By Susan Gilshinan, comrade in Drimnagh PBP

He stood six feet four or more
In his stocking feet
And a nicer man you wouldn’t meet.
He was soft-spoken and gentle, firm in his beliefs,
Highly intelligent but never shoved his views down your throat,
Unlike the gang in Leinster House, he certainly did loathe!!
John loved Art History and sometimes he could be a mystery.
As Mary said “He often took to wearing his shirt
One collar in, one out. Sometimes his jumper was worn back to front,
His big black bag over-flowed with pamphlets and prose”.
John is too Large a Life Figure to be gone,
He is still here among us, standing tall.
Still here among us talking of Lenin and Marx,
And he will never leave our hearts.

Hi Memet, just thought I’d email you the post I made last night about John, it doesn’t half do him justice and plenty of people have written far more fitting tributes to him, but I hope I can be forgiven being at a loss for words strong enough to describe the admiration and respect I had for him. I’ll also attach the photo I posted on it too as I thought that the sign he was holding in it encapsulated him exactly as he was, a rebel for life, right up to the end.

I can still barely come to terms with the news of John’s sudden passing, he was always such a constant on the Irish left. Whether it was protests on anti-racism, Palestinian solidarity, the housing and climate crises, you name it, John was there. Activism in Dublin will never be the same again without him. He was a committed socialist campaigner and revolutionary who dedicated his life to changing the world for the better. I’ve learned so much from my conversations with him and I’m heartbroken that I won’t be able to have any more with him. Rest in power comrade.