Supporting the prisoners

Current female Republican Prisoner, Nuala Perry, on her involvement in supporting Republican Prisoners from a young age, and how her own parents were instrumental in raising much needed funds for Republican Prisoners. (for the IRPWA)

In terms of prisoners welfare it’s hard to pinpoint an actual starting point. Going back to the time of the United Irishmen, the level of support given to the relatives of political prisoners, or those who would perish on the scaffold was phenomenal.

In spite of the danger of any type of association with those engaged in acts of “treason” it did not deter those who had the capabilities to offer their help.

Incredibly dangerous times have often produced incredibly brave people. The type of people who will have more regard for someone else’s welfare than they will have for their own.

I would have been quite young when I first started collecting for political prisoners. Initially, myself and my friend Madeline were given a degree of supervision. However internment and mass arrests changed the entire political tapestry.

Our prisoner welfare collections were in the name of the PDF - Prisoners Dependents Fund.

I remember people being quite generous as we went from door to door. There were people who refused, however a lot of those who did were going through their own economic hardship. There was an atmosphere that stank with injustice. More and more arrests gave rise to increasing hardship and deprivation.

In the midst of the continuing chaos the organisation overseeing prisoners welfare became the Green Cross.

In our immediate area at least a dozen women took up the collections in the shops and bars. My mother was out most nights with her friend Lily. It was as if they had to keep up with the wider changes, changes that enjoyed the blessing of the Special Powers Act.

My mother had her first experience of prison when she was just two weeks old. My granda had been interned in the prison ship Argenta. Prison would have been a constant in my parent’s lives - all their lives.

As the Green Cross grew so did the necessity for more and more people to come on board, especially at a local level.

In our local area my father fulfilled the role of simply ensuring the collections were taken up. The money would be checked and rechecked and then it had to be delivered to the prisoners families on time.

Occasionally in the wee small hours, I would go downstairs and sit with him. I would watch as he diligently worked through the list of prisoners names.

Although I collected for the Green Cross, I don’t think I fully appreciated the absolute necessity attached to the process. My Da absolutely appreciated it though. I could see as he counted and re-counted that he valued every note and every coin placed in the collection tin.

He took nothing for granted. Nothing was a given.

The Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association - IRPWA - have worked tirelessly on behalf of current Republican Prisoners and their families. Tireless work can so often be taken for granted. If something is taken for granted it can become invisible.

The invisible nature of something can dilute the importance of its very existence. Those at the helm of the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association spend hours, days, weeks even months preparing for every eventuality.

The selling of prison crafts, the ballots, collecting door to door and in the bars. Even welfare of the prisoners’ children has been woven into the care. Literally every aspect of care is catered for.

Given the backdrop to work that must prove arduous and thankless at times.

We must remember that the invisible is in fact the invaluable. And “taken for granted” is something we as prisoners must learn never to do.”

Urgent Appeal