abhaile.
Scéal a bhí ann a bhí fágtha amach den chuid is mó as stair na hÉireann le breis is leathchéad bliain. Tugadh neamhaird ar an ról suntasach a bhí acu in éacht cogadh na gComhghuaillithe, agus níor labhair na mílte teaghlach faoi nasc s’acu féin leis.
Ciúnaíodh na hÉireannaigh seo go dtí na 1990í, nuair a bhí na Trioblóidí sa tuaisceart ag teacht chun deiridh. Anois féin a thugtar aitheantas d’íobairtí cróga na ndaoine seo i streachailt inar cailleadh beatha 5,000 Éireannach.
Sa chlár ceannródaíoch seo, insíonn teaghlach amháin a scéal féin, agus nochtar an stair rúnda sin.
