On Thursday, 9 April 1981, Bobby Sands was elected MP for the constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone. Sands polled 30,492 votes against unionist candidate Harry West’s 29,046. There were only 3,280 spoilt, highlighting the failure of the SDLP’s and Austin Currie’s attempts to sabotage the campaign. Free article

DANNY MORRISON was editor of An Phoblacht/Republican News and Sinn Féin Director of Publicity in 1981 and was a key contact between the protesting prisoners in the H-Blocks and the Republican Movement outside the jail. A former republican POW himself, Morrison was elected as a Sinn Féin member of a Six County Assembly in 1982. He became a full time writer in the 1990s. He is secretary of the Bobby Sands Trust. This article first appeared in the Andersonstown News on the 20th anniversary of the election of Bobby Sands. Free article

Sinn Féin Justice and Policing spokesperson Gerry Kelly believes “the disturbances in loyalist areas across the north are an out-working of the DUP’s rhetoric and undermining of the PSNI and criminal justice system” Free article

Here today we reprint the Roll of Honour in memory of the 364 Republicans whose names are recorded here. These men and woman, Volunteers in Óglaigh Na h-Éireann, Cumman Na mBan, Fianna Éireann, and members of Sinn Féin gave their lives in the cause of Irish Freedom. Free article

Martin McGuinness once said that the deaths of the ten hunger strikers in 1981 was “our 1916”. The impact of the hunger strike was so profound that he was comparing it to the epoch-making events of the 1916 Rising and the executions of the 16 leaders. Free article

Writing in his latest blog, Declan Kearney said the DUP need to stop making bad decisions. Free article

The Cure for Southern Partitionist Guilt – Ciarán Quinn outlines talks about Irish Unity and the need for new thinking and planning. Free article

Women are entitled to modern, compassionate healthcare. The historic referendum to Repeal the Eighth Amendment made this very clear.

No woman can be left behind; no matter where they live on our island. 

One year after the law was changed to legalise abortion and provide women with proper healthcare in the north, it is unacceptable that services have still not been provided for.... Free article

Former republican prisoner Peadar Whelan reviews 6,000 days, the ‘epic memoir of survival’ by Jim ‘Jaz’ McCann. Free article

Ray McCreesh and Patsy O'Hara join Bobby Sands and Francis Hughes on the H-Blocks Hunger Strike for the restoration of political status Free article