Austin Hendricks The Struggle in Armagh Chemistry HONR 1205 – Inquiries in Social Science Advisor: Michael Patrick MacDonald The Role of Women in the 1980 Irish

Hunger Strikes The Five Demands

Left: Mairéad Farrell in The hunger strike takes its origins from an early Irish her cell during the tradition. A person who felt wronged would fast on the After the loss of , IRA prisoners sought to regain their no wash protest rights as political prisoners. Through a series of protests, culminating in the two property or in the care of the person who had wronged hunger strikes, they worked to regain the following rights: them as a way to shame them into making amends. Below: Armagh Women’s Prison 1. The right not to wear a prison uniform. It was reintroduced during the early twentieth century as a form of political protest against the British government. 2. The right not to do prison work. 3. The right of free association with other prisoners, and to organize educational and recreational pursuits. In the 1970’s, the hunger strike became a notable tactic of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (the IRA) and 4. The right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week. was used to varying degrees of success. 5. Full restoration of remission lost through the protest.

September 14 – February 7 – The Armagh no Blanket protests December 1 – Women December 19 – Women receive March 1 – October 3 wash protest begins begin in Long join the hunger strike word and the hunger strike 1981 Irish Hunger Strike Kesh ends Ten men die. 1976 1978 1980 1981

March 1 - End of April – Criminalization of the IRA October 27 – Hunger December 18 – IRA officials Long Kesh no wash (Special Category Status strike begins call an end to the hunger strike protest starts Revoked)

Life in Armagh Women’s Media Attention The Armagh Hunger Strikers Although the women in Armagh were participating in the Prison hunger strike as an extension of the one in Long Kesh, they

were treated in a completely different manner by the media. The women were generally kept in their cells for 23 hours a day, and many time they were denied their hour outside. The Although some groups gave their support, it was more often conditions of the cells themselves was abysmal, especially once the because they felt that women should not have been subjected to no wash protest had begun, and many of the women suffered the inhumane conditions of the prison, and less in support of health problems as a result. On many occasions they were denied the cause. The Catholic Church argued that they were too access to hygiene products. The mostly male prison staff mentally weak to be in prison at all. The little media attention frequently harassed the women, subjected them to strip searches given to the women specifically either sexualized them or and invaded what little privacy they had. However, the women focused on their perceived “innocence” – a dramatic difference kept up morale by having lively debates on politics, sharing the news of the day, and teaching each other Gaelic. from how the men were lauded for their “unique and original Mairéad Farrell, OC Mary Doyle Mairéad Nugent offensive.