1. Hunger strikes 1980 1981 Ireland in Schools Durham Pilot Scheme
Raymond McCartney, 1980

2. What were the hunger strikes about?
Culmination of conflict over the status of republican prisoners
Criminals or prisoners of war?
Defined nature of conflict in Northern Ireland
Local issue of law & order or colonial war of global interest?
Terrorists or freedom fighters in long republican tradition
Questioned nature of British justice in Northern Ireland
Nature of courts
Behaviour of police & prison authorities
Three phases of protest
Blanket protest, 1976
‘Dirty protest’, 1978
Hunger strikes: 1980 & 1981 (10 died)

3. Chronology
1 May Special category status for paramilitary prisoners for
certain offences withdrawn
Such prisoners now regarded as criminals
14 Sept. IRA Blanket protest begins
Mar. Dirty protest begins
26 Mar. End of special category status for all paramilitary prisoners
27 Oct. First wave of hunger strikes by IRA begins
18 Dec. First hunger strike ends
1 Mar. Second wave hunger strikes by IRA & INLA* begins led by
Bobby Sands, IRA commander in the Maze prison
9 Apr. Bobby Sands elected to Westminster
5 May Bobby Sands dies – 9 more die subsequently
29 July Compromise refused by hunger strikers
31 July First family intervention – Paddy Quinn taken off hunger strike
20 Aug. 10th & last hunger striker dies
3 Oct. Second wave of hunger strikes ends
6 Oct. Government announces changes in prison regime
* Irish National Liberation Army

4. Republican view of British justice in Northern Ireland
A cartoon from Republican News, published in Belfast,
June 1980.
Diplock courts did not have juries, because of the problem in Northern Ireland of witnesses
being intimidated.
The case was
tried by a judge.

6. Where were paramilitaries held?
HM Prison Maze, near Belfast
aka The H Blocks, Long Kesh or The Maze or, in Irish, Ceis Fada
Arranged in distinctive H-shaped blocks
Run as a prisoner of war camp
Internees lived in dormitories
disciplined themselves with military-style command structures
drilled with dummy guns made from wood
held lectures on guerrilla warfare and revolutionary politics
1,500 prisoners, nationalists & loyalists in 1978

8. Maze prison
1970s
Inside the loyalist
UVF compound

9. Why were prisoners given such freedom?
Since July 1972 not regarded as ordinary criminals
After hunger strike in Crumlin Road Gaol, 1971
Special Category Status (SCS) given to all prisoners convicted of scheduled terrorist crimes
Effectively prisoner of war status with some POW ‘privileges’ as in Geneva Convention
Not to have to wear prison uniforms or do prison work
Housed within their various paramilitary factions
Allowed extra visits & food parcels
SCS withdrawn, 1 March 1976

10. Why did government withdraw SCS?
Change of security policy to ‘re-position’ conflict
Ulsterisation
Reduce role of the British Army in favour of RUC, etc.
Show NI conflict was an internal, rather than a colonial, problem in the eyes of the world
Criminalisation
Paramilitaries common criminals engaging in criminal acts of terrorism
Not 'political prisoners' involved in a political conflict

11. How well-informed was the new security policy?
Slow to recognise strength of view in Ireland that paramilitary activities were political, not criminal
Prisoners regarded themselves as soldiers fighting
legitimate & historic war for Ireland’s freedom
Wide support or sympathy for this view
‘I would like you to know that my son is not a criminal.
He was a bad boy and should not have shot that man.
But if I thought he was a criminal I would never allow him
to come inside my house again.’
Mrs McCloskey talking with Lord Gowrie, Minister of State for Northern Ireland, Sept. 1981,
just before taking her son, Liam, off his 46-day hunger strike

12. ‘That told me a great deal about the attitude and the mentality
of the Republican community.’
Jim Prior, new & more open-minded NI Secretary, Sept. 1981

13. How did republican prisoners first protest?
Blanket protest
Refused to wear prison uniforms
Wore only prison blanket
Started by Kieran Nugent, 15 Sept. 1976
First IRA member convicted after SCS withdrawn
Refused to wear prison uniform
Placed in cell naked except for prison blanket
Response of prison authorities
Denied non-conforming prisoners all privileges
No visits; No food parcels; No remission
Assaults by prison officers
Prisoners’ response
‘Dirty protest’, Mar. 1978

14. What was the dirty protest?
Began Mar. 1978
IRA prisoners continued to wear blankets instead of prison uniforms
Refused to leave cells & wash
Smeared cells with
Excrement
Menstrual blood (in Armagh women’s prison)
500 protesters by 1980

16. I lived like this from 1978 to 1981 - for three years.
I just smeared it on the wall. I ripped off a lump of the mattress to do it with.
You were going against your whole socialization of how you were brought up.
You were going against everything you'd ever learned about basic hygiene and manners and stuff like that.
I lived like this from 1978 to for three years.
After a time, you became accustomed to it. The maggots, for example. I mean, nobody likes maggots. You’d be repelled by them. I don’t think I could touch a maggot now. If there was one sitting here, you know, I’d flick it away or get somebody else to do it.
But you became so accustomed to them being in the cell, especially when winter was coming in and it was cold. They must sense where warmth is.
You were literally waking up in the morning and there were maggots in the bed with you. It just gets to the stage where you just brush them off.
I think the human spirit can become accustomed to any environment.
Gerard Hodgkins

17. What were the protesters’ demands?
Right to wear their own clothes
Right not to do prison work
Right to free association with other prisoners
Right to a weekly visit, letter & parcel and to organise educational & recreational activities
Restoration of remission lost through protest

23. What was the government response?
Withdrew political status for all paramilitary prisoners
People who may have once claimed an ideal
are
thugs and gangsters.
Roy Mason, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, 1978

24. How did the protesters respond to government refusal to restore SCS?
Dirty protest making no headway
Special category status even withdrawn from all paramilitaries
Escalated protest
2 waves of hunger strikes
27 Sept. – 18 Dec. 1980
1 Mar. – 3 Oct. 1981
Instigator
Brendan Hughes, OC H-Blocks
170 prisoners volunteered in 1980

25. What role had hunger strikes played in the republican past?
Irish republican hunger strikes
since 1917
12 men had previously died,
including
Thomas Ashe, 1917
Terence MacSwiney, 1920
Seán McCaughey, 1946
Michael Gaughan, 1974
Frank Stagg, 1976

26. What happened during the 1980 hunger strike?
Began 27 Oct. 1980
7 men went on hunger strike & 3 women at Armagh
Underestimated determination of Margaret Thatcher
Ended 18 Dec in mistaken expectation of concessions

27. Why were hunger strikes resumed in 1981?
Resumed 1 Mar. 1981
Discussions with government failing
Initiative taken by prisoners themselves
Leader – Bobby Sands, IRA commandant in the Maze
10 died
Ended 3 Oct.1981
Some concessions announced 6 Oct. 1981

28. Who died on hunger strike in 1981?
Bobby Sands (26) Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Member of Parliament (MP)
began hunger strike on 1 March 1981 and died on 5 May 1981 after 66 days without food
Francis Hughes (25) Irish Republican Army (IRA)
joined hunger strike on 15 March 1981 and died on 12 May 1981 after 59 days without food
Raymond McCreesh (24) Irish Republican Army (IRA)
joined hunger strike on 22 March 1981 and died on 21 May 1981 after 61 days without food
Patsy O'Hara (23) Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
Joe McDonnell (30) Irish Republican Army (IRA)
joined hunger strike on 8 May 1981 and died on 8 July 1981 after 61 days without food
Martin Hurson (29) Irish Republican Army (IRA)
joined hunger strike on 28 May 1981 and died on 13 July 1981 after 46 days without food
Keven Lynch (25) Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
joined hunger strike on ? May 1981 and died on 1 August 1981 after 71 days without food
Kieran Doherty (25) Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Teachta Dáil (TD; member of the Irish Parliament)
joined hunger strike on 22 May 1981 and died on 2 August 1981 after 73 days without food
Thomas McElwee (23) Irish Republican Army (IRA)
joined hunger strike on 8 June 1981 and died on 8 August 1981 after 62 days without food
Michael Devine (27) Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
joined hunger strike on 22 June 1981 and died on 20 August 1981 after 60 days without food

29. Why were they in prison? Bobby Sands IRA Possession of a firearm
Francis Hughes IRA Various offences, including murder of a soldier
Raymond McCreesh IRA Attempted murder, possession of a rifle, IRA membership
Patsy O’Hara INLA Possession of a hand grenade
Joe McDonnell IRA Possession of a firearm
Martin Hurson IRA Attempted murder, involvement in explosions, IRA membership
Kevin Lynch INLA Stealing shotguns, taking part in a punishment shooting
Kieran Doherty IRA Possession of firearms and explosives, hijacking
Thomas McElwee IRA Manslaughter
Michael Devine INLA Theft and possession of firearms

32. What was it like?
You’re very sleepy and very, very tired and you’re sort of nodding off to sleep but something’s telling you to keep waking up.
This was the thing that kept everybody going through the hunger strike in trying to live or last out as long as possible.
I knew death was close but I wasn’t afraid to die - and it wasn’t any sort of courageous or glorious thing.
I think death would have been a release.
You can never feel that way again.
It’s not like tiredness.
It’s an absolute, total, mental and physical exhaustion.
It’s literally like slipping into death.
Laurence McKeown taken off hunger strike by his family on 6 Sept on the 70th day.

33. Who was Bobby Sands?
Mar. born Rathcoole, predominantly Protestant part of Belfast
1972 Family moves to new Catholic estate because of Protestant intimidation
Joins PIRA
Arrested & imprisoned for 4 years for arms possession
1976 Arrested again after bomb attack on the Balmoral
Furniture Company Dunmurry, followed by a gun-battle
1977 Imprisoned for possession of a revolver from which bullets had been
fired at the police after the bombing
No evidence linking him with bomb attack
1978 PRO for blanket protesters
1979 Publishes short stories and poems in Republican News
under the pen-name ‘Marcella’, his sister’s name
1980 Commandant of IRA in Maze
Negotiates with authorities to no avail
Mar. begins hunger strike
9 Apr. elected MP for Fermanagh & South Tyrone
5 May dies on 66th day of hunger strike
7 May 70, ,000 attend his funeral

34. Why did Sands go on hunger strike?
I am a political prisoner
because I am a casualty of a perennial war
that is being fought between
the oppressed Irish people and
an alien, oppressive, unwanted regime
that refuses to withdraw from our land.
I believe and stand by the
God-given right of the Irish nation to sovereign independence, and
the right of any Irishman or woman
to assert this right in armed revolution.
That is why I am incarcerated, naked and tortured.
Bobby Sands, writing on the first day of his hunger strike

37. Why did Sands stand for election to Westminster?
Great publicity potential
Fermanagh & South Tyrone was winnable
Late member an independent, sympathetic to hunger strikers
Unionist opponent dour Fermanagh farmer
All other candidates opposed to Unionists withdrew

38. What was the result of election?
Victory for Bobby Sands
Turnout 86.9%
Sands 30,492 votes
West 29,046 votes
Majority 1,500 votes
Click on link below for video of BBC report on election*
Worldwide publicity for Sinn Fein & IRA
Encouraged other prisoners or supporters to stand
Westminster, August 1981:
Owen Carron filled Sands’ seat standing as
Proxy Political Prisoner candidate (prisoners now unable to stand)
Dáil Éireann, June 1981
Kieran Doherty (h/strike; d. 2 Aug.) (Cavan-Monaghan); Paddy Agnew (Louth)
But no change in government policy
Margaret Thatcher, prime minister, adamant
Introduced legislation preventing prisoners standing for parliament
Click on link below for video of Mrs Thatcher on ‘crime is crime’*
Mrs Thatcher said:
We are not prepared to consider special category status for certain groups of people serving sentences for crime.
Crime is crime
is crime,
it is not political.
* Requires internet connection

39. What was the reaction to his death?
British government
Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister
Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take
his own life. It was a choice that his organisation did
not allow to many of its victims.
Humphrey Atkins, Secretary for State for Northern Ireland
I regret this needless and pointless death.
Nationalist/Catholics
Rosaries & petrol bombs
Click on link below for video of BBC report on reactions in Belfast*
* Requires internet connection

40. Funeral of Bobby Sands

41. of their discredited cause, the men of violence have chosen
Faced with the failure
of their discredited cause,
the men of violence have chosen
in recent months to play
what may well be their last card.
Margaret Thatcher after 4 deaths, May 1981

42. Why did Margaret Thatcher remain adamant?
Continued IRA violence
Particularly influenced by murder in Derry of Protestant woman census worker, married with 2 young children, during election campaign – shot in back of head.
Ulster unionist opinion
‘She thought that if she gave way on it
this would have a very large impact on
the Protestant population.’
Jim Prior, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

43. Ulster Unionist view of hunger strikers & IRA
From 1981 pamphlet
Self-Inflicted
An Exposure of the H-Blocks Issue
by Peter Robinson of the DUP
The bombing on 17 February 1978 killed 12 & badly burned many more with a
huge fireball.
400 people, all Protestants and loyalists, were attending the annual dinner dance of the
Irish Collie Club.

44. Daily Express, 1981

45. What can be said for & against the views of Bobby Sands & Margaret Thatcher?
‘I am a political prisoner because I am a casualty of a perennial war that is being fought between the oppressed Irish people and an alien ... regime that refuses to withdraw from our land.’
Bobby Sands, writing on the first day
of his hunger strike, 1 March 1981
‘We are not prepared to consider special category status for certain groups of people serving sentences for crime. Crime is crime, it is not political.’
Margaret Thatcher, 21 April 1981

46. What public support was there for the hunger strikers at home & abroad?

48. Belfast

49. London

50. Dublin

51. NORAID, NY

52. Why did the hunger strikers refuse chance of settlement after 6th death?
July 1981
Government’s ‘Mountain Climber’ initiative offering concessions in writing, giving most of what had been demanded, was rejected.
IRA
Some thought IRA wanted to extract the maximum propaganda advantage from this ‘conveyor belt of death’
Prisoners
Anything less than what their comrades had died for
would be betrayal

53. We were committed to something.
Unless someone was coming in and saying
‘Right, you have your own clothes, you won’t do prison work, you have all your demands’,
short of that we wouldn’t have entertained it.
It was all or nothing at that stage.
The fact that so many people had died made us
even more determined.
Laurence McKeown, Hunger striker, recalling discussions in July 1981

54. Why did the hunger strikes stop on 3 October 1981?
Tireless work of Fr Denis Faul
Family determination not to let sons die
31 July – 26 Sept: 5 prisoners taken off hunger strike by families
Paddy Quinn
17 June: Quinn goes on hunger strike
31 July: Quinn’s mother asks for medical intervention
2 Aug: Quinn comes out of coma and says ‘Mummy, I’m sorry if I upset you.
It’s good to be alive.’
Only handful attend funeral of last hunger striker to die
‘Red’ Mickey Devine, died 20 Aug. 1981
Government even more willing to compromise
Paddy Quinn

55. How far did hunger strikers resent the intervention of their families?
Laurence McKeown, whose mother ended his hunger strike on the 70th day.
Interviewer How did you feel about your mother after she had taken you off?
Laurence McKeown
I didn’t feel any way different about her because I just knew that she had stood by me all that time anyway.
I could understand her point of view.
A number of people had made interventions.
She wasn’t politically committed to my ideas but she was committed to me as a son.
I certainly didn’t ever say anything to her that would have been hurtful.
I think much was left unspoken.

56. Why was the government more inclined to compromise?
Change of NI Secretary, 13 September 1981
Jim Prior replaced Humphrey Atkins
Prior impressed after visiting Liam McCloskey
McCloskey on 45 day of hunger strike
‘It had a profound effect on me. I expected to find someone who was very uptight and struggling and very uncomfortable.
But this man seemed to be serenely quiet and content
with himself and not in any particular pain.’

57. What terms were offered & accepted?
Series of partial concessions
announced by Jim Prior, 6 Oct. 1981
The concessions (* only partial gain for protesters)
Prisoners to wear own clothes all the time
50% remission of time lost through protests*
Greater freedom of association between adjacent wings of the H-blocks*
More visits
Review of definition of ‘prison work’*
Defeat/tragedy?
Almost same terms as on offer 3 months earlier, when only 6 had died
Had 4 men died needlessly?
Prior too sensible to claim victory

58. How did the hunger strikers feel when they gave up on 3 October 1981?
Gerard Hodgkins, who at its end had been fasting for twenty days, had mixed emotions.
The hunger strike had started out as a prison struggle for political status but it came to encapsulate the whole struggle for us. We believed that if we lost out on this one, we’d lost the war and everything that went with it. Everything we had sacrificed to date would have been in vain. We genuinely believed that we had to hold out. We hoped to salvage something.
On one hand you felt relieved that it was over, that you weren’t going to die. You were relieved for your family. On the other hand, you felt guilty: that you’d actually ended the hunger strike and you hadn’t achieved what you set out to achieve. Although you were going to live, you had to live in the knowledge that there were ten men dead who had set out on the same journey. You wonder, ‘Have I betrayed them? Have I betrayed their families?’ I would still think about it even to this day.

59. What were the consequences?
Human cost
Deaths of hunger strikers and many others
IRA Brighton bomb, 16 October 1984
Target was Margaret Thatcher; 5 people killed
Closer collaboration between London & Dublin
Strengthen constitutional nationalism against Sinn Fein
Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1985
Watershed in Sinn Fein history
Election victories paved way for more political approach
‘Armalite & ballot box strategy’
1982 General election: Gerry Adams took
West Belfast from the SDLP
Later overtook SDLP in Northern Ireland
Who here really believes that we can win the war through the ballot box?
But will anyone here object if with a ballot box in this hand and an Armalite in this hand we take power?
Danny Morrison
Sinn Fein’s PRO, 1981

63. Northern Ireland Assembly elections, 1998-2007 (108 seats)
Rise of Sinn Fein
at the expense of the
SDLP
DUP
UUP
Alliance
Others
SDLP
Sinn Féin
(2007)
Seats won
Vote share 36
30.1% 18
14.9% 7
5.2% 3
8.0% 16
15.2% 28
26.2%
(2003) 30
25.6% 27
22.7% 6
3.7%
7.5%
17.0% 24
23.5%
(1998) 20
18.14
21.25%
6.5% 9
8.67%
21.9%
17.63%
Northern Ireland Assembly elections, (108 seats)

64. ‘The hunger strike was a magnificent achievement.’
Power-sharing
Executive & Assembly
2007
How far would you agree with the Northern Ireland prison official who said that
‘The hunger strike was a magnificent achievement.’

65. Historians’ verdict
The hunger strikes transformed the political context of the Northern Ireland problem.
Now, republican prisoners appeared in the unfamiliar role of being prepared to accept suffering for their cause rather than simply inflicting suffering on its behalf.
The mass turnouts at the prisoners’ funerals revealed that the standing of the prisoners in Catholic areas had risen dramatically and this was soon reflected in a novel development, an impressive Sinn Féin electoral intervention.
By June 1983 Sinn Féin had obtained some 13.4% of the vote in the North which compared well with the SDLP’s 17.9%.
In the 2007 election to the Northern Ireland Assembly Sinn Féin far outstripped the SDLP. They won 26.2% of the vote and 28 seats to the SDLP’s 15.2% of the vote and 16 seats.
Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein’s number 2 and ex-IRA man, became Deputy leader of a new power-sharing Executive and Assembly, with a significant ‘Irish dimension.’
However, Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom.
Adapted from P. Bew & G. Gillespie, Northern Ireland. A Chronology of the Troubles