Irish Hunger Strikes Chapter 33

The fight for Joe McDonnell’s life

The McCreeshes and Liz O’Hara had dealt with An Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, in order to save Raymond and Patsy’s lives. He promised that neither would die. He did nothing to save them. Goretti McDonnell, Joe’s wife, and Eilish Reilly, Joe’s sister, had to deal with both Haughey and the new Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald. If Haughey was bad, and he was bad, Garret Fitzgerald was, according to Goretti, "one hundred times" worse.

Haughey’s Demise

Charles Haughey set up the elections so that hunger strike deaths would have the least effect possible. He knew what a volatile issue it could be based upon Bobby Sands’ election. The Irish people, even in the south, expected some progress in saving the lives of these young men from the Taoiseach. Even if the IRA campaign wasn’t popular, Margaret Thatcher was anathema to Irish sensibilities and it became a matter of saving Irish lives versus her stone like inflexibility and hatred for anything Irish.

So he called the election to take place in three weeks: too late to save Raymond and Pasty and too soon to have to worry very much about Joe McDonnell dying, who would be reaching crisis perhaps six weeks later.

But he lost anyway and here’s how.

Nine H-Block Candidates

Haughey didn’t count on the prisoners effectively running candidates in the southern elections. The Brits took care of that by banning prisoners from running for parliament just a week previous to avoid the embarrassment of loosing their seats to "terrorists" elected by the people. The Brit legislation was ironically called "The Representation of the People Bill" rather than "Those People That Can’t Represent the People Bill."

It would have been political death to propose such a move from Dublin, although it probably crossed their minds. As for the prisoners, they knew Fitzgerald, the leader of the more right wing Fine Gael party, could be the beneficiary of votes flowing to H-block candidates and away from Haughey’s party, Fianna Fail, but what did Haughey ever do that was worthwhile in terms of saving hunger strikers’ lives except to bring in the Human Rights Commission to get himself off the hook? The Commission’s intervention was useless and embarrassing to the families.

The hope of the H-block Committee was that if a hunger striker were to be elected to the Irish Dail, then whoever was Taoiseach would have to stand up to Maggie Thatcher.

Besides, the publicity was desperately needed. On 1 June, for example, just before the elections were called, a Granada television company special affairs program on the hunger strike was censored by the Independent Broadcasting Authority on grounds that a 20 second segment showing poor Patsy O’Hara’s mutilated body in his coffin was republican propaganda! Granada struck back by pulling the entire program in protest and replaced it with a public service program on the evils of smoking.

The H-block campaign for the Dail

The national H-block committee put up nine prisoner candidates; four of them were hunger strikers: Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch and Kieran Doherty. Blanketmen not on hunger strike were also represented, including Paddy Agnew.

Joe McDonnell stood for the Sligo/Leitrim constituency for the Dail from his prison hospital cell. But he had the best spokesperson in the world, his wife Goretti. She was not only an attractive person, she was passionate about her husband. She would always introduce herself at election rallies as "the very, very proud wife of Joe McDonnell." And then she would introduce their two children, Bernadette and Joseph, aged nine and ten. They touched the electorate’s hearts. She begged for votes to save her husband’s and their father’s life.

Goretti campaigned day and night, often with the children. Young Bernadette even went to America to find support, appearing on television and giving interviews. A nine year old!

All of the candidates’ representatives fought hard and furiously, given the short period of time allowed by Haughey, but nobody gave them much of a chance for gaining a single seat. Perhaps they would draw enough votes, however, to be noticed. If they failed to do decently, they would be hammered by the conservative Irish press. The British press would then pick on the bones.

As the campaign began, Charlie Haughey caught an egg with his face. A real Donegal "grade A" fired into his gob by an irate H-block supporter. There would be figurative eggs as well on Fianna Fail faces in three short weeks.

Kieran and Paddy TDs as Haughey Comes Tumbling Down

The night the election returns were announced, 12 June 1981, there was mayhem throughout the north and south. Kieran Doherty was in! Amazingly, Kieran was elected to the Dail for Cavan/Monaghan. Paddy Agnew was also elected from County Louth. Two H-block TDs was an unbelievable result. The campaign got started a week late as it was because of infighting between IRA and INlA supporters figuring out who would stand where. It was run on a shoe string -- the committee was previously banned by the Irish government to raise any funds by law. On top of that, the was constant garda special branch presence at the doorstep of the Dublin election headquarters, enough to scare off the good citizens of the so called Republic of Ireland. Of course, this "Republic" also had a total ban on media interviews with republicans as a result of the Irish Broadcasting Act.

It is tough to run a campaign without money or publicity and with hostile police asking questions and taking notes outside your headquarters.

Joe McDonnell, Kevin Lynch and Tony O’Hara [Patsy’s brother] did not top the polls, but did well enough to make a major impression.

It was, in fact, such an impression that it brought down the government around Haughey and brought Fine Gael to power. Kieran and Paddy replaced two Fianna Fail TDs and the H-block candidates votes all the way around was the difference.

Haughey had the blood of four men on his hands as far as republicans were concerned, so good riddance. They could not have anticipated that the new man they would be so responsible, indirectly, for bringing to power would have the deaths of six men on his conscience.

Irish Commission for Justice and Peace

The elections in the south provided hope for the hunger strikers and their families, so did the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace, which put forward on 3 June a three-part proposal for a solution based on improved conditions in prison clothing, work and association. The commission meet with Northern Ireland prisons minister Michael Alison several times during the month.

By the end of the month, the ICJP requested a meeting with Humphrey Atkins, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State. Just before the request, Atkins issued a 6 page statement calling for an end of the hunger strike before any concessions could be considered, i.e., the same old line that brought the 1980 hunger strike to an end and caused the deadly 1981 strike. The prisoners called the statement "arrogant and callous."

Garret Fitzgerald now was meeting with the families and telling them that their sons and siblings would not die. Six would.

Next: Garrett and the ICJP; Joe McDonnell’s last fight; and new men join the strike