Republican Sinn Féin Cork City and County
Shinn Féin Poblachtach Chathair Chorcaí agus contae
25th Anniversary of the H-Block Hunger Strike 1981-2006
REMEMBER THE TEN, REMEMBER THE SACRIFICE.
Vol. Bobby Sands, IRA - 5th May, 1981 - 66 days. Vol. Martin Hurson, IRA - 13th July, 1981 - 46 days.
Vol. Francis Hughes, IRA - 12th May, 1981 - 59 days.
Vol. Patsy O'Hara, INLA - 21st May, 1981 - 61 days.
Vol. Raymond McCreesh, IRA - 21st May, 1981 - 61 days.
Vol. Joe McDonnell, IRA - 8th July, 1981 - 61 days.
Vol. Kevin Lynch, INLA - 1st August, 1981 - 71 days.
Vol. Kieran Doherty, IRA - 2nd August, 1981 - 73 days.
Vol. Thomas McElwee, IRA - 8th August, 1981 - 62 days.
Vol. Michael Devine, INLA - 20th August, 1981 - 60 days.
Twenty five years since the hunger strike and the sacrifice of ten brave men, it is only fitting that we remember why these hero’s bore such pain in an act of total unselfishness so their comrades could have what they rightly deserved, their status as Prisoner’s Of War.
They were Irish soldier’s fighting a war against an aggressor; they refused to bow to the wanton tyranny of a foreign occupier. They did not give up the fight from behind the bar’s in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh concentration Camp. The terrible conditions that prisoners of war inside jail suffered, the constant degradation forced on them by the foreign oppressor, is comparable to the situation in Magahberry concentration Camp today. The lack of education facilities, curtailed right of association, intimidation of visitors, the awful procedures their family and friend’s had to go through to visit them often to be turned away without reason. All designed to hurt and cut off and alienate Irish Republicans from the world, these attempt’s failed! the prisoners refused to labelled as criminal's!
The five demands of Republicans in the H-Blocks were:
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 organize their own educational and recreational facilities;
5. The Right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week.
The Good Friday Agreement removed Poltical status for which the hunger strikers gave their lives. Today any Irish Republican arrested is classed as a criminal! NO IRISH REPUBLICAN IS A CRIMINAL!
It is the Occupying English Crown Forces who are the criminals, they use remand as a form of internment that can last as long as 3 years. They use the prevention of Terrorism act (PTA) to kidnap Irish Republicans and without evidence trump up charges! worse they are getting away with these abuses of Human Rights!
Until the day Crown Forces have fully withdraw and we have a united 32 County Republic then and only then will we begin to see Irish men and women treated like human beings with dignity, respect and value. Until that day we will continue the fight to end the cruelty, brutality and injustice and the illegal occupation of Ireland by England.
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In memory of Bobby Sands 1954 - 1981
May 5th, 2006 - 25th Anniversary.
"I am standing on the threshold of another trembling world. May God have mercy on my soul. My heart is very sore because I know that I have broken my poor mother's heart, and my home is struck with unbearable anxiety. But I have considered all the arguments and tried every means to avoid what has become the unavoidable: it has been forced upon me and my comrades by four-and-a-half years of stark inhumanity."
This is the opening paragraph of a secret journal Bobby Sands began on March 1st, 1981. This was the day that he started the hunger strike which would ultimately make his name known around the world. He went without food for 65 full days; then, at 1:17 a.m. on May 5th, Bobby Sands MP, died in the H-Block prison hospital at Long Kesh.
Bobby was born in 1954 in Rathcoole, a predominantly loyalist district of north Belfast. The sectarian realities of ghetto life materialized early in his life when at the age of ten his family was forced to move due to loyalist intimidation, even as early as 1962. Bobby recalled his mother speaking of the troubled times which occurred during her own childhood: "Although I never really understood what interment was or who the 'Specials' were, I grew to regard them as symbols of evil."
When Bobby was sixteen years old he started work as an apprentice coach builder and joined the National Union of Vehicle Builders and the ATGWU. In an article printed in 'An Phoblacht/Republican News' on April 4th, 1981, Bobby recalled: "Starting work, although frightening at first became alright, especially with the reward at the end of the week. Dances and clothes, girls and a few shillings to spend, opened up a whole new world to me."
Bobby's background, experiences and ambitions did not differ greatly from that of the average ghetto youth. Then came 1968 and the events which were to change his life. Bobby had served two years of his apprenticeship when he was intimidated out of his job. His sister Bernadette recalls: "Bobby went to work one morning and these fellows were standing there cleaning guns. One fellow said to him, 'Do you see these here, well if you don't go, you'll get this' - then, Bobby also found a note in his lunch-box telling him to get out."
Of this time Bobby himself later wrote: "I was only a working-class boy from a Nationalist ghetto, but it is repression that creates the revolutionary spirit of freedom..."
In June 1972, the family was intimidated out of their home on Doonbeg Drive, Rathcoole and they moved into the newly-built Twinbrook estate on the fringe of Nationalist West Belfast. Bernadette again recalled: "We had suffered intimidation for about eighteen months before we were actually put out. We had always been used to having Protestant friends. Bobby had gone around with Catholics and Protestants, but it ended up when everything erupted, that the friends he went about with for years were the same ones who helped to put his family out of their home."
At eighteen, Bobby joined the Republican Movement. Bernadette says: "...he was just at the age when he was beginning to become aware of things happening around him. He more or less just said, right, this is where I'm going to take up. A couple of his cousins had been arrested and interred. Bobby felt that he should get involved and start doing something."
Bobby himself wrote. "My life now centered around sleepless nights and stand-bys, dodging the Brits and calming nerves to go out on operations. But the people stood by us. The people not only opened the doors of their homes to lend us a hand, but they opened their hearts to us. I learned that without the people, we could not survive and I knew that I owed them everything."
In October 1972, he was arrested. Four handguns were found in a house in which he was staying and he was charged with possession. He spent the next three years in the cages of Long Kesh where he had political prisoner status. During this time, Bobby read widely and taught himself Irish which he was later to teach to the other men in the H-Blocks.
Released in 1976, Bobby returned to his family in Twinbrook. He reported back to his local unit and straight back to the continuing struggle: "Quite a lot of things had changed; some parts of the ghettos had completely disappeared and others were in the process of being removed. The war was still forging ahead, although tactics and strategy had changed. The British government was now seeking to 'Ulsterise' the war which included the attempted criminalisation of the IRA..."
Bobby set to work tackling the social issues which affected the Twinbrook area. Here, he became a community activist. According to Bernadette, "When he got out of jail that first time, our estate had no Green Cross, no Sinn Fein, nor anything like that. He was involved in the Tenants' Association; he got the taxis to run to Twinbrook because the bus service at that time was inadequate. It got to the stage where people were coming to the door looking for Bobby to put up ramps on the roads, in case cars were going too fast and would knock the children down."
Within six months, Bobby was arrested again. There had been a bomb attack on the Balmoral Furniture Company at Dunmurry, followed by a gun-battle in which two men were wounded. Bobby was in a car near the scene with three other young men. The Royal Ulster Constabulary captured them and found a revolver in the car.
The six men were taken to Castlereagh where they were subjected to brutal interrogations for six days. Bobby refused to answer any questions during his interrogation, except his name, age and address.
He was held on remand for eleven months until his trial in September, 1977. As at his previous trial, he refused to recognize the court.
The judge admitted there was no evidence to link Bobby, or the other three young men with him, to the bombing. So the four of them were sentenced to fourteen years each for possession of the one revolver.
Bobby spent the first twenty-two days of his sentence in solitary confinement, 'on the boards' in Crumlin Road jail. For fifteen of those days, he was completely naked. He was moved to the H-Blocks where he began to write for Republican News and then after February 1979, for the newly-merged An Phobhacht/Republican News under the pen-name, 'Marcella', a sister's name. His articles and letters, in minute handwriting, as with all communications from the H-Blocks, were smuggled out on tiny pieces of toilet paper.
He wrote: "The days were long and lonely. The sudden and total deprivation of such basic human necessities as exercise and fresh air, association with other people, my own clothes and things like newspapers, radio, cigarettes books and a host of other things, made my life very hard."
During this time, Bobby was in constant confrontation with the prison authorities which resulted in several spells of solitary confinement. In the H-Blocks, beatings, long periods in the punishment cells, starvation diets and torture were commonplace as the prison authorities, with the full knowledge and consent of the British administration, imposed a harsh and brutal regime on the prisoners in an effort to break their resistance to criminalization. The prisoners protested against their cruel treatment and the H-Blocks became a battlefield.
On December 19th, 1980, Bobby issued a statement that the prisoners would not wear prison-issue clothing nor do prison work. He then began negotiations with the prison governor, Stanley Hilditch, for a step-by-step de-escalation of the protest. But the prisoners' efforts were rebuffed by the authorities. Wrote Bobby: "We discovered that our good will and flexibility were in vain. It was made abundantly clear during one of my 'co-operation' meetings with prison officials that strict conformity was required - which in essence meant acceptance of criminal status."
In the H-Blocks, the British government saw the opportunity to defeat the IRA by criminalizing Irish freedom fighters, but Bobby Sands and his captive comrades, perhaps more than those on the outside, appreciated before anyone else the grave repercussions. So they fought on.
Bobby volunteered to lead a new hunger strike. He saw it as a microcosm of the way the British government had treated the Irish in the past and were now treating them in the present. Bobby also realized that someone would have to die if they were to win political status.
On Monday, March 23rd, he was moved to the prison hospital. On March 30th, he was nominated as candidate for the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election caused by the sudden death of Frank Maguire, an independent MP who supported the prisoners' cause. Bobby won the election, but he had no illusions in regard to his victory.
"I can hear the curlew passing overhead. Such a lonely cell, such a lonely struggle. But, my friend, this road is well trod and he, whoever he was, who first passed this way, deserves the salute of the nation. I am but a mere follower and I must say Oiche Mhaith.'*
*Oiche Mhaith - Good Night.
In memory of Francis Hughes 1956 - 1981
May 12th , 2006 - 25th Anniversary.
The name of Francis Hughes will surely continue to stick in the throats of British military and political hawks.
Unlike many of those who make the ultimate sacrifice Francis Hughes had already become a legend in his own lifetime and amongst his own people as one of the most capable guerrilla fighters Ireland has produced in the long war against British Imperialism.
Having put Francis Hughes "safely away" in 1978 the British assumed that his name would no longer strike terror in their own hearts and a chord in the minds of people in South Derry.
The British were exultant at his arrest following a gun battle in which Francis and a comrade killed an SAS man and wounded another. Despite an awesome wound he refused to answer his interrogators who later described him as "totally uncooperative".
After the usual mockery of a Diplock trial British soldiers felt slightly more relaxed in South Derry and surrounding areas. Very foolish of them of course but then the British military mind has never understood the collective spirit of solidarity engendered by individually brilliant revolutionary soldiers like Francis Hughes.
And brilliant he was. His exploits are legion and legendary spreading through areas of Tyrone, Derry and Antrim. They are too numerous to recount here. Suffice it to say that all the normal clichés like dedication, bravery, military skill and the like are inadequate to describe a man who caused the British military machine as much grief as most guerrilla fighters from Tom Barry through to the modern breed of fighters.
One or two examples of his coolness and ingenuity would make even Barry look like a novice. The night he was surrounded by British soldiers in one of the numerous "safe houses" in his area of operation he simply grabbed his rifle and weaved his way through the tightening circle stopping occasionally to mumble a few familiar words with the professionals of the British Army whose perception of the "stupid Irish" has often been a weapon in our favour. He got away then as on many other occasions.
Behind his folk hero status in South Derry, however, lies the fairly typical story of a young Irish man who was not allowed to grow up normally in the artificial police state called Northern Ireland. It was not for want of trying.
Showing an aptitude for history and woodwork at school he started an apprenticeship as a painter and decorator at the age of 16 years which he completed shortly before becoming a full time revolutionary. Shortly after he became a painter he and a friend receive a brutal beating from British soldiers on a lonely country road one night. The experience was to prove more painful to the Brits than Francis himself over the next few years.
Responsible for more attacks on British forces than the combined strength of many other units put together he became the "most wanted man" in the Six Counties. So feared was he that his comrades recalled recently that when one UDR patrol recognised him once at a checkpoint but fearful (wisely) of a shoot-out they waved him through.
Francis Hughes is now doubly famous and revered. His hunger strike to the death was just the ultimate proof, if any were needed, that his determination and actions in the field were inspired by a profound political motivation.
That utter selflessness and courage came to its tragic conclusion on Tuesday, May 12th, when Francis died at 5.43 p.m. after fifty-nine days on hunger strike.
In memory of
Raymond McCreesh 1957 - 1981
Patsy O'Hara 1957 -1981
May 21st , 2006 - 25th Anniversary.
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Raymond McCreesh
The third of the resolutely determined IRA Volunteers to join the H-Block hunger strike for political status was twenty-four year old Raymond McCreesh, from Camlough in South Armagh. A quiet, shy and good-humoured republican who, although captured at the early age of nineteen, along with two other Volunteers in a British Army ambush, had already three years active republican involvement behind him.
During those years he had established himself as one of the most dedicated and invaluable republican activists in that part of the six counties to which the Brits themselves have - half-fearfully, half-respectfully - given the name 'bandit country'.
Raymond Peter McCreesh, the seventh in a family of eight children, was born in a small semi-detached house at St. Malachy's Park, Camlough - where the family still live - on February 25th 1957.
At school, Raymond's strongest interest was in the Irish language and Irish history, and he read widely in those subjects. His understanding of Irish history led him to a fervently nationalist outlook, and he was regarded as a 'hot-head' in his history classes and as being generally "very conscious of his lrishness". He was also a sportsman and played under sixteen and minor football for Carrickcruppin Gaelic Football Club.
He first of all joined Fianna Eireann early in 1973 and towards the end of that year joined the Irish Republican Army's 1st Battalion, South Armagh.
Raymond had the reputation of a republican who was very keen to suggest and take part in operations, almost invariably working in his own, extremely tight, active service unit, though occasionally when requested - as he frequently was - assisting other units in neighbouring areas with specific operations.
The operation which led to the capture of Raymond, his boyhood friend Danny McGuiness, and Patrick Quinn, took place on June 25th 1976.
An active service unit comprising these three and a fourth Volunteer arrived in a commandeered car at a farmyard in the townland of Sturgan - a mile from Camlough - at about 9.25 p.m.
Their objective was to ambush a covert Brit observation post which had located opposite the Mountain House Inn on the main Newry-Newtownhamilton Road, half-a-mile away, They were not aware, however, that another covert British observation post had already spotted the four masked, uniformed and armed Volunteers, clearly visible below them, and that radioed helicopter reinforcements were already closing in. As the fourth Volunteer drove the commandeered car down the road to the agreed ambush point, to act as a lure for the Brits, the other three, moved down the hedgeline of the fields into position. The fourth Volunteer, however, as he returned, as arranged, to rejoin his comrades, spotted the British paratroopers on the hillside closing in on his unsuspecting friends and, although armed only with a short-range Sten gun, opened fire to warn the others.
Immediately, the Brits opened fire with SLRs and light machine guns, churning up the ground around the Volunteers with hundreds of rounds, firing into the nearby farmhouse and two vehicles parked outside, and killing a grazing cow!
The fourth Volunteer was struck by three bullets, in the leg, arm and chest but managed to crawl away and elude the massive follow-up search, escaping safely - though seriously injured - the following day.
Raymond and Paddy Quinn ran zig-zag across open fields to a nearby house, under fire all the time, intending to commandeer a car.
The house in which Raymond and Paddy took cover was immediately besieged by berserk paratroopers who riddled the house with bullets. Even when the two Volunteers surrendered after the arrival of a local priest and came out through the front door with their hands up, the Paras opened fire again and the pair were forced to retreat back into the house.
On the arrival of the RUC, the two Volunteers again surrendered and were taken to Bessbrook barracks where they were questioned and beaten for three days before being charged.
After nine months on remand in Crumlin Road Jail, Raymond was tried and convicted, in March 1977, of attempting to kill Brits, possession of a Garand rifle and ammunition and IRA membership. He received a fourteen-year sentence, and lesser concurrent sentences, after refusing to recognise the court.
In the H-Blocks he immediately joined the blanket protest, and so determined was his resistance to criminalisation that he refused take his monthly visits for four years, right up until he informed his family of his decision to go on hunger-strike, on February 15th. He also refused to send out monthly letters, writing only smuggled 'communications' to his family and friends.
Like Francis Hughes, Raymond volunteered for the earlier hunger strike and, when he was not chosen among the first seven, took in the four-day hunger strike by thirty republicans until the hunger strike ended on December 18th, last year.
To Britain's eternal shame, the sombre half-prediction made by Raymond to his friend Paddy Quinn - "Ta seans ann go mbeidh me sa romhat, a chara" (there is a chance that I'll be home before you, my friend) - became a grim reality.
Raymond died at 2.00 a.m. on Thursday May 21st 1981 after sixty-one days on hunger strike.
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Patsy O'Hara
Twenty-three year old Patsy O'Hara, from Derry City, was the former leader of the Irish National Liberation Army prisoners in the H-Blocks and joined IRA Volunteer Raymond McCreesh on hunger-strike on March 22nd, three weeks after Bobby Sands and one week after Francis Hughes.
Patsy O'Hara was born on July 11th 1957, at Bishop Street in Derry City. His parents owned a small public house and grocery shop above which the family lived. His eldest brother, Sean Séamus, was interned in Long Kesh for almost four years. The second eldest in the family, Tony, was imprisoned in the H-Blocks - throughout Patsy's hunger-strike - for five years before being released in August of this year having served his full-five year sentence with no remission. The youngest in the O'Hara family is twenty-one year old Elizabeth.
Derry, October 5th 1968, when the RUC baton-charged peaceful civil rights protestors, had a profound effect on young Patsy. Later, Patsy was to write about this incident: "The mood of the crowd was one of solidarity. People believed they were right and that a great injustice had been done to them. The crowds came in their thousands from every part of the city and as they moved down Duke Street chanting slogans, 'One man, one vote' and singing 'We shall overcome', I had the feeling that a people united and on the move were unstoppable."
In 1970, Patsy joined Fianna Eireann, drilled and trained in Celtic Park.
When only fourteen years of age Patsy was shot by a British soldier and was wounded in the leg. Between then and 1979 he was to experience much personal harassment.
On January 30th 1972, his father took him to watch the big anti-internment march as it wound its way down from the Creggan. "I struggled across a banking but was unable to go any further, I watched the march go up into the Brandywell. I could see that it was massive. The rest of my friends went to meet it but I could only go back to my mother's house and listen to it on radio," said Patsy.
Shortly after Bloody Sunday, Patsy joined the 'Republican Clubs' and was active until 1973. 'When it became apparent that they were firmly on the path to reformism and had abandoned the national question".
In 1974, Patsy was arrested and interned three days after his seventeenth birthday. Shortly after his release in April 1975, Patsy joined the ranks of the fledgling Irish Republican Socialist Party. He was free only about two months when he was stopped by the Brits and framed with having a stick of gelignite. He was remanded in custody for six months, the first trial being stopped due to unusual RUC ineptitude at framing him. At the end of the second trial he was acquitted and released after spending six months in jail.
In September 1976, he was again arrested in the North and, along with four others, charged with possession of a weapon but the charge was withdrawn after four months. In June 1977, he was imprisoned for the fourth time. On this occasion, after a seven-day detention in Dublin's Bridewell, he was charged with holding a Garda at gunpoint. He was released on bail six weeks later and was eventually acquitted in January 1978.
In January 1979, he moved back to Derry but was arrested on May 14th 1979 and was charged with possessing a hand grenade. In January 1980, he was sentenced to eight years in jail and went on the blanket. Writing shortly before the hunger strike began, Patsy O'Hara grimly declared: "The real criminals are the British imperialists who have thrived on the blood and sweat of generations of Irish men. They have maintained control of Ireland through force of arms and there is only one way to end it. I would rather die than rot in this concrete tomb for years to come".
Patsy O'Hara died at 11.29 p.m. on Thursday May 21st - on the same day as Raymond McCreesh with whom he had embarked on the hunger-strike sixty-one days earlier. Even in death his tortures would not let him rest. When the O'Hara family received his remains in the early hours of the following morning, his nose had been broken and his corpse bore several burn marks inflicted after his death.
In memory of Joe McDonnell 1951 - 1981
July 8th, 2006 - 25th Anniversary.
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.Joe McDonnell
THE FOURTH IRA Volunteer to join the hunger-strike for political status was Joe McDonnell, a 30- year-old married man with two children, from the Lenadoon housing estate in West Belfast.
As an active republican before his capture in October 1976, Joe was regarded by his comrades as a cool and efficient Volunteer who did what he had to do and never talked about it afterwards.
He was a good friend of the late Bobby Sands, with whom he was captured while on active service duty, and it was predictable, as well as fitting, that when Bobby died, Joe volunteered to take Bobby's place and continue that fight.
His determination and resolve in that course of action can be gauged by the fact that never once, following his sentencing to fourteen years imprisonment in 1977 did he put on the prison uniform to take a visit, seeing his wife and family only after he commenced his hunger-strike.
Joe and Goretti, who also comes from Andersonstown, married in St.Agnes' chapel in 1970, and moved in to live with Goretti's sister and her family in Horn Drive in Lower Lenadoon.
At that time, however, they were one of only two nationalist households in what was then a predominantly loyalist street and, after repeated instances of verbal intimidation, in the middle of the night, a loyalist mob broke down the doors and wrecked the houses, forcing the two families to leave.
The McDonnells eventually got the chance to squat in a house being vacated in Lenadoon Avenue.
Internment had been introduced shortly before, and in 1972, Joe was dragged from the house, hit in the eye with a rifle butt and bundled into a British army jeep. Joe was taken to the prison ship Maidstone and later to Long Kesh internment camp, where he was held for several months. On his release Joe joined the IRA's Belfast Brigade.
Both during his first period of internment, and his second, longer, internment in 1973, as well as the periods when he was free, the McDonnells' home in Lenadoon was a constant target for British army raids.
His capture took place in October 1976 following a firebomb attack on the Balmoral Furniture Company in Upper Dunmurray Lane, near the Twinbrook estate in West Belfast.
Unfortunately, following the attack, the escape route of some of the Volunteers involved was blocked by a car placed across the road.
During an ensuing shoot-out with Brits and RUC, two republicans were wounded; and four others, including Joe McDonnell and Bobby Sands were arrested in a car not far away.
Rough treatment during their interrogation in Castlereagh failed to make any of the four sign a statement. A single revolver was found in the car, and at the men's subsequent trial in September 1977 all four received 14-year sentences for possession when they refused to recognise the court.
Incarcerated in H5-Block, Joe acted as 'scorcher' (an anglicised form of the Irish word, scairt, to shout) shouting the scéal, or news from his block to the adjoining one about a hundred yards away.
In June 1981, Joe was a candidate during the general election in the south, in the Sligo/Leitrim constituency, in which he narrowly missed election by 315 votes.
At 5.11am on July 8th 1981, Joe McDonnell died after 61 days of agonising hunger-strike rather than be criminalised.
In memory of
Martin Hurson 1956 - 1981
July 13th, 2006 - 25th Anniversary.
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Martin Hurson
'A hard-working and extremely likeable republican'
Martin was born on September 13th, 1956, in the townland of Aughnaskea, Cappagh, near, Dungannon, the eighth of nine children
A 'typical' country lad in many ways, part of a very close and good-humoured family, Martin was a quiet, very religious, and easy-going young man.
Although the family did not discuss politics, and internment did not affect anyone from the Cappagh area, it was impossible not to be keenly aware of British oppression.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, November 9th, 1976, a series of British army and RUC swoops in the Cappagh district of Dungannon in East Tyrone led to the arrest from their homes of three young local men. Two days later, November 11th, in similar dawn swoops in the area, four other men, including Martin Hurson, were arrested from their homes.
Over the next few days all seven men were tortured and interrogated about IRA operations in East Tyrone since 1972.
Martin was beaten about the head, back and testicles, spread-eagled against a wall and across a table, slapped, punched and kicked. He heard screams from a comrade as he was being tortured in an adjoining room.
To escape the torture, Martin signed statements admitting involvement in republican activity.
He was charged with a landmine explosion at Galbally in November 1975. This charge was later dropped, but he was then further charged with IRA membership, possession of the Galbally landmine, conspiracy to kill members of the enemy forces, causing an explosion at Cappagh in September 1975, and possession of a landmine at Reclain in February 1976 which exploded near a passing UDR Landrover. During his trial in November 1976 the judge dismissed doctor's evidence about the extent of Martins injuries and sentenced him to 20 years.
Martin went straight on the blanket and On May 29th, 1981, he joined the hunger-strike, replacing South Derryman Brendan McLoughlin, forced to drop out because of a burst stomach ulcer.
In the general election, in June 1981, Martin was a candidate in Longford/Westmeath and obtained almost 4,500 first preference votes.
Having seriously deteriorated after 40 days on hunger-strike, he was unable to hold down water and died a horrifically agonising death after only 44 days on hunger-strike, at 4.30am on Monday, July 13th.
In memory of Kevin Lynch 1956 - 1981
August 1st, 2006 - 25th Anniversary.
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Kevin Lynch
'A loyal, determined republican with a great love of life'
THE EIGHTH republican to join the hunger-strike for political status, on May 23rd, following the death of Patsy O'Hara, was 25-year-old fellow INLA Volunteer Kevin Lynch from the small North Derry town of Dungiven who had been imprisoned since his arrest in 1976.
A well-known and well-liked young man in the closely knit community of his home town, Kevin was remembered chiefly for his outstanding ability as a sportsman, and for qualities of loyalty, determination and will to win which distinguished him on the sports field and which, in heavier times and circumstances, were his hallmarks as an H-Block blanket man on hunger-strike to the death.
Kevin Lynch was born on May 25th, 1956, the youngest of a family of eight, in the tiny village of Park eight miles outside of Dungiven.
His great passion was Gaelic games. He played right halfback for St.Patrick's hurling club, and later on, while working in England, he was a reserve for the Dungiven senior football team in the 1976 County Derry final.
The qualities Kevin is remembered for as a sportsman were his courage and determination, his will to win, and his loyalty to his team mates. Not surprisingly, the local hurling and football clubs were fully behind Kevin and his comrades in their struggle for the five demands.
Shortly after he returned from England he was stopped outside a local dance. He and nine other young lads were put up against a wall by British soldiers and given a bad kicking, two of the lads being brought to the barracks.
Kevin joined the INLA around this time, maybe because of this incident in part, but almost certainly because of his national awareness, he was determined to stand up both for himself and his friends.
However, within the short space of little more than three months, Kevin's active republican involvement came to an end. Following an ambush outside Dungiven, in November 1976, in which an RUC man was slightly injured, the RUC moved against those it suspected to be INLA activists in the town.
Kevin was arrested at home and taken straight to Castlereagh and, after three days questioning was charged and taken to Limavady to be remanded in custody by a special court. The string of charges included conspiracy to disarm members of the enemy forces, taking part in a punishment shooting, and the taking of 'illegal held' shotguns.
Following a year on remand in Crumlin Road jail, Belfast, he was tried and sentenced to ten years in December 1977. Kevin immediately joined the blanket men in H3, and eventually found himself sharing a cell with his Dungiven friend and comrade, Liam McCloskey.
After they were sentenced in 1977, both Dungiven men suffered their share of brutality from Crumlin Road and Long Kesh prison warders, Kevin being 'put on the boards' for periods of up to a fortnight, three or four times.
His former H-Block comrade, Eunan Brolly, remembers how Kevin once put up with raging toothache for three weeks rather than come off the protest to get dental treatment.
In the elections in June 1981, Kevin stood as a candidate in the Waterford constituency, collecting 3,337 first preference votes.
Kevin died in Long Kesh hospital on 1st August 1981 after 71 days on hunger strike.
In memory of Kieran Doherty 1955 - 1981
August 2nd, 2006 - 25th Anniversary.
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Kieran Doherty
'A dedicated republican and an outstanding soldier'
WHEN the family, friends and former comrades of 25-year-old Belfast IRA Volunteer Kieran Doherty learnt that he was joining the H-Block hunger-strike, as a replacement for Raymond McCreesh, it came as no surprise to them.
Although Kieran had spent seven of the last ten years imprisoned, his complete selflessness and his relentless dedication to the liberation struggle left no-one in any doubt that Kieran would volunteer for this terrible and lonely confront ion with British rule inside the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. In December 1980, he was amongst those 30 prisoners who were on hunger-strike for four days prior to the ending of the original seven-strong strike.
Kieran was born on October 16th, 1955, in Andersonstown, the third son in a family of six children. His great uncle, Ned Maguire, had taken part in the famous IRA roof-top escape from Belfast's Crumlin Road jail in 1943.
And his uncle, Gerry Fox, was part of the famous Crumlin Road jail 'football team', who escaped by climbing over the wall in 1972.
Kieran's own childhood was relatively ordinary. He loved sport more than anything else, and was always out playing Gaelic football, hurling or soccer.
Kieran went to St. Theresa's primary school, then moved to the Christian Brothers secondary school on the Glen Road, where he studied until the age of 16.
A keen Gaelic footballer, he won an Antrim Minor medal in 1971 for St. Theresa's GAC.
He joined Fianna Eireann in the autumn of 1971.
He was reliable, quick on the job, and was obviously giving the best of himself to every task assigned him with the aim of being noticed and recruited for the IRA as quickly as was possible. His two older brothers, Michael and Terence, were interned in Long Kesh, and the family home was often raided and wrecked.
Early in 1973 he was arrested, taken to Castlereagh, and then interned in Long Kesh where he spent over two years until his release in November 1975. He was among the last internees released.
He reported back to the IRA immediately. Always eager to operate, he was included in a team of Volunteers from around Rossnareen which gave the British army in Andersonstown many sleepless nights until a wave of arrests in the summer of 1976.
As the IRA/British army truce petered out at the beginning of 1976, 'Big Doc', as he was known by all, soon had to move out of his parents' house. Raids were at least a fortnightly occurrence, with furniture wrecked and floorboards lifted.
In August 1976, as Kieran and his unit were on a bombing mission, the van in which they were travelling was chased by the RUC near Balmoral Avenue in Belfast.
Kieran got out of the van and commandeered a car, which he left some streets away and walked off.
Meanwhile, the others in the van were cornered and subsequently arrested.
The RUC picked Kieran up one-and-a-half miles away from the scene, unarmed.
He was later charged with possession of firearms and explosives and commandeering the car.
On remand in Crumlin Road jail he met Francis Hughes and developed a great admiration for him. Friends often speak of the similarities between the two, always defiant, always fighting, born free.
In Crumlin Road, Kieran was often 'on the boards' as punishment for his refusal to acknowledge the warders in any way. He carried this attitude into the H-Blocks after he was sentenced, in January 1978, to 18 years imprisonment for possession, and four years for commandeering the car.
Kieran joined the blanket protest immediately as did those comrades sentenced with him.
Recollections of Kieran's experiences in the H-Blocks give an impression for relentless conflict between himself and the warders, who made him a target both because of his height and because of his stubborn defiance of the prison regime.
He always refused to submit to the anal searches over the mirror before and after visits and was beaten for this.
In June 1981, in the general election, Kieran was elected TD for Cavan/Monaghan constituency with 9,121 first preference votes.
To a friend who visited him after the first hunger-strike, which ended in December 1980, Kieran said: '"They (the warders) are really rubbing our noses in it. By God, they will not rub mine!"
Asked whether he would not settle down - after all, with five years already served and with remission, another six years would soon be over, he replied: "Remission has nothing to do with it. There is much more than that involved."
So he went on hunger-strike on Friday, May 22nd, 1981 as undaunted and full of fighting spirit as when he roamed free on the streets of Andersonstown.
He died on the 73rd day of hunger strike on 2nd August 1981.
In memory of Thomas McElwee 1957 - 1981
August 8th, 2006 - 25th Anniversary.
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Thomas McElwee
'Sincere, easygoing and full of fun'
THE TENTH republican to join the hunger-strike was 23-year-old IRA Volunteer Thomas McElwee, from Bellaghy in South Derry. He had been imprisoned since December 1976, following a premature explosion in which he lost an eye.
Thomas McElwee, the fifth of twelve children, was born on November 30th, 1957, into the small, whitewashed home built by his father, along the Tamlaghtduff Road in the parish of Bellaghy.
He got on pretty well at school. His favourite subjects were English and maths, and he was also good at geography and history.
At home he was quiet, and very good natured.
He was also, however, very much an outdoor person, and although more serious than Benedict, his brother (who would usually have started off the devilment the pair got involved in), he was full of fun, with a strong sense of humour and adventure.
Though full of life, there was a serious, reflective side to Thomas.
He enjoyed playing records, often of traditional music, sometimes of republican ballads, at a time when the 'troubles' had barely begun. He joined Fianna Eireann when he was only 14, and later joined the independent unit led by his cousin, Francis Hughes, which concentrated on defence of the local area and ambushes of British forces, before it was recruited in its entirety into the IRA.
Thomas had a reputation of a dedicated and principled republican who knew what he was about, and knew moreover what he was fighting to ultimately achieve.
Because of his discretion as a republican, and, doubtless, good luck as well, Thomas - unlike Francis Hughes - was not forced to go 'on the run' and continued to live at home.
Although not 'on the run' Thomas was still subject to the extreme harassment at the hands of the Brits and the RUC that began to be felt in the area in the mid-70s, even before the IRA's military campaign in the South Derry countryside.
The McElwees' home was first raided in 1974, and Thomas was arrested under Section Ten, for three days. That time, it was over 24 hours later before the family learned that Thomas was being held in Ballykelly interrogation centre. On another occasion, both he and Benedict were arrested, and taken to Coleraine barracks, after a raid on their home.
The last time that the family would be together, however, was on the evening of October 8th, 1976. That evening the 'Stations' took place in the McElwees' home, a country tradition of saying Mass in one house in every townland during Lent and during the month of October.
The following afternoon his sister Kathleen answered the phone, to be told that both Thomas and Benedict were in the Wavery hospital in Ballymena following a premature bomb explosion in a car in the town, shortly beforehand.
In the explosion, Thomas lost his right eye. Benedict, fortunately, suffered only from shock and superficial burns. One week before Christmas, both brothers were charged and sent to Crumlin Road jail.
At their subsequent trial in September 1977 Thomas was convicted, although he made no statements, not only of possession of explosives but also for the killing of a woman who accidentally died in a bomb attack elsewhere in Ballymena that day.
The 'murder' conviction was, on appeal, reduced to manslaughter. However, a 20-year sentence remained, and Thomas returned to the blanket protest he had joined immediately after his trial, in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh.
Their imprisonment was particularly harsh for the McElwee brothers, who were frequently singled out for brutality by prison warders, outraged at the stubborn refusal of the two to accept any form of criminal status.
They were split up and had hardly any opportunity to see each other at all for over two years.
On one occasion, Thomas was put on the boards for 14 days for refusing to a call a prison warder 'sir'.
Thomas McElwee died at 11.30am on Saturday, August 8th, 1981 after 62 days of slow, agonising hunger-strike with no company other than prison warders, colleagues of those who had brutalised, degraded and tortured him for three-and-a-half years.
In memory of Michael Devine 1954 - 1981
August 20th, 2006 - 25th Anniversary.
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Micky Devine
'A typical Derry lad'
TWENTY-seven-year-old Micky Devine, from the Creggan in Derry city, was the third INLA Volunteer to join the H-Block hunger-strike to the death.
Micky took over as a O/C of the INLA blanket men in March 1981, when the then O/C, Patsy O'Hara, joined the hunger-strike. He retained this leadership post when he joined the hunger-strike himself.
Known as 'Red Micky', his nickname stemmed from his ginger hair rather than his political complexion, although he was most definitely a republican socialist.
The story of Micky Devine is not one of a republican 'super-hero' but of a typical Derry lad whose family suffered all of the ills of sectarian and class discrimination inflicted upon the Catholic working-class of the city: poor housing, unemployment and lack of opportunity.
Micky himself had a rough life. His father died when Micky was a young lad; he found his mother dead when he was only a teenager; married young, his marriage ended in separation; he underwent four years of suffering 'on the blanket' in the H-Block; and finally, the torture of hunger-strike.
Michael James Devine was born on May 26th, 1954, in the Springtown camp, on the outskirts of Derry City, a former American army base from the Second World War, which Micky himself described as "the slum to end all slums". Hundreds of families - 99% (unemployed) Catholics, because of Derry corporation's sectarian housing policy - lived, or rather existed, in huts, which were not kept in any decent state of repair by the corporation.
During the 1950s, the Creggan was built as a new Catholic ghetto, but it was 1960 before the Devines got their new home in Creggan, on the Circular Road. Micky had an unremarkable but reasonably happy childhood.
However, when Micky was aged only 11, his father fell ill; and six weeks later, in February 1966, died of leukaemia. Micky had been very close to his father, and his premature death left him heartbroken.
The first civil rights march in Derry took place on October 5th, 1968, when the sectarian RUC batoned several hundred protesters at Duke Street. Recalling that day, Micky, who was then only 14, wrote: "Like every other young person in Derry my whole way of thinking was tossed upside down by the events of October 5th, 1968. I didn't even know there was a civil rights march. I saw it on television.
"But that night I was down the town smashing shop windows and stoning the RUC. Overnight, I developed an intense hatred of the RUC. As a child I had always known not to talk to them or to have anything to do with them, but this was different.
Within a month everyone was a political activist. I had never had a political thought in my life, but now we talked of nothing else. I was by no means politically aware, but the speed of events gave me a quick education."
On two occasions in 1969, Micky ended up at the wrong end of an RUC baton, and consequently in hospital.
That summer Micky left school. British troops had arrived in August 1969, in the wake of the 'Battle of the Bogside'. 'Free Derry' was maintained more by agreement with the British army than by physical force, but of course there were barricades, and Micky was one of the volunteers manning them with a hurley.
At that time, and during 1970 and 1971, Micky became involved in the civil rights movement, and with the local (uniquely militant) Labour Party and the Young Socialists. At the age of 17 he joined the 'Officials', also known as the 'Sticks'. He became a member of the James Connolly 'Republican Club', and then, shortly after internment, a member of the Derry Brigade of the 'Official IRA'.
'Free Derry' had become known by that name after the successful defence of the Bogside in August 1969, but it really became 'Free Derry', in the form of concrete barricades, etc., from internment day. Micky was amongst those armed volunteers who manned the barricades.
Bloody Sunday, January 30th, 1972, when British paratroopers shot dead 13 unarmed civil rights demonstrators in Derry (a 14th died later from wounds received), was a turning point for Micky. From then there was no turning back on his republican commitment. He gradually lost interest in his work, and he was to become a full-time political and military activist.
From around this time, until May when the 'Official IRA' leadership declared a unilateral ceasefire, Micky was involved not only in defensive operations but in various gun attacks against British troops. Micky's commitment and courage had shone through, but no more so than in the case of scores of other Derry youths, flung into adulthood and warfare by a British army of occupation.
In September, 1972, came the second tragic loss in Micky's family life. He came home one day to find his mother dead on the settee, with his granny unsuccessfully trying to revive her. His mother had died of a brain tumour at the age of 45.
Towards the end of that year, Micky, then aged 19, got married. His wife Margaret was only 17. They lived in Ranmore Drive in Creggan and had two children; Michael and Louise.
Micky and his wife later separated.
In late 1974, virtually all the 'Sticks' in Derry, including Micky, joined the newly formed Irish Republican Socialist Party, as did some who had dropped out over the years. Micky became a founder member of the PLA (People's Liberation Army), formed to defend the IRSP from murderous attacks by their former comrades in the 'Sticks'.
In early 1975, Micky became founder member of the INLA (Irish National Liberation Army) formed for offensive operational purposes out of the PLA.
Micky was eventually arrested in the Creggan on the evening of September 20th, 1976, after an arms raid earlier that day on a private weaponry, in Lifford, County Donegal, from which the INLA commandeered several rifles and shotguns and 3,000 rounds of ammunition.
He was held and interrogated for three days in Derry's Strand Road barracks, before being transported to Crumlin Road jail in Belfast, where he spent nine months on remand.
He was sentenced to 12-years imprisonment on June 20th, 1977, and immediately embarked on the blanket protest. He was in H-Block 5 until March 1981, when the hunger-strike began and when the 'no-wash, no-slop-out' protest ended, whereupon he was moved with others in his wing to H6-Block.
On Sunday, June 21st, 1981, he completed his fourth year on the blanket, and the following day he joined Joe McDonnell, Kieran Doherty, Kevin Lynch, Martin Hurson, Thomas McElwee and Paddy Quinn on hunger-strike. He became the seventh man in a weekly build up from a four-strong hunger-strike team to eight-strong. He was moved to the prison hospital on Wednesday, July 5th, his 24th day on hunger-strike.
He died at 7.50am on Thursday, August 20th, 1981, as nationalist voters in Fermanagh/South Tyrone were beginning to make their way to the polling booths to elect Owen Carron a member of parliament for the constituency in a demonstration - for the second time in less than five months - of their support for the prisoners' demands.
