ARCHIVES
Mickey Devine – 40th Anniversary
Mickey Devine was the last man—the tenth—to die on the epic 1981 hunger strike. Today is the fortieth anniversary of his death and it is a death, along with that of his nine comrades, that still resonates and impacts to this day with huge inspirational significance...
A SHARED STRUGGLE
A Shared Struggle— Stories of Palestinian & Irish Hunger Strikers is the latest publication from Belfast-based An Fhuiseog and is a unique book, bringing together for the first time the prison experiences of surviving Palestinian and Irish republican hunger...
Anniversary of Thomas McElwee
On 8 August 1981 Thomas McElwee from South Derry became the ninth man to die in the H-Block hunger strike. His cousin Francis Hughes had been the second man to die (eight days after Bobby Sands) and both cousins are buried together in the same cemetery in Bellaghy. In...
Kieran Doherty Remembered
Forty years ago today Kieran Doherty became the eighth blanket man to die on the seven-months’ long 1981 hunger strike. Kieran, from Andersonstown in West Belfast, was twenty-five-years old and had been on hunger strike for seventy-three days. After the introduction...
Kevin Lynch Remembered
On this day forty years ago twenty-five-year old Kevin Lynch from Dungiven became the seventh prisoner to die on the 1981 H-Block hunger strike after seventy one days without sustenance. Kevin was a member of the INLA when he was arrested in December 1976, charged...
Óglach Martin Hurson Remembered
There were a number of commemorations held in Tyrone for the fortieth anniversary of Martin Hurson, the sixth H-Block hunger striker to die in 1981. Martin, from Aughnaskea, aged twenty-four, died forty six days into his hunger strike on July 13th, 1981, and is buried...
‘Fuair Seosamh bás.’
Forty years ago today, IRA Volunteer Joe McDonnell became the fifth hunger striker to die in that epic seven-months’ long hunger strike. Joe also stood as an abstentionist candidate in that June’s general election in the South where two H-Block prisoners, Kieran...
The Friendship with Joe
Ciaran Quinn, Sinn Féin's North American representative, reviews Jaz McCann's prison memoir, 6000 Days, which was published earlier this year to widespread acclaim and takes its rightful place in the canon of enduring Irish republican prison writings. It is always a...
Bobby Sands’ Lecture
The Bobby Sands’ annual lecture took place at Áras Uí Chonghaile James Connolly Visitor Centre on the Falls Road in West Belfast on 9 May. Due to Covid restrictions the lecture was delivered in an online broadcast, featuring Bobby's school friend Mary McGinn; and...
Raymond & Patsy Remembered
On this day forty years ago, INLA Volunteer Patsy O’Hara and IRA Volunteer Raymond McCreesh, who had both begun the hunger strike on the same day, died within hours of each other in the prison hospital. Below are two tributes to the men. The first is a tribute by...
