Second hunger strike
In January 1981 it became clear that the prisoners' demands had not in fact been conceded. Prison authorities began to supply the prisoners with official issue civilian clothing, whereas the prisoners demanded the right to wear their own clothing. On 4 February the prisoners issued a statement saying that the British government had failed to resolve the crisis and declared their intention of "hunger striking once more".[12] The second hunger strike began on 1 March 1981, when Bobby Sands, the IRA Officer Commanding (OC) in the prison, refused food. The political atmosphere outside the prisons became tense all over Ireland, with widespread rioting in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland.
Shortly after the beginning of the strike, Frank Maguire, the Independent Republican MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone died resulting in a high profile by-election.[13] Sands was nominated as an Anti H-Block candidate, and was elected to the British House of Commons on 9 April 1981 with 30,492 votes to 29,046 for the Ulster Unionist Party candidate Harry West.[14]
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.[13]
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:
|
|
Paramilitary |
Date
of
death |
Length of strike |
Reason for imprisonment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Bobby Sands MP |
IRA |
5 May |
66 days |
Possession of revolver from which bullets had been fired at police |
|
IRA |
12 May |
59 days |
Murder of soldier, wounding of soldier, various gun and bomb attacks |
|
|
IRA |
21 May |
61 days |
Attempted murder, possession of rifle, IRA membership |
|
|
INLA |
21 May |
61 days |
Possession of hand grenade |
|
|
IRA |
8 July |
61 days |
Possession of a firearm |
|
|
IRA |
13 July |
46 days |
Involvement in three landmine incidents |
|
|
INLA |
1 August |
71 days |
Stealing shotguns, taking part in punishment shooting |
|
|
IRA |
2 August |
73 days |
Possession of firearms and explosives, hijacking |
|
|
PIRA |
8 August |
62 days |
Manslaughter of civilian |
|
|
INLA |
20 August |
60 days |
Theft and arms possession |
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.[15][16] 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 the Irish Republican Socialist Party (the INLA's political wing) and People's Democracy (a Trotskyist group) won two seats each.[17]
The British parliament rushed through the Representation of the People Act 1981 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.[18]
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 several other families intervened, it became clear that the families of the remaining hunger strikers would intervene to save their lives, and the strike was called off on 3 October 1981.[13]
Recently the role of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has been questioned by former prisoner Richard O'Rawe, who was the public relations officer inside the prison during the strike. O'Rawe states in his book Blanketmen that Adams prolonged the strike as it was of great political benefit to Sinn Féin and allowed Owen Carron to win Sands' seat.[19][20] This claim is denied by several hunger strikers and Brendan McFarlane, who was OC during the hunger strike.[21]