1981 HUNGER STRIKE 30th ANNIVERSARY | GLASNEVIN CEMETERY CEREMONY TO HONOUR IRELAND’S HUNGER STRIKERS

Hunger Strike changed the face of politics in Ireland

IRELAND’S hunger strikers and the 30th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands MP were remembered in a commemoration held at the Hunger Strike Memorial in Dublin’s Glasnevin cemetery on Saturday 7th May in a week that saw a number of events the length and breadth of Ireland and overseas.
Hunger Striker Frank Stagg’s sister, Rose, and her family were guests of honour at the Glasnevin commemoration, which heard Mary Lou McDonald TD, Gerry Adams TD and Dessie Ellis TD, himself a former Hunger Striker.
After wreaths were laid at the Hunger Strike Memorial and the grave of Thomas Ashe and the Roll of Honour was read with a lowering of flags and a minute’s silence in quiet contemplation of our comrades’ sacrifices, Mary Mullen sang Mícheál Mac Donncha’s ‘The Year of 81’. Dessie Ellis read Bobby Sands’s famous poem, ‘The Rhythm of Time’ before Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD addressed the large crowd who had paraded from the Garden of Remembrance.
The Sinn Féin leader described the 1981 Hunger Strike as “a David and Goliath battle” which changed the shape of politics on this island.
He said: “Though the Hunger Strikers lost their lives, the British Government lost the battle of criminalisation.
“In the years since then, republicans have succeeded in increasing popular support for our goals and objectives.”
As the ceremony was being held, counting of votes in the Assembly elections was still going on and Gerry Adams noted that he had been canvassing in Belfast with Sinn Féin’s three new Seanadóirí from Waterford, Galway and Cavan/Monaghan.
“They have now joined our 14 TDs to forge a strong, effective and united republican opposition in the Dáil to the conservative politics of the other parties.
“Yesterday and today, in count centres across the North, Sinn Féin is advancing our republican goals through the election of experienced and dedicated MLAs.
“All of these incremental steps forward are about building the political strength necessary to effect real change in Ireland.”
Linking the ongoing struggle with the prison struggle, Gerry Adams recalled that Bobby Sands was inspired by the words of the Proclamation. Writing on scraps of paper that were smuggled out of the prison he railed against “those who ignore injustice, and exploit and oppress working people”.
Gerry Adams continued:
“Writing in his prison diary on the eleventh day of his hunger strike, and paraphrasing one of his heroes, James Connolly, Bobby condemned those who, ‘bubbling over with enthusiasm  – or patriotism – for his country, who walks through the streets among his people, their degradation, poverty and suffering, and who -–for want of the right words – does nothing, is, in my mind, a fraud’.
“Imagine what James Connolly or Bobby would write if they had just visited Croke Villas or St Teresa’s Gardens, or Dolphin House, or O’Devenny Gardens or Dominick Street or any of the other housing estates that were badly planned and built, and have been denied investment and regeneration.
“They would – as I was when Mary Lou and I visited Croke Villas – be appalled and outraged at the living conditions for residents.
“What would they say about the state of our hospitals, of elderly patients forced to lie on trolleys or sleep on chairs in overcrowded A&E units?
“What would they think of a Universal Social Charge that will increase the number of children in this state living in poverty, or the introduction of a flat water charge that will force parents to chose between food on the table and the ESB bill?
“I know what they would think of bankers getting €3million pensions!
“Our task as Irish republicans is to challenge and oppose the selfish actions of the golden circles.
“Sinn Féin is about transforming Ireland, ending partition, building a new relationship with our unionist neighbours and creating a new Ireland in which the rights of citizens are upheld.”
The republican leader said that the only purpose for Sinn Féin in standing in any election is to win support for republican objectives, which include improving the quality of life of citizens, building peace and prosperity, creating jobs and defending public services.
“Our MLAs and councillors in the North and our ministers in the Executive, will now join with our enhanced team of TDs and Seanadoiri to form a united, effective republican party dedicated to defending the rights and entitlements of citizens and promoting an end to partition and Irish unity.”