‘Pat Beág’ honoured on eve of anniversary of conclusion of 1981 Hunger Strike

ON THE EVE of the 35th anniversary of the ending of the 1981 Hunger Strike, dozens of republicans gathered at the Sinn Féin headquarters at Sevastopol Street in Belfast to remember the man known affectionately as “The 11th Hunger Striker” – Pat ‘Pat Beág’ McGeown.

Pat Beág (pictured) died on 1 October 1996 and it was undoubtedly the effects of his years on the Blanket Protest in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh and the 47 days he spent on hunger strike in 1981 that contributed to his tragic and untimely death.

That premature death deprived the republican struggle of a leader of the highest calibre and his community of someone who championed their cause as well as fighting for their rights.

● H-Blocks Hunger Striker Pat Sheehan MLA speaks of his comrade Pat Beág

It was these qualities that MLA Pat Sheehan highlighted as he addressed the crowd outside the Sinn Féin building where a memorial plaque stands in memory of Pat McGeown.

Sheehan described how, as an IRA Volunteer, Pat Beág lead from the front and this attitude saw him rise through the ranks of Óglaigh na hÉireann.

When captured and in the cages of Long Kesh his struggle didn’t end and his efforts to escape saw him lose his political status.

Sent to the H-Blocks, he joined the Blanket Protest with fellow escapees Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane and the legendary Larry Marley.

Pat played a significant role on the Blanket and joined the 1981 Hunger Strike. Due to the deterioration in his health, however, he was taken off his fast.

● The plaque bears an inscription to “soldier, politician, community worker and bridge builder Pat Beág

The west Belfast man was key to the developments in the H-Blocks after the Hunger Strike when republican prisoners made political education a central plank of their prison experience and ethos.

It was these same politics that were at the core of Pat’s work as Sinn Féin and community activist in the years after his release till his untimely death.

That his death and anniversary occurs just two days before the ending of the 1981 Hunger Strike is poignant as that anniversary reminds us of the huge sacrifice of not only the 10 men who died on hunger strike but their families whose courage and steadfastness was and is remarkable.

We also remember those other prisoners who survived the fast, those such as Pat Sheehan whose oration made clear that the responsibility for the deaths in Long Kesh in 1981 lies squarely with the “British Government of Margaret Thatcher”.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, north Belfast balladeer Terry ‘Cruncher’ O’Neill gave a rousing rendition of The H-Block Anthem, written by Dungiven man Francie Brolly.

● Terry ‘Cruncher’ O’Neill gives a rousing rendition of the H-Blocks song at the conclusion of the event to remember Pat Beág