A mural in Derry's Bogside, commemorating Irish hunger strikers.

The 1981 Irish Hunger Strike was a campaign by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland for the British government to grant them status as "political prisoners". It was a seminal event in modern Irish history. It radicalised nationalist politics, and was the driving force that enabled Sinn Féin to become a serious political force. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 644 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: 1981 Irish Hunger Strike ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 644 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: 1981 Irish Hunger Strike ... Salle des illustres, ceiling painting, by Jean André Rixens. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... The Bogside is a nationalist neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. ... A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt or to achieve a goal such as a policy change. ... Irish Republicanism is an ideology based on the Irish nationalist belief that all of Ireland should be a united independent republic. ... Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official languages English (de facto), Irish, Ulster Scots 3, Northern Ireland Sign Language, Irish Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Office... The United Kingdom is a unitary state and a democratic constitutional monarchy. ... An Irish nationalist is generally one who seeks (greater) independence of Ireland from Great Britain, including since 1921 the goal of a United Ireland. ... Sinn Féin (pronounced in English, in Irish) is a name used by a series of Irish political movements of the 20th century, each of which claimed sole descent from the original party established by Arthur Griffith in 1905. ...

Background

There had been Irish republican hunger strikes since 1917. The deaths of Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan on hunger strike in the 1970's are often remembered alongside those of 1981. In 1976, as part of the policy of "criminalisation", the British Government ended the previous policy of giving Special Category Status to paramilitary prisoners in Northern Ireland prisons. The policy was not introduced for existing prisoners, but rather phased in for those newly convicted. Special Category, or political, status meant prisoners were treated very like prisoners of war, for example, not having to wear prison uniforms or do prison work. The end to Special Category Status was a serious threat to the authority which the paramilitary leaderships inside prison had been able to exercise over their own men, as well as being a propaganda blow. A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt or to achieve a goal such as a policy change. ... Frank Stagg (born 1948-February 12, 1976 in Hollymount, County Mayo, Ireland), was a Volunteer within the PIRA, who was convicted in 1973 in Britain of conspiracy to commit arson. ... Vol. ... In July 1972, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland William Whitelaw, granted Special Category Status to all prisoners convicted of scheduled terrorist crimes. ...

First hunger strike

Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners (the first was Kieran Nugent) began the blanket protest in which prisoners would refuse to wear prison uniform and either went naked or fashioned garments from prison blankets. In 1978, after a number of attacks on prisoners leaving their cells to "slop out" (i.e., empty their chamber pots), this escalated into the dirty protest, where prisoners not granted political status refused to wash and smeared the walls of their cells with excrement. These protests aimed to re-establish their privileges by securing what were known as the "Five Demands": A Republican mural in Belfast depicting the hunger strikes of 1981. ... The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) is an Irish republican paramilitary organization which was formed on December 8, 1974. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The blanket protest was part of a dispute involving Provisional IRA and Irish National Liberation Army prisoners held in the Maze prison (Long Kesh) in Northern Ireland. ... The dirty protest was part of a dispute (see also Blanket protest) between Irish republican paramilitary prisoners and the prison authorities at the Maze prison (Long Kesh) and Armagh Womens Prison which ran from September 1976 until October 1981. ...

1. The right not to wear a prison uniform;
2. The right not to do prison work;
3. The right of free association with other prisoners;
4. The right to organise their own educational and recreational facilities;
5. The right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week.

Initially, this protest did not attract a great deal of attention, and even the Provisional IRA regarded it as a side-issue compared to their armed struggle. It began to attract attention when Tomas O Fiach, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, visited the prison and condemned the conditions there. In 1979, former MP Bernadette McAliskey stood in the election for the European parliament on a platform of support for the blanketmen, and won 5.9% of the vote across Northern Ireland, even though Sinn Féin had called for a boycott of this election. Shortly after this, the broad-based Smash H-Block Campaign was formed, on a platform of support for the Five Demands, with McAliskey as its main spokesperson. Tomás Cardinal OFiach was an Irish Cardinal and the former Primate of All Ireland. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Primate of All Ireland is the title held by the Archbishop of Armagh. ... Josephine Bernadette Devlin McAliskey (born April 23, 1947), also known as Bernadette Devlin and Bernadette McAliskey, is a Northern Ireland republican politician. ... The European Parliament (formerly European Parliamentary Assembly) is the parliamentary body of the European Union (EU), directly elected by EU citizens once every five years. ...

The period leading up to the hunger strike saw a campaign of assassination carried out by both sides. The IRA shot and killed a number of prison officers; at the same time, loyalist paramilitaries shot and killed a number of activists in the Smash H-Block Campaign and badly injured McAliskey and her husband in an attempt on their lives. This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

In October 1980, seven republican prisoners in HM Prison Maze (alternatively known as "Long Kesh") began a hunger strike. The group consisted of IRA members Brendan Hughes, Tommy McKearney, Raymond McCartney, Tom McFeeley, Sean McKenna, Leo Green, and INLA member John Nixon. After a few weeks they were followed by three prisoners in Armagh Women's Prison, and then a short-lived hunger strike by several dozen more prisoners in Long Kesh. A number of Loyalist prisoners also started their own hunger strike after a few weeks, but they were accused of opportunism, attempting to win concessions on the backs of republicans without risking death or serious damage to their health. (No Loyalists or Armagh women took part in the 1981 hunger strike.) In a war of nerves between the PIRA leadership and the British government, with Sean McKenna close to death, the British government appeared to concede the prisoners' right to wear their own clothes. The strike was called off in December before any prisoners died. Her Majestys Prison Service is the British Executive Agency reporting to the Home Office tasked with managing most of the prisons within England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own Prison Services). ... The personnel gate to the main guard office. ... Her Majestys Prison (HMP) Maze (known colloqually as The Maze) is a disused prison sited at the former RAF station at Long Kesh (it is still called Long Kesh by many Irish Republicans) near Lisburn, nine miles outside Belfast, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. ... Brendan The Dark Hughes (b. ... Tommy McKearney (b. ... Raymond McCartney (b. ... Armagh womens prison in Northern Ireland was the scene of a protest by women Irish Republican prisoners demanding political status, although the numbers involved were much smaller than in the Maze (also known as Long Kesh) mens prison. ... The term Ulster Loyalist is used to describe militant unionists from Northern Ireland. ...

Second hunger strike

A Republican mural in Belfast.

After a few weeks it emerged that the British government were simply intending to give the prisoners the right to wear civilian-style clothing supplied by the prison, and had duped the hunger-strikers in the belief that no new hunger-strike would occur. On March 1, 1981, under the new PIRA Officer Commanding in Long Kesh, Bobby Sands, a second hunger strike began, with Sands himself the first to refuse food. The political atmosphere outside the prisons became tense, all over Ireland, with widespread rioting in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. Image File history File links Belfast_mural_13_(cropped,_edit). ... Image File history File links Belfast_mural_13_(cropped,_edit). ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Robert Gerard Sands (Irish: [1][2]), commonly known as Bobby Sands (9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981), was an Irish Provisional IRA member who died on hunger strike whilst in prison for the possession of firearms. ... An Irish nationalist is generally one who seeks (greater) independence of Ireland from Great Britain, including since 1921 the goal of a United Ireland. ...

Shortly after the beginning of the strike, the independent Irish republican MP for Fermanagh & South Tyrone died and precipitated a high profile by-election. Sands was nominated as an Anti H-Block candidate, and was elected to the British House of Commons on April 9, 1981 with 30,492 votes to 29,046 for the Ulster Unionist Party candidate Harry West. Fermanagh & South Tyrone is a Parliamentary Constituency in the British House of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly. ... The by-election held in Fermanagh and South Tryrone on April 9, 1981 is considered by many to be the most significant by-election held in Northern Ireland since the beginning of The Troubles. ... Anti H-Block was the political party label used by candidates standing in Northern Ireland in support of the 1981 hunger strike. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party ) is a moderate unionist political party in Northern Ireland, which formed its government between 1921 and 1972 and was supported by most unionists throughout the Troubles. ... Harry West Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 1974 to 1979. ...

Three weeks later, Sands died from starvation in the prison hospital. The announcement of his death prompted several days of riots in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. Over 100,000 people lined the route of his funeral.

Over the summer, nine more hunger strikers also died. The names of these people, their paramiltary affiliation, hometown, dates of death, and length of hunger strike are as follows:

A number of protesting prisoners contested the general election in the Republic of Ireland in June. Paddy Agnew (who was not on hunger strike) and Kieran Doherty were elected in Louth and Cavan-Monaghan respectively, and Joe McDonnell narrowly missed election in Sligo-Leitrim. There were also local elections in Northern Ireland around that time and although Sinn Féin did not contest them, some smaller groups and independents who did support the hunger strikers had a few successes, e.g. the Irish Independence Party won 21 seats, while a joint campaign by the Irish Republican Socialist Party (the INLA's political wing) and People's Democracy (a Trotskyist group) won four seats on Belfast City Council. Robert Gerard Sands (Irish: [1][2]), commonly known as Bobby Sands (9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981), was an Irish Provisional IRA member who died on hunger strike whilst in prison for the possession of firearms. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) is a paramilitary group which aimed, through the use of violence, to achieve three goals: (i) British withdrawal from Ireland, (ii) the political unification of Ireland through the merger of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland , and (iii) the creation of an all... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... Francis Hughes was an Official IRA, and later, Provisional IRA guerrilla who participated in dozens of attacks on British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary targets. ... Bellaghy is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. ... Raymond Peter McCreesh (25 February 1957 - 21 May 1981) was an Irish Republican hunger striker and member of the Provisional IRA. He was born in Camlough in South Armagh and was sentenced in March 1977 and sent to the Maze Prison. ... Camlough is a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near Bessbrook and the slopes of the Ring of Gullion. ... Patrick (Patsy) OHara (Irish name: Pádraig or Peatsaí Ó hEadhra; July 11, 1957 - May 21, 1981) was an Irish Republican hunger striker and member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). ... The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) is an Irish republican paramilitary organization which was formed on December 8, 1974. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... Joe McDonnell (14 September 1951 - 8 July 1981) was a Hunger Striker who died in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... Edward Martin Hurson (September 13, 1956 - July 13, 1981) was an Irish Republican hunger striker and member of the Provisional IRA. He was born one of 9 children in County Tyrone (near Dungannon) and joined the PIRA in his teens. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... For other people with this name see Kevin Lynch. ... Dungiven (Irish: Dún Geimhín; meaning Givens fort) is a large village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on the main Belfast to Derry road. ... Volunteer Kieran (or Ciarán) Doherty (Provisional Irish Republican Army, Belfast Brigade) died at the age of 25 in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike in Long Kesh (prison). ... A Teachta Dála (Irish for Dáil Deputy, pronounced chock-ta dawla) is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower chamber of the Irish Oireachtas or National Parliament. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... Thomas McElwee (30 November 1957 - 8 August 1981) was an Irish republican hunger striker and member of the Provisional IRA. He was sent to prison in September 1977 and was invloved in the blanket protest. ... Bellaghy is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. ... Date Of Birth: 19/03/73 Height: 183 cm Weight: 86. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... Paddy Agnew can refer to:- Paddy Agnew (Irish republican) (born 1955), Irish prisoner in the H-blocks, TD for Louth 1981–1982 Paddy Agnew (Stormont MP) Category: ... The Louth parliamentary constituency spans the entire area of the smallest county in Ireland, taking in Drogheda, Dundalk and Ardee. ... Cavan-Monaghan is a constituency used in elections to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of parliament in the Republic of Ireland. ... County Sligo County Leitrim Sligo-Leitrim is a parliamentary constituency in the north-west of Ireland. ... The Irish Independence Party was a nationalist political party in Northern Ireland, founded in 1977 by Frank McManus (former Unity MP for Fermanagh & South Tyrone between 1970 and 1974) and Fergus McAteer (son of Eddie McAteer, who had been leader of the Nationalist Party between 1953 and 1959). ... Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) describes itself as a republican socialist party and claims to be both Marxist-Leninist and republican. ... Peoples Democracy was a political organisation that, while supporting the campaign for civil rights for Northern Irelands Catholic minority stated that such rights could only be achieved through the establishment of a socialist republic in all of Ireland. ... Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ...

The British parliament rushed through emergency legislation to prevent another prisoner contesting the second by-election in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, which was due to take place following the death of Sands. This by-election was won in August by Owen Carron, who had been Sands' election agent, standing as the prisoners' proxy candidate, with more votes but with a reduced majority. Owen Carron (born 1953) is an Irish republican activist and the former MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone. ...

In late summer, the hunger strike began to break, thanks in large part due to the actions of the radical Catholic priest, Fr. Denis Faul, who intervened with hunger strikers' families after they had lost consciousness to urge them to give consent to the prison authorities for their relatives to be fed by drip. The first prisoner whose family intervened was Paddy Quinn. After this happened with a number of other prisoners, on 3 October 1981, the PIRA and INLA called off the hunger strike. Monsignor Denis OBeirne Faul (August 14, 1932 – June 21, 2006) was an Irish Roman Catholic priest and civil rights campaigner best known for his role in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike. ... Patrick Quinn (Irish: Óglach Pádraic Ó Cuinn) (born, 1962, Belleeks, County Armagh, Northern Ireland) was a member (volunteer) with the 1st Battalion, South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who took part in the 1981 Irish hunger strike. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Recently the role of Gerry Adams (President of Sinn Féin) has been questioned. Richard O'Rawe, the Republican public relations officer (PRO) in the H blocks after the death of Sands when Bik McFarlane moved from PRO to CO alleges in his book Blanketmen (2005) that Adams prolonged the strike as it was of great political benefit to Sinn Féin and allowed Owen Carron win Sands' seat.^{[1] [2]} This claim is denied by several hunger strikers and Brendan McFarlane.^[3] Brendan McFarlane (nicknamed Bik) is an Irish Republican activist. ...

Other participants in the hunger strike

Although ten men died during the course of the hunger strike, thirteen other men began refusing food but were taken off it, either due to medical reasons or after intervention by their families deciding that their relative's death would be futile. Many of them still suffer from the effects of the strike with problems including digestive, visual, physical and neurological disabilities.^[4][5]

They were:

• Brendan McLaughlin, PIRA, joined the hunger strike on 14 May 1981 and was taken off the strike on 26 May 1981 when he suffered a perforated ulcer and internal bleeding.
• Paddy Quinn, PIRA, joined hunger strike on 15 June 1981 and was taken off the strike on 31 July 1981 by his family after 47 days without food.
• Laurence McKeown, PIRA, joined hunger strike 29 June 1981 was taken off the strike on 6 September 1981 by his family after 70 days without food.
• Patrick McGeow, PIRA, joined hunger strike on 9 July 1981 was taken off the strike on 20 August 1981 by his family after 42 days without food.
• Matt Devlin, PIRA, joined hunger strike on 14 July 1981 was taken off the strike on 4 September 1981 by his family after 52 days without food.
• Liam McCloskey, INLA, joined hunger strike on 3 August 1981 and ended the strike on 26 September 1981 after 55 days without food when it became clear that his family would intervene to save his life if he became unconscious.
• Patrick Sheehan, PIRA, joined hunger strike on 10 August 1981 and ended the strike on 3 October 1981 after 55 days without food.
• Jackie McMullan, PIRA, joined hunger strike on 17 August 1981 ended the strike on 3 October 1981 after 48 days without food.
• Bernard Fox, PIRA, joined hunger strike on 24 August 1981 and was taken off the strike on 24 September 1981 when his medical condition deteriorated after 32 days without food.
• Hugh Carville, PIRA, joined hunger strike on 31 August 1981 and ended the strike on 3 October 1981 after 34 days without food.
• John Pickering, PIRA, joined hunger strike on 7 September 1981 and ended the strike 3 October 1981 after 27 days without food.
• Gerard Hodgkins, PIRA, joined hunger strike on 14 September 1981 and ended the strike on 3 October 1981 after 20 days without food.
• James Devine, PIRA, joined hunger strike on 21 September 1981 and ended the strike on 3 October 1981 after 13 days without food.

1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Endoscopic images of a duodenal ulcer. ... Patrick Quinn (Irish: Óglach Pádraic Ó Cuinn) (born, 1962, Belleeks, County Armagh, Northern Ireland) was a member (volunteer) with the 1st Battalion, South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who took part in the 1981 Irish hunger strike. ... Matt Devlin (Irish language: Máta Ó Doibhilin) (d. ...

Consequences

Hunger Strike memorial in the Bogside, Derry.

The Hunger Strike heralded an upsurge of violence after the comparatively quiet years of the late 1970s, with widespread civil disorder in Northern Ireland and serious unrest in the Republic of Ireland, including rioting outside the British Embassy in Dublin. There was extensive international condemnation of Britain's handling of the hunger strikes, with streets in Paris being named after the Hunger Strikers. It resulted in a new surge of IRA activity, with the group obtaining many more members. It prompted the republican movement to move towards electoral politics – Sands' success combined with that of pro-Hunger Strike candidates in the Northern Ireland local elections and Dáil elections in the Republic of Ireland gave birth to the armalite and ballot box strategy. Sinn Féin gained 5 seats out of 78 in the 1982 elections to the NI Assembly and a seat in the 1983 UK general election. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 169 KB)[edit] Summary Taken by myself in the Bogside, Derry, in 2005. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 169 KB)[edit] Summary Taken by myself in the Bogside, Derry, in 2005. ... The Bogside is a nationalist neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ... The armalite and the ballot box strategy was pursued by the Irish Republican movement in the 1980s and early 1990s, a strategy where elections in Northern Ireland and the Republic were contested by Sinn Féin, while the IRA continued to pursue a paramilitary struggle against the British army, the... Sinn Féin (pronounced in English, in Irish) is a name used by a series of Irish political movements of the 20th century, each of which claimed sole descent from the original party established by Arthur Griffith in 1905. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Northern Ireland assembly elections, 1982. ... The UK general election, 1983 was held on June 9, 1983 and gave the Conservatives and Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945. ...

Commemorations

Hunger Strike memorial

The people of Hartford, Connecticut, in the United States dedicated a monument to Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers in 1997. The monument stands in a traffic circle known as "Bobby Sands Circle", at the bottom of Maple Avenue near Goodwin Park. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The Iranian government named a street in Tehran after Bobby Sands. (It was formerly Winston Churchill Street.) It runs alongside the British embassy. ^[6] Tehran (IPA: ; Persian: تهران Tehrān), population (as of 2005) 7,314,000 (metropolitan: 12,151,000), and a land area of 658 square kilometers (254 sq mi), is the capital city of Iran (Persia) and the center of Tehran Province. ... Churchill redirects here. ...

The events of the strike are the basis for the 1996 film Some Mother's Son. Some Mothers Son is a 1996 film written and directed by Northern Irish filmmaker Terry George, and based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in Maze Prison , a British prison. ...

Radio Eclectica has sound versions of several songs concerning the hunger strike,[1] including "the H Block Song" by former Long Kesh Internee Francie Brolly, So I'll Wear No Convict's Uniform, Joe McDonnell, and the Black 47 song Bobby Sands, M.P.. Black 47 is an American-Celtic rock band made up of Irish expatriates, formed in New York City by Larry Kirwan and Chris Byrne in 1989. ...

In 2006, a diverse group of Irish Republicans in Chicago, IL came together to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Hunger Strike under the banner "Chicago Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee."

For a more detailed list of commemorations see the Bobby Sands page. Robert Gerard Sands (Irish: [1][2]), commonly known as Bobby Sands (9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981), was an Irish Provisional IRA member who died on hunger strike whilst in prison for the possession of firearms. ...

References

March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (72nd in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... October 9 is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further information/sources

• Bobby Sands Trust
• Beresford, David Ten Men Dead
• Coogan, Tim Pat On The Blanket (A Republican perspective)
• Hunger Strikes (General)
• Hunger Strikes BBC History
• Irish Hungerstrike Irish Hungerstrike Commemorative Project
• Hungerstrikers Hunger Strikers Memorial, Hartford, CT, USA
• Ten Criminals FAIR Research and Policy Unit (A Unionist organisation)