Nenagh demonstrations - recalling the hunger strikes
Drom's Breandán Ó Conchúir is a history graduate currently doing research on the history of republicanism in Tipperary and here he looks at the campaign in the county four decades ago.
May 5th marked the 40th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands, IRA prisoner and MP, after 66 days on hunger strike. While most people are aware of the details of the death of Bobby Sands and his nine comrades on hunger strike in 1981, what is not as well remembered is the active campaign in Tipperary to support the republican prisoners in Armagh jail and the H Blocks.
In Tipperary this event did not pass by unnoticed, an official minute’s silence was observed by Carrick UDC proposed by Sinn Féin councillor Eddie O’ Doherty, as well as a resolution reiterating support for the hunger strikers demand for political status, Cllr Labhrás Ó Murchú proposed a similar motion at the meeting of Cashel UDC following the death of the second hunger striker Francis Hughes (who died on May 12th) while a motion of sympathy to the families of Bobby Sands and the second hunger striker Francis Hughes (who died on May 12th) was passed by Nenagh UDC on the same day.
TIPPERARY DEMONSTRATIONS
Demonstrations and work stoppages were held across the county.
In Clonmel the nationalist reported that 400 people attended a protest on May 14th which coincided with Sands’ funeral, a coffin with a tricolour and the message ‘RIP Bobby Sands’ was carried at the front of the demonstration which was addressed by Cllr Eddie O’ Doherty of Carrick on Suir, Seamus Mac Prionnsias, the Chairman of the Clonmel H Block Armagh Committee, as did Pakie Leahy of Cashel. This was followed by a march in Nenagh on May 15th which drew a crowd of 2,000 people with hundreds lining the streets as a procession with black flags marched to Banba Square where after a decade of the Rosary the crowd was addressed by Dan Gleeson. A stoppage was also observed in Tipperary town with all but one shop along the route closing. These organised marches and work stoppages followed on from events the week before following the news of Bobby Sands death. In a letter to the editor in the Nenagh Guardian Milo McGee of the Nenagh H Block Armagh Committee thanked the workers who ‘turned out in full strength’ for a stoppage on May 8th. The May 16th edition of the Nationalist published a letter from the Clonmel branch of the ATGWU noting that the unions 1,350 members in Clonmel joined in a stoppage on May 7th.
COUNCIL MOTIONS
Demonstrations would continue throughout the summer as the hunger strike continued, and more prisoners died.
In July Tipperary UDC passed a motion proposed by Dr John Wallace which called on the Taoiseach to expel the British military attaché from Dublin, while in a letter in the Nationalist on August 1st the Clonmel H Block Armagh Committee thanked the business people and unions for their support and announced that in ‘the event of another death’ a march would take place on the day of the burial, assembling at Clonmel foods.
Following the death of Michael Devine on August 20th, who was the last of the ten men who died during the hunger strike, large public interest appeared to have declined, with the only act of protest noted in Roscrea being the placement of black flags over the Fianna Fáil office in Rosemary Square which were quickly removed by Fianna Fáil members, while a stall with a book of condolences was held in Carrick on Suir.
Despite the contrast in the levels of public activity in Tipperary at the start and the end of the hunger strike, it is undeniable the effect it had on people. The participation in demonstrations and work stoppages, as well as the broad political support for motions of support proposed by Sinn Féin councillors, is a testament to the public interest and sympathy for the hunger strikers felt by the people of Tipperary.