Former hunger striker speaks in Monageer
A crowd gathered in Monageer recently to mark the anniversary of one of the ten republican men to die on hunger strike in the Maze Prison in 1981. IRA man Joe McDonnell was one of those who lost his life on hunger strike in search of the status of a political prisoner.
At the event in Monageer, spearheaded by Sinn Féin councillor and general election candidate Johnny Mythen, the crowd was addressed by Sinn Fein MLA and former hunger striker himself, Pat Sheehan. In 1981, Pat went for 55 days without food and was critically ill before a halt was called to the hunger strike. From prison, he studied philosophy and politics and obtained an honours degree and upon his release in 1998, he became active in Sinn Féin, working for the republican ex-prisoners organisation Coiste na n- Iarchími. He was co-opted to the assembly to replace Gerry Adams and was re-elected back in 2011.
At the event, Pat spoke of how he had just returned from Palestine and the annual conference on the Policy and Conflict Resolution Studies Centre in Ramallah. He said that 37 years on, the people of Palestine still talk about Bobby Sands and the Irish hunger strikers. He said that the protest still serves as inspiration to the Palestinian people and he described it as being ‘ the first major step towards using democratic and exclusively political means to help achieve a just and peaceful republic for all our citizens on this island’.