Bobby Sands remembered with statue

Bobby Sands was hailed as a “beacon of light for freedom loving people” as a statue to the IRA hunger striker was unveiled in his native west Belfast.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill, former president Gerry Adams and other senior Sinn Féin figures were among the crowd that gathered at Sunday’s event in Twinbrook, near his childhood home.

The unveiling of the statue came on the eve of the 44th anniversary of 27-year-old Sands’ death in a prison hospital on May 5 1981, after 66 days on hunger strike in Long Kesh prison.

He was the first of ten prisoners to die between May and August of that year in the campaign to defeat British efforts to criminalise the Irish Republican struggle. Over 100,000 people attended his funeral two days later.

A month before his death, he won the Fermanagh-South Tyrone Westminster seat in a by-election which paved the way for Sinn Féin to enter electoral politics.

Those gathered for the unveiling heard Bobby Sands ought to be remembered not just as a hunger striker but as a multi-faceted person who was a loving father with a passion for music, poetry and the Irish language.

The near life-size statue on a raised plinth at the republican memorial garden is the first of the IRA martyr and based on a recently uncovered photograph of him aged 22, carrying the Irish tricolour flag.

The statue situated beside the Republican Garden was designed by artist Packy Adams, with the cost of the statue covered by the fundraising efforts of the local Bobby Sands Committee.

Sinn Féin Assembly member and former hunger striker Pat Sheehan said more than four decades after his death in the H Blocks, “Bobby Sands’ name lives on”.

“When all of us standing here today are dead and gone and largely forgotten about Bobby Sands will still be remembered,” the West Belfast representative said.

“He was the loving father of an eight-year old son. And he was also a loving son and brother. Bobby was a friend and comrade to many. He was a community activist, particularly here in Twinbrook between his two periods of imprisonment. He was a musician and a song writer, a poet and a prolific writer. He was also a Gaeilgeoir, he loved our native language. Bobby was a Blanketman, a political prisoner of war, a socialist, a leader and a revolutionary.”

He called on republicans to redouble their efforts for the cause of Irish freedom.

Reflecting on the “heroism and sacrifice” of Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers, the Assembly member said in “2025 we are closer than ever to undoing the injustice of partition and re-uniting our country”.

“Their bravery set in motion a series of events that makes the momentum for political and social change unstoppable and irreversible.

“That momentum will carry us forward to the realisation of an Irish national democracy. A republic where the rights and identity of all our people, of whatever persuasion or background will be accommodated and cherished.”

Mr Sheehan continued: “The Orange state is gone. Unionist domination is gone.

“There are more republicans than ever before and Sinn Féin is the biggest political movement on this island.

“Therefore, the opposite of what was intended by the British has come to pass. Not only was criminalisation defeated but the injustice of partition and the role of the British state in Ireland was exposed to international scrutiny as never before.”

Mr Sheehan said Sands “had a vision, a belief and an idea that his suffering and death would lead to a better world for the rest of us.

“Today we are in a better place. We no longer need or expect our young men and women to risk their lives and liberty on active service, or to hunger strike in prison cells.

“That’s not to say there isn’t work to be done. We need to redouble our efforts and all of us put our shoulders to the wheel. Irish unity is not inevitable, we need to make it happen. It’s then, as Bobby said, we will see the rising of the moon.”

Concluding with a quote from the diary of Bobby Sands, Mr Sheehan said: “I may die, but the Republic of 1916 will never die. Onward to the Republic and the liberation of our people.”

Urgent Appeal