Changing Republican Strategy

Question 1

when was Special Category Statues introduced and removed?

Answer 1

1972-1976

Question 2

what was special category status?

Answer 2

allowed those that had claimed they had broken the law for political reasons to live as prisoners of war

Question 3

name and describe 3 tactics that republican prisoners used to protest against the removal of special category status

Answer 3

blanket protest - prisoners wore blankets instead of clothes
dirty protest - 1978, prisoners smeared their cell walls with faeces
hungerstrike - 1980 a group hunger strike began, called off in december without anything having been achieved, although the prisoners had believed they had agreed a deal on the wearing of their own clothes

Question 4

describe the 1981 hungerstrike

Answer 4

led by bobby sands
differed from previous strikes in that this time the prisoners would join in intervals, making it last longer
on the 40th day of Bobby Sands’ strike, he was elected at westminster - republican prisoners put sands up as a candidate to put pressure on the British
5th May, Sands died
strike continued until 3rd October 1981

Question 5

were concessions made after the hunger strike?

Answer 5

within a week of the strike’s end, James Prior (new sec of state) announced that a number of the concessions that the prisoners had sought would be granted, eg. wearing own clothes, 50% reduction in sentence length, more prison visits, more association among prisoners

Question 6

political problems caused by the hunger strikes

Answer 6

increased nationalist alienation from the state
rising support for republicans
unionists increasingly voicing their anxieties at the growth of the IRA
irish gov pushing for introduction of a new political initiative to end the troubles

Question 7

what did Sinn Féin do in 1981?

Answer 7

officially adopt militant and constitutional tactics - the ballot box and the armalite