Dixie Elliot ✒ takes a different view from Dieter Reinisch on the linkage between the Portlaoise and H-Block hunger strikes.
Portlaoise Prison had nothing to do with the hunger strikes in the H Blocks.
In February 1979 the prison authorities moved most of the Blanket leadership to H6 in an attempt at breaking the protest. They believed that leaving the other three blocks, H3, H4 and H5 without a leadership would see the protest fall apart. Fortunately other men stepped in to take on leadership roles but this move by the authorities had made an impact.
I was not on the H Block leadership but I was moved to H6 along with my cell mate, until that time, Big Tom McElwee.
This wing in H6 included Bobby Sands, Brendan Hughes, Bik McFarlane, Larry Marley, Seanna Walsh and Big Tom.
I was put into a cell with Seanna Walsh who kept me updated on the thinking of those men who would meet at mass on Sundays to discuss how things were going and how best to move forward.
After this move the screws really went to work on the lads in the other three H Blocks in an attempt to break them, particularly the youngest prisoners who were in H3.
Men began to leave the protest as they just couldn't go on with the daily beatings and starvation and no one could blame them.
Around about March in 1979 someone left the protest and this had a huge impact on the morale of the men, as this person, now deceased, was up there with Bobby, the Dark, Larry etc. He had spent time with them in the cages and he was a character who everyone looked up to in awe.
At first the leadership tried saying he had left in order to bring men who were conforming back onto the protest but it soon became clear that this was not the case.
After this men began saying that if he could be broken then there's no hope for us and many began to leave.
Seanna told me the Dark had said if it continued like that we'd be left with about 100 men stuck in a corner of the H Blocks and forgotten about; that we needed to change tactics. Talk turned to moving into the confirming wings and wrecking the system from within.
The only thing which prevented this from happening was the fact that we would have to don the prison uniform and this just wasn't something to be considered.
Had we got to wear our own clothes at all times the Blanket protest would have ended and we would have begun a new battle to gain everything else.
In September that year, 1979, the prison authorities moved us back into the other three H Blocks again but surprisingly they moved most of the leadership into the one wing in H3. And I was in that wing, as was Big Tom. I remained in it until the protest ended in October 1981 after the hunger strike fell apart due to pressure from the hunger strikers' families.
It was during the time from September 1979 that the leadership of Bobby, Dark, Bik and Richard O'Rawe began to discuss an option they never wanted to look at - the hunger strike.
They had no other choice. It was that or conforming by wearing the prison uniform - as men were leaving at an alarming rate.
Our backs were against the wall and the nightmare of seeing brave men going on hunger strike had begun.
The first hunger strike fell apart and so Bobby embarked on a second one using different tactics. Instead of a group of men going on hunger strike together, thus risking it falling apart should a number come off it, he choose to stagger it out with him going first, thus ensuring his would be the first death.
Those were terrible times as we watched men leaving our wings who would never return again.
It had nothing to do with Portlaoise Prison.
In February 1979 the prison authorities moved most of the Blanket leadership to H6 in an attempt at breaking the protest. They believed that leaving the other three blocks, H3, H4 and H5 without a leadership would see the protest fall apart. Fortunately other men stepped in to take on leadership roles but this move by the authorities had made an impact.
I was not on the H Block leadership but I was moved to H6 along with my cell mate, until that time, Big Tom McElwee.
This wing in H6 included Bobby Sands, Brendan Hughes, Bik McFarlane, Larry Marley, Seanna Walsh and Big Tom.
I was put into a cell with Seanna Walsh who kept me updated on the thinking of those men who would meet at mass on Sundays to discuss how things were going and how best to move forward.
After this move the screws really went to work on the lads in the other three H Blocks in an attempt to break them, particularly the youngest prisoners who were in H3.
Men began to leave the protest as they just couldn't go on with the daily beatings and starvation and no one could blame them.
Around about March in 1979 someone left the protest and this had a huge impact on the morale of the men, as this person, now deceased, was up there with Bobby, the Dark, Larry etc. He had spent time with them in the cages and he was a character who everyone looked up to in awe.
At first the leadership tried saying he had left in order to bring men who were conforming back onto the protest but it soon became clear that this was not the case.
After this men began saying that if he could be broken then there's no hope for us and many began to leave.
Seanna told me the Dark had said if it continued like that we'd be left with about 100 men stuck in a corner of the H Blocks and forgotten about; that we needed to change tactics. Talk turned to moving into the confirming wings and wrecking the system from within.
The only thing which prevented this from happening was the fact that we would have to don the prison uniform and this just wasn't something to be considered.
Had we got to wear our own clothes at all times the Blanket protest would have ended and we would have begun a new battle to gain everything else.
In September that year, 1979, the prison authorities moved us back into the other three H Blocks again but surprisingly they moved most of the leadership into the one wing in H3. And I was in that wing, as was Big Tom. I remained in it until the protest ended in October 1981 after the hunger strike fell apart due to pressure from the hunger strikers' families.
It was during the time from September 1979 that the leadership of Bobby, Dark, Bik and Richard O'Rawe began to discuss an option they never wanted to look at - the hunger strike.
They had no other choice. It was that or conforming by wearing the prison uniform - as men were leaving at an alarming rate.
Our backs were against the wall and the nightmare of seeing brave men going on hunger strike had begun.
The first hunger strike fell apart and so Bobby embarked on a second one using different tactics. Instead of a group of men going on hunger strike together, thus risking it falling apart should a number come off it, he choose to stagger it out with him going first, thus ensuring his would be the first death.
Those were terrible times as we watched men leaving our wings who would never return again.
It had nothing to do with Portlaoise Prison.