Blanketmen: An Untold Story of the H-block Hunger Strike

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Especially seeing as the Sands family have never endorsed the Trust and have pubicily asked for it to be closed down on numerous occasions. In 1917 a form of blanket protest was carried out by a single Irish Republican internee Padraic Fleming in Maryborough (now Portlaoise Prison). But to read this story as an adult and having outlived some of these men it's a mixture of pride for what they did for their country but sadness that didn't leave to see peace and also what they could have achieved had they not died.

However, the plight of the H-Block and Armagh prisoners again faded to some degree from the public view, until the establishment of the National H-Block/Armagh Committee in October 1979. He explains the events that led to the dirty protest - where prisoners smeared excrement over their cell walls - and on ultimately to the hunger strike.

The Guardian ***After the recent release of historical state and personal papers, Richard O'Rawe's courageous statements, ten years after Blanketmen's initial publication, stand vindicated. That seemed to be a bit of a Catch-22 to me: how can you become a big-named author if the publishers are not going to run with your books because you’re not a big-named author? Everything changed for me that night and, out of the catharsis, came my first book, Blanketmen: An untold Story of the H-Block Hunger Strike. The campaign itself came under attack from British and pro-British elements and campaign leaders John Turnley, Miriam Daly, Noel Little and Ronnie Bunting were murdered and Bernadette and Michael McAliskey were wounded. I was talking about British government offers and how the prison leadership had accepted an offer to end the hunger strike and of how our acceptance had been overruled by an outside IRA committee.

It's a fascinating account of a part of modern history that most of us only knew from the news reports and well worth listening to for anyone who wants to understand this hugely important part of Troubles history.

As a result of their refusal, they would receive three days "on the boards" where all furniture was removed from their cell, and they were served the "number one diet" consisting of tea without milk, watery soup and dry bread. Prisoners were entitled to four visits from friends or family each month, three were in exchange for good behaviour and the fourth was statutory. Fleming was rearrested in May 1918 and refused to wear prison uniforms which resulted in him being left naked and locked in his cell and (because he destroyed his cell) was restrained with a straight jacket.