Thousands of mourners lined the Cliftonville Road in north Belfast for the funeral of ex-senior IRA member Brendan “Bik” McFarlane on Tuesday.
Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, the party’s Donegal TD Pearse Doherty, Cavan-Monaghan TD Matt Carthy were among those who stood on the street outside the prominent republican’s home in Linden Gardens, where a blessing took place.
Sinn Féin North Belfast MP John Finucane and MLA for the area, Gerry Kelly, were also present.
Mr McFarlane (74) died last Friday after a short illness.
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A Tricolour was draped over his coffin as The Chieftains’ flautist Matt Molloy played alongside it.
The IRA’s officer commander (OC) during the 1981 hunger strikes, Mr McFarlane was imprisoned at the Maze for his part in the 1975 IRA bombing of a bar on the Shankill Road in which five people were killed.
He led the mass breakout of the Co Antrim prison in September 1983 when 38 IRA prisoners escaped in what was described at the time as the biggest escape in British penal history.
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Fr Gary Donegan led Tuesday’s blessing and said that Mr McFarlane faced his illness with “courage and fortitude”.
Following the service, Mr McFarlane’s daughter Tina, who has Down syndrome, touched his coffin and told mourners she loved her daddy and will “miss him so much”. A second daughter, Emma, sang Caledonia.
Mr Adams was among those who carried Mr McFarlane’s coffin before he was laid to rest at Milltown Cemetery, where an oration was delivered by Mr Kelly. The North Belfast MLA became emotional as he reminisced about their friendship.
Addressing the large crowd, Mr Kelly said a united Ireland was the “most fitting tribute we can give to our friend and colleague, Bik McFarlane”.
“Irish unity of course will not just happen – we need to make it happen and put our shoulders to the wheel as Bik did all his life, we will finish the task ahead,” he said.
Mr Kelly added that Mr McFarlane was someone who “never gave up” and went on to “throw himself into local politics and community work” following his release from prison in 1997.
“He supported the negotiations for the Good Friday Agreement and used his very strong influence talking to others,” he said.
In 1986, Mr McFarlane was recaptured in Amsterdam with Mr Kelly and extradited back to Northern Ireland, finally being released from prison in 1997.
He was cleared in Dublin’s Special Criminal Court in 2008 of false imprisonment and firearms possession in relation to the kidnapping of businessman Don Tidey in 1983.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who was not present at the service, paid tribute to him as “a great patriot who lived his life for the freedom and unity of Ireland”.
Speaking after his death was announced, she said: “Bik was dedicated to the struggle for the freedom and unity of Ireland, and the equality of its people.
“Bik was, and will always remain, a giant of Irish republicanism. A proud son of Ardoyne in Belfast, he was part of a generation who rose up against oppression, the British occupation and the sectarian Orange state.”
Mr McFarlane is survived by his wife Lene and three children.
