“Sands, Bobby. Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner, 30,492”. These words of election returning officer Alastair Patterson, became in 1981 the live televised public proof of the power of republican voters. Bobby Sands was elected MP for Fermanagh-South Tyrone 43 years ago on 9 April 1981. We republish two unique first-hand accounts of the events that led to Sands victory from Jim Gibney and Danny Morrison. Free article

Éirí Amach na Cásca – The 1916 Easter Rising – First published in Éiri amach na Cásca, The Easter Rising 1916, by Republican Publications, April 1986 Free article

A serious inaccuracy in the Irish Times concerning the burial of Frank Stagg has been corrected by Danny Morrison. In its obituary of Frank’s brother the late Emmet Stagg, former Labour Party TD, the newspaper omitted the hijacking and burial of Frank’s body by the Fine Gael/Labour government and gave the wrong location for that first burial. Free article

An Phoblacht would have been helpless without its drivers. They delivered the paper all over Ireland in challenging dangerous conditions. Earlier this month we were saddened to learn of the death of Thomas McGuigan, one of these valiant republican road warriors. Free article

THE late 1980s saw an escalation in the use of death squads by the British regime in the Six Counties. Since the start of the 1970s, the British Army and the RUC had manipulated loyalist paramilitary organisations as part of their counter-insurgency strategy. The aim was to terrorise the entire nationalist population, killing Catholics solely because of their religion or perceived political allegiances and, where possible, assassinating leading nationalists and republicans. Free article

IN JANUARY 1994, the armed conflict in the Six Counties was at a critical stage. The previous year had seen the deaths of 84 people in the war and, while there was some political movement, it was by no means clear that a peace process could be put in place to end the armed conflict and to address its root causes. Free article

“The Pogues were also unashamedly abrasive and political, at a time when being political about Ireland in Britain was no easy task”. Joe Dwyer offers a tribute to Pogues lead singer Shane MacGowan whose death was announced today. Free article

We asked Jim Gibney to reflect on the 40th anniversary of Gerry Adams's election as Sinn Féin President in November 1983. He talked with two other republican veterans, Danny Morrison and Richard McAuley. Here is Jim’s personal insight, with the input of those two lifelong activists who were there for the key events over the last 40 years. Free article

As we reach the 50th anniversary of the failed Sunningdale Agreement, glib soundbites detract from the wholesale failure of Sunningdale to address any of the causes of the conflict in Ireland. Joe Dwyer explores the reality of Sunningdale Agreement. Free article

Sliocht atá san alt seo as leabhar ar stair na Gaeilge sna príosúin idir 1867 agus 1999 ‘Ní amháin Saor, ach Gaelach’ le Eoghan Mac Cormaic atá le foilsiú san earrach 2024 Free article

The 14 people murdered by British crown forces on Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920, have been honoured with the naming of Bloody Sunday Bridge beside Croke Park where they were shot. Free article

While Civil War as an armed conflict had ended in early summer 1923, the Counter-Revolution led by the Free State government continued and those who bore the worst of it were over 11,000 Republican prisoners held in jails, internment camps and other places of detention throughout the Free State. Free article

40 years ago this week at the 1983 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Dublin’s Mansion House, Gerry Adams was elected President of Sinn Féin. Free article

Lifelong Irish republican and former political prisoner, John Vincent McElduff was laid to rest in his native Loughmacrory recently. The graveside oration was delivered by Seán Hughes. Free article

TWO YEARS after the epic 1981 H-Block Hunger Strike in which ten young republicans died, there was another epic event at Long Kesh that dealt a huge blow to the Thatcher regime in Ireland. This was the escape of 38 IRA prisoners from H-Block 7 on Sunday 25 September 1983. Free article