Top Issue 1-2024

9 April 2016

Resize: A A A Print

9 April 1981 – Famous Fermanagh/South Tyrone by-election a key turning point in the struggle

I HID behind the wall of St Patrick’s Catholic Church, less than 200 yards from the front door of the Dungannon Electoral Office in Northland Row. From this safe distance I could watch, unobserved, the comings and goings at the Electoral Office. It was short of 2.30 in the afternoon, a warm day as I recall.

My inside jacket pocket held a little piece of paper, pregnant with historical change, of far-reaching proportions for republicans. Of course, at the time I was completely unaware of this.

As I paced up and down the car park behind the church I was more concerned not to be seen by anyone who would recognise me and be alerted to my intentions. The little piece of paper in my pocket was Bobby Sands’s nomination papers to contest the by-election for Fermanagh/South Tyrone.

Gerry Adams 1981

In Ballygawley Road housing estate, a few miles away, Gerry Adams was sitting by a phone. He was in communication with republicans in Lisnaskea, the hometown of the recently-deceased MP for the constituency, Frank Maguire. Gerry was also in communication with me (not, I hasten to add, by mobile phone – they were yet to be invented) but through Jimmy McGivern, a local republican in his car.

Earlier, Gerry had given me my instructions. They were simple enough. If by 3.50pm Noel Maguire, Frank’s brother, had not withdrawn his nomination papers from the by-election then I was to withdraw Bobby’s name from the contest. Four o’clock was the final deadline to withdraw papers. Three o’clock was the deadline for submitting a nomination. 

The leadership of Sinn Féin had decided Bobby Sands would not contest the election if there was another nationalist in the field.

At approximately 2.45pm the word from Gerry through Jimmy was that Noel Maguire was sighted in the company of a local republican in Lisnaskea shortly after 2pm. He had not been seen since then. The grapevine had it that he had gone to ground. My heart sank with the news as I prepared myself to withdraw Bobby’s papers.

Then another courier arrived at the car park with a more positive rumour. Noel Maguire was on his way to the Electoral Office with the local republican but no one knew for certain why.

Lisnaskea was a difficult hour’s drive from Dungannon. We were all on edge. Would Noel make it to the Electoral Office before the deadline? Would he be stopped by the British Army at a checkpoint and delayed deliberately until after the deadline? Why was he coming at all if not to withdraw his name? Maybe he was just coming to tell the growing number of journalists outside the Electoral Office that he intended to stand.

I was not prepared to believe anything unless I saw it with my own eyes. Experience of the previous few weeks taught me that. It was packed with highs and lows as republicans grappled with what to do over the nomination of Bobby.

My anxious wait ended well within the time set for withdrawing a nomination. The solitary figure of the white-haired Noel Maguire ascended the steps outside the Electoral Office. It was obvious he had decided to pull out of the contest. In keeping with his gentle demeanour, he announced in a soft voice to the waiting journalists that he was withdrawing from the by-election because he had been told it would help save Bobby’s life. He could not have it on his conscience that any action of his would endanger another person’s life.

Noel Maguire’s gesture was not only magnanimous – it was a pivotal moment which shaped the future conduct of the republican struggle in a dramatic and unexpected way at the time. Had Noel stayed in the contest then Bobby Sands would not have been elected MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone because I would have withdrawn his name from the election. And the year 1981 might not have been the year the struggle changed so dramatically.

Bobby Sands's election team

Bobby Sands's election team

Bobby’s election rocked the Thatcher Government and the Irish Establishment. It also came as a huge surprise to many republicans with one very senior IRA man saying to me, as we watched the news of Bobby’s win on television, that it was worth 20 bombs. It was a spectacular victory against all the odds. It gave the prison struggle – and the struggle generally – a much-needed boost.

Following Bobby’s election, Kieran Doherty and Paddy Agnew were elected TDs and other prisoner candidates did well across the 26 Counties in that year’s general election. The election of two prisoner candidates as TDs was also significant for another reason: it ended Fianna Fáil’s reign as the dominant party in the South. They never again formed a government as a single party. That year also saw Owen Carron hold Bobby’s seat with an increased majority in the by-election caused by Bobby’s death.

AP/RN after Bobby's election win

In the middle of all that was happening, and with Bobby’s win in the bag, I argued internally for Sinn Féin to contest the May local government elections held less than a month after Bobby’s success. Not surprisingly, I lost the argument. Other organisations such as People’s Democracy, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, the Irish Independence Party and pro-prisoner candidates did stand. The SDLP lost many of their council seats to these candidates, including that of their leader Gerry Fitt, who was still a Westminster MP at the time. Thereafter the struggle opened up a new front – contesting elections.

The election successes of 1981 gave republicans the confidence they needed to take the leap into the unknown electoral arena. I was not there for the internal debate which followed 1981 (I was off to jail for the next six years). I can imagine it would not have been an easy debate to win. Republicans were very suspicious of participating in any form of struggle which they suspected was out of step with pursuing the armed struggle. For many in the leadership and elsewhere, participating in elections was controversial and to be done selectively.

I was at an Ard Fheis in 1980 and heard Sinn Féin President, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh denounce those republicans from Tyrone who put a motion to the conference to contest local elections in the Six Counties. Republicans in the 26 Counties were already contesting local elections. He warned delegates that anyone advocating such a course of action would face expulsion.

Between that Ard Fheis and Bobby Sands’s election there was a low-level debate among some of the leadership of Sinn Féin about how best to build Sinn Féin into a popular political party and the role, if any, of participating in elections. The opposition to fighting elections was very strong. Indeed, this was reflected in the extreme opposition among Fermanagh republicans to the proposal to stand Bobby.

I proposed standing Bobby in the by-election. It came to me in a flash on hearing the news on the radio of Frank Maguire’s sudden death. I thought it was a not-to-be-missed opportunity to highlight the Hunger Strike and the protest for political status. I was to learn very quickly that not all republicans were taken by the idea.

The opposition in Fermanagh centred on the traditional republican hostility to elections. They were seen as a dangerous distraction summed up in the view that even if Sinn Féin won every seat in the country the Brits still had to be forced out by arms. There was also a genuine concern for the fate of Bobby and his comrades. Failure to win the seat would strengthen Thatcher’s main argument that the prisoners did not have popular support.

The opposition held out over several meetings against the combined persuasive powers of Ruairí O Brádaigh, Daithí Ó Conaill, Gerry Adams and Owen Carron – all arguing to stand Bobby.

For republicans, 1981 is, understandably so, one of the bleakest years of the conflict because of the deaths on hunger strike of the ten lads. It is also a seminal year in terms of opening up a new and challenging front: participating in elections. This led to other, equally important changes – taking seats in Leinster House and forcing republicans to build a serious party with a radical message.

It all started in earnest on 9 April in Enniskillen’s Technical College, when the Returning Officer, in a breaking voice announced to the world: “Sands, Bobby – Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner – 30,492; West, Harry – Unionist – 29,046.”

Bobby Sands was declared MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone.

Follow us on Facebook

An Phoblacht on Twitter

An Phoblacht Podcast

An Phoblacht podcast advert2

Uncomfortable Conversations 

uncomfortable Conversations book2

An initiative for dialogue 

for reconciliation 

— — — — — — —

Contributions from key figures in the churches, academia and wider civic society as well as senior republican figures

GUE-NGL Latest Edition ad

An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland