Post-Civil War hunger-strikes
By Wayne Sugg
The Civil War in Ireland began in earnest on 28 June 1922 with
the fledgling state's attack on the republican outpost in the
Four Courts in Dublin. It ended with the ceasefire and dump arms
order on 23 May 1923 by the IRA's Chief of Staff Frank Aiken.
Eleven months of civil war were at an end, but even so six months
later the state continued to extract revenge on those who dared
challenge their new found `authority', keeping over 12,000 men
and women imprisoned, hounding others out of their country,
forcing them out of employment and harassing republicans in any
way, legal and illegal, they could.
By October of 1923 tension was building among the imprisoned
republicans because of the conditions in the jails and camps in
which they were incarcerated and because they were still
imprisoned with no release in sight. On 13 October they resolved
to begin a hunger-strike to highlight their demands and alleviate
their plight. The O/C of the republican POWs in Mountjoy Jail,
Michael Kilroy, announced a hunger-strike of 300 POWs in the
jail. The hunger-strike soon spread to the other jails and within
a matter of days 7,033 republicans were on hunger-strike. The
figures given by Sinn Féin at the time were Mountjoy Jail 462;
Cork Jail 70; Kilkenny Jail 350; Dundalk Jail 200; Gormanstown
Camp 711; Newbridge Camp 1,700; Tintown 1,2,3, Curragh Camp
3,390; Harepark Camp 100; and, 50 women in the North Dublin
Union.
This was not the first hunger-strike by republicans against the
treatment meted out by the Free State authorities. In February 23
members of Cumann na mBan, including Mary and Annie MacSwiney,
Lily Brennan and Nellie Ryan, sister-in-law of the Free State's
Commander-in-Chief and Defence Minister Richard Mulcahy, went on
hunger-strike for 34 days. This hunger-strike began because of
the illegal arrest and imprisonment without trial of some
prisoners. The hunger-strike resulted in the release of the women
hunger-strikers.
The Free State authorities were so disgusted at having been
forced to concede to the hunger-strikers' demands that a motion
was passed by them in parliament outlawing the release of
prisoners because of a hunger-strike. Two prisoners died on
hunger-strike before October, Joe Whitty (19) in the Curragh Camp
on 2 September and Dan Downey, who died in Curragh's Hospital
Wing on 10 June because of the effects of an earlier
hunger-strike.
The large numbers of POWs joining the October hunger-strike
instantly attracted the attention of the authorities. Despite
their earlier stance of ignoring any hunger-strikes the Free
State understood that because of the amount of republicans on the
protest this hunger-strike was different. If large amounts of
deaths occurred public opinion would swing away from the state to
the Republican Movement and could jeopardise the little stability
the state had gained.
The government decided to send a delegation under their
Vice-president Ernest Blythe to meet IRA officers in Newbridge
Camp to try to end the hunger-strikes. The delegations met at the
end of October and though it was the IRA officers' intention to
negotiate the hunger-strikers' demands it became clear that
Blythe was only there to convey a government message, ``we are not
going to force feed you, but if you die we won't waste coffins on
you; you will be put in orange boxes and you will be buried in
unconsecrated ground''. This was from the man who once stated that
any British soldier on Irish soil should be sent home in a
coffin. The meeting was quickly abandoned.
The large number of POWs going on hunger-strike was not only a
problem for the Free State authorities, but also for the IRA
leadership. The IRA Executive had little say in the
hunger-strike, being informed only after it began. Some IRA
officers within the prisons, such as Liam Pilkington and Joe
Harrington, sought to limit the number joining the protest, but
the request was turned down in case it caused bitterness among
the prisoners if one prisoner was picked over another. The IRA
Executive in consultation with the O/Cs of the prisoners in each
prison left the decision to join the protest or not to each
prisoner, but issued orders that those physically unfit should
not take part.
One such prisoner who was exempt due to continued bad health,
having been seriously wounded when captured, decided to ignore
the Army directive. He felt he should not be excused from the
protest when Volunteers as young as May Zambra (16) were willing
to lay their lives on the line for others.
The problem with the IRA's Executive's decision in leaving the
decision to participate or not with the individual was that some
took part in the hunger-strike without fully thinking its
implications through. Within weeks many were drifting off the
hunger-strike. In Cork the prisoners who came off the strike said
they'd been promised the release of 33 within 48 hours and the
remainder within three weeks. At the end of October there were
still 5,000 on hunger-strike who were determined to achieve their
aims.
But on 20 November, Commandant Dinny Barry of Blackrock, County
Cork, died after 34 days on hunger-strike in Newbridge Camp. A
1916 Volunteer who'd been interned in Frongoch, Dinny was the O/C
for the republican police in Cork's Ist Brigade area. The Free
State government in a statement said that his remains would
remain within official premises of the state. Within five days
however, that decision was reversed (it was legally
unsustainable as Dinny Barry had not been convicted of any crime
in the state's courts). His remains were handed to his relatives
and lay in state overnight in the Town Hall, Newbridge, before
being removed the following day to Cork, where they were interred
in the Republican Plot in St Finbar's Cemetery. The republican TD
David Kent recited prayers at the graveside as the Cork bishop,
Dr Daniel Cohalan, had refused to allow any priest to officiate
at the funeral.
On 22 November, Volunteer Andy Sullivan from County Cork died in
Mountjoy after 40 days on hunger-strike. His remains were
interred in Mallow Cemetery.
With the Free State authorities still refusing to grant
concessions to the POWs after the two tragic deaths, the IRA
command in the jails ended the hunger-strike on 23 November. Tom
Derrig, David Robinson and Liam Hearty were given passes to the
various jails to inform the POWs' O/Cs of the decision. Some
prisoners wanted to continue, especially those from Cork who'd
seen two of their fellow countymen die, but all agreed to obey
the order.
Though the strike itself failed it did set in motion a release
programme for the prisoners with the state being afraid of a
repeat of the strike the following year. Many prisoners were to
remain locked up, some not being released until as late as 1932.
Though the strike ended on 23 November 1923 its effects on the
participants lasted for years. Lack of adequate medical
attention, health complications and the conditions in which the
prisoners were held led to the untimely death shortly afterwards
of many, including May Zambra and Joe Lacey.
Two IRA Volunteers died on the mass hunger-strike which commenced
75 years ago this week.
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