For more information about the Troubles in the years prior to 1981, click here.
For more information about Ireland’s history of hunger striking, click here.
18 December 1980
The hunger strike of about 30 Republican prisoners, including members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), and prisoners in Armagh Women’s Prison, ended after negotiations with the British government progressed and strikers approached the brink of death. It later became clear that the British government would not concede any of the five demands to the prisoners, and had only entertained discussion with IRA representatives to end the strike.
1 March 1981
Bobby Sands, officer commanding of IRA prisoners in the H-block, began a new wave of hunger strikes. This date marked the fifth anniversary of the end of Special Category Status, which began the treatment of Republican inmates as common criminals rather than prisoners of war. Legal status and language were central to the H-block protests, not just because gaining POW status shows British recognition of insurgent forces in Northern Ireland as foreign entities, a clear concession in opposition with Unionism, but because “the rightful recognition of a political prisoner” protects inmates under the Geneva conventions, and would likely end much of the severe torture and degradation Long Kesh internees had to endure (Sands 219). Other prisoners in H-block transitioned the no-wash protest into a ‘clean’ blanket protest, not to draw attention away from the hunger strike.
15 March 1981
Francis Hughes, “an IRA legend” and former once the most wanted man in Ireland, joins Sands in his strike (Hunger Strike: Margaret Thatcher’s Battle 165).
22 March 1981
Raymond McCreesh, another IRA soldier, and Patsy O’Hara, the officer commanding of INLA prisoners in Long Kesh, began their hunger strikes. These four men make up the first wave of hunger strikers; more prisoners did not join the protest until after Sands’ death.
26 March 1981
Bobby Sands announced his candidacy in the by-election for a vacant parliamentary seat representing Fermanagh and South Tyrone in Northern Ireland. A coalition between nationalist parties in the area ensured that Sands would represent the only Republican choice, forcing voters to choose between voting for him, “a convicted terrorist,” and Harry West, the former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party.
9 April 1981
Bobby Sands was elected to Westminster with a 2.4% majority, shocking the system and revealing the depth of the sectarian divide in the North.
5 May 1981
Bobby Sands died after 66 days without food. His death drew international attention to the Northern Irish prisoners’ struggle, and helped create popular outrage about the harsh conditions and torture that Irish prisoners endure in Long Kesh. Over 100,000 people attended his funeral, and protests turned into riots in both the North and Republic of Ireland in the aftermath. The British government continued to refuse any concessions to the H-block prisoners, who, following Sands’ death, began to amplify and intensify the hunger strike.
8 May – 8 June 1981
Six prisoners joined the hunger strike as replacements for Hughes, McCreesh, and O’Hara, each of whom died after about 60 days without food. The hunger strikers’ cause continued to draw international attention in the wake of Sands’ death, both as a political and humanitarian issue.
11 June 1981
Two H-Block prisoners were elected to the Dáil Eireann, Kieran Doherty representing Cavan-Monaghan and Paddy Agnew representing Louth. Doherty was on the third week of his hunger strike. As IRA and INLA prisoners continued to die in Long Kesh, it became increasingly difficult for the Irish government to maintain its precarious position separate from Britain and Northern Ireland, especially as solidarity protests in the Republic and around the world criticized the government’s failure to intervene or adopt the prisoners’ struggle as its own.
15 June – 21 September 1981
Sinn Féin announced that a new prisoner would join the strike every week, and maintained this policy for thirteen weeks. As men joined the hunger strike, others saw the strike to its end and died of starvation. In total, 23 men participated in the hunger strike; 10 died, while six ended their strikes early for medical or familial reasons.
3 October 1981
The remaining prisoners announced the end of the hunger strike, once it became clear that their families would insist on medical intervention to save their lives. The blanket protest continued, but as it became apparent that the British would meet many aspects of the five demands, H-block inmates ended this action as well.