Richard O’Rawe Vindicated By IRSP Inquiry
At a public meeting in Belfast on Wednesday night, 11th April, 2012, a spokesperson for the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) announced that a comprehensive inquiry into the claims made by Richard O’Rawe concerning the rejection of a life-saving deal by the Provisional Sinn Fein leadership during the 1981 Hunger Strike, were completely true! The public meeting on the events surrounding the 1981 Hunger Strike held in Cliftonville Community Centre in the north of the city was hosted by Teach na Failte and chaired by IRSP Ard Comhairle spokesperson, Paul Little, included a three day exhibition of memorabilia, artwork and media from the H-Block protest era.
INLA Prisoners Kept In The Dark
The public meeting included former H-Block prisoner, Richard O’Rawe (author of the controversial ‘Blanketmen’, ‘Afterlives’) and former INLA H Block prisoners, Willie Gallagher and Rab Collins. During the 1981 Hunger Strikes, Rab Collins was Officer Commanding (O/C) of all INLA prisoners in the H-Blocks. Rab Collins told the audience how the INLA command structure inside the H-Blocks had not been made privy to the complex negotiations between the Provisional Sinn Fein committee, termed the ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ and the British government, that had been ongoing via an intermediary codenamed ‘The Mountain Climber.’
Blanketmen
Richard O’Rawe, in his book ‘Blanketmen’, first published in 2005, had alleged that the Gerry Adams-led ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ had cynically overruled a ‘deal’ that would have saved the lives of at least five of the Hunger Strikers which had previously been accepted by the O/C of IRA prisoners in the H-Blocks, Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane, as it met most of the protesting prisoner’s ‘Five Demands.’
Willie Gallagher Announces Inquiry Findings
IRSP spokesperson, Willie Gallagher, told the audience at the public meeting that his party’s inquiry into the events surrounding the 1981 H-Block Hunger Strike concluded that:
- Richard O’Rawe was telling the truth!
- A substantial offer did indeed go into the H-Block’s on 5th July, 1981
- The Provisional IRA leadership in the H-Blocks had accepted that offer
- The committee known as ‘the Kitchen Cabinet’ rejected the acceptance of the deal by Provisional IRA leadership in the gaol
- The INLA and IRSP leadership were kept completely in the dark about the ‘Mountain Climber’ initiative, as were the INLA prisoners and Hunger Strikers!
Danny Morrison and Bik McFarlane
Former Provisional Sinn Fein publicity director and member of the so-called ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ and former O/C of Provisonal IRA prisoners in the H-Blocks during the 1981 Hunger Strike, were both formally invited to the public meeting but did not attend. The audience at Wednesday’s public meeting included a broad cross-section of the Irish Republican community, many of whom were ex-Blanketmen. Teach na Failte community worker, Seamus McHenry, speaking from the floor of the meeting told the audience of his experience of talking to the families of the Hunger Strikers. The meeting concluded with the chairperson, Paul Little, thanking the invited speakers and the audience for attending and reiterated the IRSP call for a wider ranging, independent transparent inquiry into the events surrounding the 1981 H-Block Hunger Strike.
Public Opinion
The revelations made by Richard O’Rawe in his book, ‘Blanketmen’ in 2005, were too appalling a vista for many within the broad Irish Republican community to contemplate, at first. The author himself has suffered a well-documented campaign of vilification ranging from death-threats to being ‘sent to Coventry’ by former comrades and ‘hate’ graffiti appearing near his home, all allegedly at the behest of elements loyal to the Provisional Sinn Fein leadership.
However, a steady trickle of information regarding the existence of a ‘deal’ from a variety of sources, including 1981 Hunger Strike intermediary, Brendan Duddy, fellow prisoners and recently de-classified public records, have all tended to reinforce O’Rawe’s assertions. It is a matter of public record that since 2005, O’Rawe’s ‘story’ has never changed. In contrast, those who deny his claims, have substantially amended their key points of rebuttal. The danger for the current Provisional Sinn Fein leadership is that as it becomes widely accepted that they propagated a ‘grand lie’ for over 30 years, grassroots supporters may well question what else have they, like the H-Block prisoners and the Hunger Strikers, been kept in the dark about?
Photogallery
