February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The claim has caused concern among the families of the six hunger strikers who died after the alleged offer was made — and fury among leading republicans, who say the claim is untrue.
It comes in a book written by former republican prisoners’ spokesman, Richard O’Rawe, published recently in Dublin. In it, he claims the British government made an offer after the first four hunger strikers died.
His allegations have been vehemently contested by, among others, Danny Morrison (who liaised between the prisoners and the republican movement outside in 1981), the man who commanded IRA prisoners, Brendan McFarlane, and Sinn Fein Assembly member Raymond McCartney, who had been on hunger strike himself in 1980.
O’Rawe claims the British offer in July 1981 was a fair one and that both he and McFarlane were in favor of accepting it and calling off the strike. But, says O’Rawe, the IRA army council outside the jail blocked the deal and shortly afterward Joe McDonnell died, followed by five other men.
The book, “Blanketmen, An Untold Story of the H-Block Hunger Strike,” says the prisoners were offered an unprecedented deal by London. The concessions included the abolition of prison uniforms, more visits and letters, and the segregation of prisoners along political lines.
The only IRA demand refused was for free association of its prisoners on their wing. “I thought the offer was sufficient for us to settle the hunger-strike honorably,” writes O’Rawe, who at the time was serving an eight-year sentence for robbery.
“The offer reduced the gap between the government’s bottom line and our maximum demands to the point where it wasn’t worth more comrades dying. I felt it was almost too good to be true.”
He was astonished when the IRA army council turned down the offer a day later. The hunger strikes continued until October, when they collapsed under pressure from the prisoners’ families.
Responding to O’Rawe’s claims, McFarlane said, “[As] the officer commanding in the prison at the time, I can say categorically that there was no outside intervention to prevent a deal. The only outside [IRA] intervention was to try to prevent the hunger strike.
“Once the strike was under way, the only people in a position to agree a deal or call off the hunger strike were the prisoners, and particularly the hunger strikers themselves.
“The political responsibility for the hunger strike, and the deaths that resulted from it, both inside and outside the prison, lies with Margaret Thatcher, who reneged on the deal which ended the first hunger strike.”
McCartney, an Assembly member for Foyle, said O’Rawe’s recollections were “not accurate or credible.”
“The move to hunger strike resulted from the prisoners’ decision to escalate the protest after five years of beating, starvation and deprivation,” he said. “The leadership of the IRA and of Sinn Fein tried to persuade us not to embark on this course of action. At all times we, the prisoners, took the decisions.”
Meanwhile, plans are under way to build a world-class sports stadium on the site of the old Maze jail, where the hunger strikes took place, while preserving the prison hospital where the 10 men died.
A cross-community Consultation Panel has also proposed a national arts center and center for conflict transformation on the 360-acre site near Lisburn, Co. Antrim. The British government will now consider a final decision.
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