Michael Gaughan (Irish republican)
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| Paramilitary organisation | Provisional Irish Republican Army |
| Date of birth | 1950 |
| Place of birth | Ballina, Co. Mayo |
| Hungerstrike started | 31 March, 1974 |
| Died | 3 June, 1974 |
| Days on strike | 67 |
Vol. Michael Gaughan (Irish name: Mícheál Ó Gaibhtheachain) (1950 - 3 June 1974) was an Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) hunger striker who died in 1974 in Parkhurst Prison.[1]
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[edit] Background
Gaughan, the eldest of six children, was born in Ballina, County Mayo in 1950. After finishing his schooling, he left Ireland for England, in search of work.[2][3]
Whilst in London, he became an Irish Republican Army member (volunteer). In 1971, he was sentenced to seven years for arms possession and conspiracy to rob £530 from a London bank.
He was initially sent to Wormwood Scrubs, where he spent two years before being transferred to Albany Prison. In Albany, he requested political status. Eventually, he was transferred to Parkhurst prison where four of the Belfast Ten were on hunger strike for political status. On March 31st, 1974, Michael Gaughan, along with Frank Stagg, Paul Holme, and Hugh Feeney joined the strike.[4]
[edit] Force-feeding
British policy at this time was to force feed hunger strikers: Six to eight guards would restrain the prisoner and drag him or her by the hair to the top of the bed, where they would stretch the prisoner’s neck over the metal rail, force a block between his or her teeth and then pass a feeding tube, which extended down the throat, through a hole in the block.[5]
The process would leave the prisoner bruised. Even on an unconscious individual, it carried the danger of the tube passing mistakenly into the trachea and the lungs rather than into the esophagus and stomach.[6]
Michael Gaughan was force-fed seventeen times in the course of his hunger strike. The last time was on 2 June, the night before his death. On 3rd June, 1974, he died in disputed circumstances. The British Government stated that he died of pneumonia; Gaughan's family insisted that he died after prison doctors injured him fatally when food lodged in a lung punctured by a force-feeding tube. He had been on hunger strike 67 days. He was 24 years old.[1][7]
[edit] Final message
Michael Gaughan left a final message:
“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.”
His death is referenced in the song "Take me home to Mayo" aka "The ballad of Michael Gaughan" composed by Belfastman, Seamus Robinson.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Waiting for the Explosion", Time, June 17, 1974. Retrieved on February 6, 2007.
- ^ 30th Anniversary of death of Michael Gaughan
- ^ Tírghrá, National Commemoration Centre, 2002. PB) ISBN 0-9542946-0-2 p.142
- ^ Michael Gaughan
- ^ The Road to the "First" Hunger Strike
- ^ Guantanamo and Medical Ethics
- ^ The Granting of Special Category Status, 1972
- ^ Take me home to Mayo (The Ballad of Michael Gaughan)
