Volunteer Ciarán Doherty (Provisional Irish Republican Army, Belfast Brigade)died at the age of 25 in 1981 on Hunger Strike in Long Kesh (prison). The then Brit Prime Minister - Thatcher -refused to intervene when men's human rights and dignity were being denied them on a daily basis. The prisoners were subjected to strip searches and beatings daily and in the end, when their five just demands were not recognised, the prisoners embarked upon a Dirty Protest. This then gave way to the now world-famous Hunger Strike. Ten volunteers died during a protest that has its roots in early Irish society (See Early Irish Law - Kinnelly). The first to die was Bobby Sands (Belfast) - the last was Mickey Devine (Derry City, Irish National Liberation Army).

Three of the ten were from Belfast - Bobby Sands, Joe Mc Donnell and Ciarán - are buried in the Republican Plot, Milltown Cemetery, Falls Road, West Belfast. Thousands visit their graves, and the graves of other fallen Volunteers each year.

Republican activists in Belfast recall with immense pride Ciarán's refusal to let the Brits criminalise him and his comrades. Ciarán was, afterall, a master at engaging a foreign enemy in his own land who had raped and wrecked it for 800 years - often looking down the barrel of a gun as they called all around them terrorists.

Shortly before his death Ciarán was elected as a TD (Teachta Dála -member of the Irish Government). Read 'Ten Men Dead' by Peter Beresford Ellis. seamasodonnghaile@yahoo.co.uk