February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
They are members of two dissident republican organizations, the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA, and they are protesting attempts to force them to share cells with loyalist prisoners. For the last week, they have been on a so-called ?dirty protest?, refusing to slop out, and smearing their excrement on cell walls. Just this week, in a confrontation with prison officers, seven prisoners were injured
Readers may well rub their eyes in disbelieve that they are reading these words in 2003 ? 22 years after the hunger strike that left ten prisoners dead and cost the lives of many others outside the prison walls. Is it possible that the Northern Ireland authorities are going to repeat the mistakes they made in 1981?
Any attempt to force loyalist and republican prisoners together would have deadly consequences. To force them together is ignoring the realities of life in Northern Ireland. Under the circumstances, segregation is a sane solution.
History is a grim teacher that only offers you one opportunity to learn your lesson. Failure to do so can have disastrous consequences, as even the most superficial acquaintance with Irish history will bear out.