Talk:Red Hand Commando

Latest comment: 4 months ago by Skywatcher68 in topic Will the real founding leader please stand up

2005 comment edit

Aughavey 4 July 2005 19:08 (UTC)

Without wanting to remotely condone this organisation the article is biased. I have not removed anything but added a couple of sentences to let people know that this organisation exists in the context of the Northern Ireland troubles, the partition of Ireland, the Ulster planatation and all the rest of the history of Ireland and its politics, religion and communal conflicts.

Aughavey 4 July 2005 21:12 (UTC) I have changed this as it had been confused with the Red Hand Defenders which is a different group associated with the UDA. The RHD was redirecting to RHC as if they were the same. I notice alot of other websites via google make the same mistake.

Skat- Changed the Rhc page a little there sandy row is in s.belfast

Loyalist - Bobby Moffat was an ex member of the Red Hand Commando. Not a current member as it stated before i edited it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.99.85.199 (talk) 01:11, 19 October 2010 (UTC)Reply

Ex combatant RHC member - A few small things updated.81.99.85.199 (talk) 22:07, 19 October 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.99.85.199 (talk) 17:49, 19 October 2010 (UTC)Reply

Request for comments on the motto edit

The consensus is that Lámh Dearg Abú should be called an "Irish language" motto.

Cunard (talk) 00:12, 7 October 2018 (UTC)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

In this article, should Lámh Dearg Abú be called an "Irish language" motto, or an "Ulster Gaelic" motto? ~Asarlaí 18:00, 24 August 2018 (UTC)Reply


For a long time this article noted that the Red Hand Commando has the Irish language motto Lámh Dearg Abú (or Lamh Dearg Abu). However, for the past month an unregistered user has been replacing "Irish" with "Ulster gaelic" [sic], and has been challenged by other editors. I haven't found any reliable sources calling this an "Ulster Gaelic" motto. All the reliable sources I've found call it an Irish motto. I added these to the article, but was reverted by the same user. The only source they give is an opinion in a 'letter to the editor', which doesn't mention the motto but argues that the Ulster dialect of Irish should be called "Ulster Gaelic". In my view, it should continue to be called an Irish language motto because that's what the sources call it, and because linguistically there's nothing which makes it distinctively "Ulster Gaelic". Here are the sources I've found:

  • Mulvenna, Gareth. Tartan Gangs and Paramilitaries: The Loyalist Backlash. Oxford University Press, 2016. p.215. Quote: "Ronnie McCullough adopted the motto 'Lamh Dearg Abu' for the RHC – an Irish phrase which means 'Red hand to victory'".
  • De Brún, Fionntán. Belfast and the Irish language. Four Courts Press, 2006. p.157. Quote: "UVF members learned the Irish language while in jail and the RHC adopted the Irish motto 'Lamh Derg Abu' ('Lámh Dearg Abú', 'red hand for ever')".
  • "Red Hand Commando flags with Irish language slogan flown". The Irish News, 23 July 2018.

~Asarlaí 18:03, 24 August 2018 (UTC)Reply


The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for deletion edit

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Will the real founding leader please stand up edit

On the one hand, a book has been referenced in edit summaries but zero context has been provided; on the other hand, there is the Imperial War Museum: "The handkerchief was purchased from the shop of John McKeague, leader of the vigilante Shankill Defence Association. McKeague joined with a group of young Loyalist Tartan gang members to form the Red Hand Commando (RHC) in 1970 and became its first leader."   –Skywatcher68 (talk) 14:04, 13 December 2023 (UTC)Reply