I nDíl Chuimhne Oglach Michael Gaughan
On June 3rd 1974 the death of IRA volunteer Micheal Gaughan took place in Parkhurst Prison, England. He had been on hunger strike for 64 days and during that time he had been force-fed at least 17 times.
Michael had been born 24 years earlier in Ballina, County Mayo and like many young women and men he had left to work abroad and he ended up in England. Whilst there he joined the IRA and became part of an Active Service Unit (ASU) and on one of the operations he was captured and later sentenced in December 1971 to seven years for possession of two revolvers and holding up a bank.
He was held in different prisons and in Albany prison, Isle of Wight he was put in solitary confinement for refusing to do prison work as part of a demand to be transferred to a prison in his own country. Conditions for Irish political prisoners were very harsh and they constantly got into conflict with hostile screws.
Michael was moved to Parkhurst Prison and on March 31st 1974 he joined a hunger strike which had been started by Frank Stagg (he later died in after another hunger strike in 1976) Gerry Kelly and Paul Holmes who were supporting the Price Sisters, Dolours and Marian, in their demand to be transferred to a prison in Ireland. The prisoners’ five demands were:
- The right to political status
- The right to wear their own clothes
- A guarantee that they would not be returned to solitary confinement
- The right to educational facilities and not engage in penal labour
- The setting of a reasonable date for a transfer to an Irish prison
Protests were taking place in many Irish towns and outside the prison in support of the prisoners and when details emerged of the brutality being meted out during the force-feeding there was a lot of anger. Force-feeding of hunger strikers was used for decades; it caused a lot of pain and suffering and the prisoners were dreading it. The last time it was used on Michael Gaughan was the night before he died when he was in a critical condition.
His funeral, which was attended by an estimated 50,000 mourners, took place on June 9th in his native Ballina and it was one of the biggest to be seen in years. He had a military funeral with his comrades in the IRA walking alongside the hearse and firing a volley of shots over the grave.
The tri-colour used to drape the coffin was the same one draped over the coffin of Terence McSwiney who also died in an English prison in 1920.
Michael Gaughan will never be forgotten and his final words before he died should be spoken of in memory of him and of the many who died in the pursuit of a Socialist Republic.
“I die proudly for my country and in the hope that my death will be sufficient to obtain the demands of my comrades. Let there be no bitterness on my behalf, but a determination to achieve the new Ireland for which I gladly die. My loyalty and confidence is to the IRA and let those of you who are left carry on the work and finish the fight”.
