A Teachta Dála (Irish pronunciation: [ˈtʲaxtə ˈdɑːlə]), usually abbreviated as TD, is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as "Member of Parliament" (MP) or "deputy" used in other states. The official translation of the term is "Deputy to the Dáil",^[1] though a more literal translation is "Assembly Delegate". "Teachtaí Dála" is the plural form in Irish.

History[link]

The term was first used to describe those Irish parliamentarians^[2] who were elected at the 1918 general election, and who, rather than attending the British House of Commons in London, to which they had been elected, assembled instead in Dublin's Mansion House on 21 January 1919 to create a new Irish parliament: the First Dáil Éireann. The term continued to be used after this First Dáil and was used to refer to later members of the Irish Republic's single chamber Dáil Éireann (or "Assembly of Ireland") (1919–1922), members of the Free State Dáil (1922–1937), and of the modern Dáil Éireann.

Style[link]

The initials "TD" are placed after the surname of the elected TD. For example, the current Taoiseach (head of government) is "Enda Kenny, TD". The style used to refer to individual TDs during debates in Dáil Éireann is the member's surname preceded by Deputy (Irish: an Teachta): for example, "Deputy Martin", "an Teachta Ó Máirtín".

Salaries and expenses[link]

• Basic Salary: €92,672^[3]
• Mobile Phone Allowance: A maximum of €750 every 18 months^{[citation needed]}
• Constituency Office maintenance allowance: €8,888.17^{[citation needed]}
• Constituency Travel Allowance: ranging from €2,475 to €8,782 depending on size of constituency^{[citation needed]}
• Daily Allowance: €61.53 for members who live within 24 km of Leinster House^{[citation needed]}
• Miscellaneous expense allowance: €5,489.08^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• Members of the 1st Dáil
• List of Irish politicians
• Records of members of the Oireachtas

References[link]

Clare Daly (born April 1968) is an Irish Socialist Party politician and a trade unionist.^[1] She was elected as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North constituency at the 2011 general election.^[2] She was previously a Socialist Party councillor for the Swords electoral area on Fingal County Council.

Early life[link]

Daly was born in Kildare and educated at Dublin City University. She was twice elected president of the Students' Union and was prominent in the students' movement campaign for abortion rights and information. Daly was elected to Labour's Administrative Committee as a youth representative. She was expelled from the Labour Party in 1989 alongside Joe Higgins TD and other supporters of the Militant Tendency.

Career[link]

Local politics[link]

On 19 September 2003, Daly was jailed alongside 21 others from the Anti-Bin Tax Campaign for breaching a High Court order preventing protests leading to obstruction of the council's non-collection policy for those not paying bin charges.^[3][4] She is a former SIPTU Shop Steward in Aer Lingus and was also an organiser of the Anti-Water charges campaign in Swords in the mid 1990s.

Daly was elected as a Councillor on Fingal County Council for the Swords area in 1999. She was re-elected at 2004 local elections and 2009 local elections, topping the poll on each occasion.

Dáil Éireann[link]

She first contested the 1997 general election, receiving 7.2% on that occasion and 8.2% at the by-election later in the year. At the 2002 general election she received 5,501 votes (12.5%), narrowly missing a seat. At the 2007 general election, she received 9% of the vote.

Daly was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2011 general election taking 15.2% of the first preference vote.^[5][6] She committed to facilitating the nomination of Senator David Norris for a place on the ballot paper ahead of the Irish presidential election, 2011.^[7]

She announced that she would not register to pay a new household charge brought in as part of the latest austerity budget, calling it "reprehensible", and telling Phil Hogan, the minister responsible, in the Dáil: "You can't bring everyone to court".^[8][9]

In February 2012, a Socialist Party spokesperson told the Irish Independent to mind its own business when asked if she had private health insurance.^[10]

In February 2012 it was reported that she would introduce a bill to provide for limited access to abortion where there is “real and substantial risk to the life” of the pregnant woman, in line with the X Case. The bill was defeated before its second reading on 19 April 2012.^[11]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office February 2011
Constituency	Donegal North–East
Donegal County Councillor
In office 2004 – 2011
Constituency	Inishowen
Personal details
Born	(1973-06-12) 12 June 1973 (age 39) Leeds, England
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Sinn Féin
Website	www.donegalsf.com/representatives/937

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (born 12 June 1973) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician from Buncrana in County Donegal.^[1] He was elected as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Donegal North–East constituency at the 2011 general election.^[2]

Early life[link]

Mac Lochlainn was born in Leeds, England on 12 June 1973, the son of two Irish parents, Réamonn and Mary Mac Lochlainn. He was their only child. His father was a Provisional IRA volunteer who spent nine and a half years imprisoned in jails across England. Upon release, his father wrote a book about his prison experience called "Inside An English Jail". His uncle Colm Mac Lochlainn was also a Provisional IRA volunteer and was imprisoned in Long Kesh for five years.^[3]

After his father's release from prison in England, Pádraig then aged 10 moved with his family to his father's home of Buncrana, County Donegal and he has lived there since. His father died in a drowning accident in Shannon, County Clare in 1985. Pádraig Mac Lochlainn left school at the age of 14 and later returned to education as an adult through community development studies and distance learning. He worked in the painting and decorating trade for many years.

Civic and political career[link]

Incensed by the high levels of unemployment in his native county, he acted as the Donegal spokesperson for the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) from 1997 to 2001. He also served on the INOU National Executive from 1997 until 2000 as well as representing the organisation on the National Rural Development Forum.

At local level, he was a community director on the Inishowen Partnership Board for 5 years from 1996 to 2001. His work as a community activist and political representative had led him to speak at conferences across Europe on the issues of unemployment, regional neglect and rural poverty.

He was co-opted onto Buncrana Town Council in 2002. He was then subsequently elected onto Buncrana Town Council in 2004 and 2009. He was also elected to Donegal County Council in 2004 representing the Inishowen local electoral area and was re-elected in 2009. Mac Lochlainn served as Mayor of Buncrana twice; 2005–06 and 2010–11. He also served as Deputy Mayor of Donegal from 2010–11.

At national level, he was the Director of Sinn Féin's campaign against the Lisbon Treaty in 2008. He has served as Chairperson of his party's National Councillors Forum (NCF) and has served on the Sinn Féin Ard Comhairle (National Executive). He was appointed to the board of InterTradeIreland, the Trade and Business Development Body in December 2007 and served on the board up until March 2011.

Dáil Éireann (2011–present)[link]

Mac Lochlainn was elected to the Dáil on 25 February 2011 for the constituency of Donegal North–East on his third attempt.

He is the Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Trade. He is a member of two Joint Oireachtas Committees, Foreign Affairs and Trade and European Affairs. He is also a member of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA).^[4]

In the Dáil he has criticised septic tank charges, describing them as "a tax on the rural people of Donegal and other counties".^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Donegal Sinn Féin website

Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands (Irish: Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh;^[1] 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the British Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze.

He was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike in which Irish republican prisoners protested against the removal of Special Category Status. During his strike he was elected as a member of the British Parliament as an Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner candidate.^[2][3] His death resulted in a new surge of IRA recruitment and activity. International media coverage brought attention to the hunger strikers, and the republican movement in general, attracting both praise and criticism.^[4]

Life[link]

Early years and family[link]

Sands was born into a Catholic family^[5][6] in Abbots Cross, but also lived in a house in Doonbeg Drive, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and lived there until 1960^[7] whereupon the family were forced to move to Rathcoole, Newtownabbey.^[7] His first sister, Marcella, was born in April 1955 and second sister, Bernadette, in November 1958. His parents, John and Rosaleen, had another son, John, in 1962. On leaving school, he became an apprentice coach-builder until he was forced out at gunpoint by loyalists.^{[8][clarification needed]}

In June 1972, at the age of 18, Bobby moved with his family to the Twinbrook housing estate in west Belfast, being obliged to leave Rathcoole due to loyalist intimidation.^[9]

He married Geraldine Noade. His son, Gerard, was born 8 May 1973. She soon left to live in England with their son.^[10]

Sands' sister Bernadette Sands McKevitt is also a prominent Irish Republican. Along with her husband Michael McKevitt she helped to form the 32 County Sovereignty Movement and is accused of involvement with the Real Irish Republican Army.^[11] Sands McKevitt is opposed to the Belfast Agreement, stating that "Bobby did not die for cross-border bodies with executive powers. He did not die for nationalists to be equal British citizens within the Northern Ireland state."^[12]

Provisional IRA activity[link]

In 1972, Sands joined the Provisional IRA.^[13] He was arrested and charged in October 1972 with possession of four handguns which were found in the house where he was staying. Sands was convicted in April 1973 sentenced to five years' imprisonment and released in April 1976.^[14][15]

On his release from prison in 1976, he returned to his family home in West Belfast, and resumed his active role in the Provisional IRA's campaign. He was charged with involvement in the October 1976 bombing of the Balmoral Furniture Company in Dunmurry, although he was never convicted of this charge with the presiding judge stating that there was no evidence to support the assertion that he had taken part.^[16] After the bombing, Sands and at least five others were alleged to have been involved in a gun battle with the Royal Ulster Constabulary, although he was not convicted due to lack of evidence. Leaving behind two of their wounded friends, Seamus Martin and Gabriel Corbett, Sands, Joe McDonnell, Seamus Finucane and Sean Lavery tried to make their escape in a car, but were apprehended. Later, one of the revolvers used in the attack was found in the car in which Sands had been travelling.^[17] His trial in September 1977 saw him being convicted of possession of firearms (the revolver from which the prosecution alleged bullets had been fired at the RUC after the bombing) and Sands was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment within HM Prison Maze, also known as Long Kesh.^[18]

Immediately after his sentence he was implicated in a ruckus and spent the first 22 days on boards in Crumlin Road Prison, 15 days naked, and a No. 1 starvation diet every 3 days.^[19]

Long Kesh[link]

In prison, Sands became a writer both of journalism and poetry—being published in the Irish republican newspaper An Phoblacht. In late 1980 Sands was chosen as Officer Commanding of the Provisional IRA prisoners in Long Kesh, succeeding Brendan Hughes who was participating in the first hunger strike.

Republican prisoners had organised a series of protests seeking to regain their previous Special Category Status and not be subject to ordinary prison regulations. This began with the "blanket protest" in 1976, in which the prisoners refused to wear prison uniform and wore blankets instead. In 1978, after a number of attacks on prisoners leaving their cells to "slop out" (i.e. empty their chamber pots), this escalated into the "dirty protest", wherein prisoners refused to wash and smeared the walls of their cells with excrement.^[20]

Published works[link]

While in prison Sands had several letters and articles published in the Republican paper An Phoblacht (en: Republican News) under the pseudonym "Marcella". Other writings attributed to him are: Skylark Sing Your Lonely Song ^[21] and One Day in My Life.^[22] Sands also wrote the lyrics of "Back Home in Derry" and "McIlhatton", which were both later recorded by Christy Moore; and he wrote "Sad Song For Susan" which was later recorded. The melody of "Back Home in Derry" was borrowed from Gordon Lightfoot's famous 1976 song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

Election[link]

Shortly after the beginning of the strike, Frank Maguire, the Independent Republican MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, died suddenly of a heart attack, precipitating the April 1981 by-election.

The sudden vacancy in a seat with a nationalist majority of about five thousand was a valuable opportunity for Sands' supporters to unite the nationalist community behind their campaign.^[10] Pressure not to split the vote led other nationalist parties, notably the Social Democratic and Labour Party, to withdraw, and Sands was nominated on the label "Anti H-Block / Armagh Political Prisoner". After a highly polarised campaign, Sands narrowly won the seat on 9 April 1981, with 30,493 votes to 29,046 for the Ulster Unionist Party candidate Harry West—and also becoming the youngest MP at the time.^[23]

Following Sands' success, the British Government introduced the Representation of the People Act 1981 which prevents prisoners serving jail terms of more than one year in either the UK or the Republic of Ireland from being nominated as candidates in British elections.^[24][25] This law was introduced so as to prevent the other hunger strikers from being elected to the British parliament.^[26]

Hunger strike[link]

The 1981 Irish hunger strike started with Sands refusing food on 1 March 1981. Sands decided that other prisoners should join the strike at staggered intervals in order to maximise publicity with prisoners steadily deteriorating successively over several months.

The hunger strike centred around five demands:

1. the right not to wear a prison uniform;
2. the right not to do prison work;
3. the right of free association with other prisoners, and to organise educational and recreational pursuits;
4. the right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week;
5. full restoration of remission lost through the protest.^[27]

The significance of the hunger strike was the prisoners' aim of being declared as political prisoners (or prisoners of war) and not to be classed as criminals. The Washington Post, however, reported that the primary aim of the hunger strike was to generate international publicity.^[28]

Death[link]

Bobby Sands' grave in Milltown Cemetery

Sands died in the prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27. The original pathologist's report recorded Sands' and the other hunger strikers' causes of death as "self-imposed starvation", later amended to simply "starvation" after protests from the dead strikers' families.^[29] The coroner recorded verdicts of "starvation, self-imposed".^[29]

The announcement of his death prompted several days of riots in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. A milkman and his son, Eric and Desmond Guiney, died as a result of injuries sustained when their milk float crashed after being stoned by rioters in a predominantly nationalist area of north Belfast.^[30][31] Over 100,000 people lined the route of Sands' funeral and he was buried in the 'New Republican Plot' alongside 76 others. Their grave is maintained and cared for by the National Graves Association, Belfast.^[32] Sands was a Member of the Westminster Parliament for 25 days, though he never took his seat or the oath.

In response to a question in the House of Commons on 5 May 1981, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, "Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice that his organisation did not allow to many of its victims".^[33] The official announcement of Sands' death in the House of Commons omitted the customary expression of sense of loss and sympathy with the family of the member.^[34]

He was survived by his parents, siblings, and a young son (Gerard) from his marriage to Geraldine Noade.

Reaction to death[link]

Europe[link]

Memorial mural along Falls Road, Belfast

In Europe, there were widespread protests after Sands' death. Five thousand Milanese students burned the Union Flag and shouted 'freedom for Ulster' during a march.^[4] The British Consulate at Ghent was raided.^[4] Thousands marched in Paris behind huge portraits of Sands, to chants of 'the IRA will conquer'.^[4] In the Portuguese Parliament, the opposition stood for Sands.^[4] In Oslo, demonstrators threw a tomato at Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom, but missed. (The 28 year old assailant claimed however that he had not aimed for the queen, but for a smirking British soldier)^{[4] [35]} In the Soviet Union, Pravda described it as 'another tragic page in the grim chronicle of oppression, discrimination, terror and violence' in Ireland. Russian fans of Bobby Sands published a translation of the "Back Home In Derry" song ("На Родину в Дерри" in Russian).^[4] Many French towns and cities have streets named after Sands, including in Nantes, Saint-Étienne, Le Mans, Vierzon, and Saint-Denis.^[36] In the Republic of Ireland, his death led to riots and bus burning. IRA members allegedly unsuccessfully attempted to coerce proprietors of shops and other businesses into closing for a national day of mourning.^[37] The West German newspaper Die Welt took a negative view of Sands.^[4]

The Americas[link]

The US media expressed a range of opinions on Sands' death. The Boston Globe commented that "[t]he slow suicide attempt of Bobby Sands has cast his land and his cause into another downward spiral of death and despair. There are no heroes in the saga of Bobby Sands."^[38] The Chicago Tribune wrote that "Mahatma Gandhi used the hunger strike to move his countrymen to abstain from fratricide. Bobby Sands' deliberate slow suicide is intended to precipitate civil war. The former deserved veneration and influence. The latter would be viewed, in a reasonable world, not as a charismatic martyr but as a fanatical suicide, whose regrettable death provides no sufficient occasion for killing others."^[39]

The New York Times wrote that "Britain's prime minister Thatcher is right in refusing to yield political status to Bobby Sands, the Irish Republican Army hunger striker," but that by appearing "unfeeling and unresponsive" the British Government was giving Sands "the crown of martyrdom."^[40] The San Francisco Chronicle argued that political belief should not exempt activists from criminal law: "Terrorism goes far beyond the expression of political belief. And dealing with it does not allow for compromise as many countries of Western Europe and United States have learned. The bombing of bars, hotels, restaurants, robbing of banks, abductions and killings of prominent figures are all criminal acts and must be dealt with by criminal law."^[41]

Some American critics and journalists suggested that American press coverage was a "melodrama".^[42] One journalist in particular criticised the large pro-IRA Irish-American contingent which "swallow IRA propaganda as if it were taffy," and concluded that IRA "terrorist propaganda triumphs."^[43]

Archbishop John R. Roach, president of the US Catholic bishops, called Sands' death "a useless sacrifice".^[44] The Ledger of May 5, 1981 under the headline “To some he was a hero, to others a terrorist” claims that the hunger strike made Sands "a hero among Irish Republicans or Nationalists seeking the reunion of Protestant-dominated and British-ruled Northern Ireland with the predominantly Catholic Irish Republic to the south."^[45]

The Ledger cited Sands as telling his friends: “If I die, God will understand," and one of his last messages to them being, “Tell everyone I’ll see them somewhere, sometime.” ^[45]

Some political, religious, union and fund-raising institutions chose to honour Sands. The International Longshoremen's Association in New York announced a 24-hour boycott of British ships.^[37][46] Over 1,000 people gathered in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral to hear Cardinal Terence Cooke offer a Mass of reconciliation for Northern Ireland. Irish bars in the city were closed for two hours in mourning.^[4] In Hartford, Connecticut a memorial was dedicated to Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers in 1997, the only one of its kind in the United States. Set up by the Irish Northern Aid Committee and local Irish-Americans, it stands in a traffic circle known as "Bobby Sands Circle," at the bottom of Maple Avenue near Goodwin Park.^[47]

The New Jersey General Assembly, the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature, voted 34-29 for a resolution honouring his "courage and commitment."^[4]

In 2001, a memorial to Sands and the other hunger strikers was unveiled in Havana, Cuba.^[48]

Asia[link]

• In Tehran, Iran, President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr sent a message of condolence to the Sands family.^[49] The government renamed Winston Churchill Boulevard, the location of the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Tehran, to Bobby Sands Street, prompting the embassy to move its entrance door to Ferdowsi Avenue to avoid using Bobby Sands Street on its letterhead.^[50] A street in the Elahieh district is also named after Sands.^[51] An official blue and white street sign was affixed to the rear wall of the British embassy compound saying (in Persian) "Bobby Sands Street" with three words of explanation "militant Irish guerrilla".^[49][52] The official Pars news agency called Bobby Sands' death "heroic".^[49] There have subsequently been claims that the British foreign secretary has pressured Iranian authorities to change the name of Bobby Sands Street but this is denied.^[53][54][55]
• The Hindustan Times said Margaret Thatcher had allowed a fellow Member of Parliament to die of starvation, an incident which had never before occurred "in a civilised country."^[4]
• In the Indian Parliament, opposition members in the upper house Rajya Sabha stood for a minute's silence in tribute. The ruling Congress Party refused to join in.^[4]
• The Hong Kong Standard said it was 'sad that successive British governments have failed to end the last of Europe's religious wars.'^[4]
• A large monument dedicated to Irish protagonists for independence from Britain, including Bobby Sands, stands in the Waverley Cemetery in Sydney, Australia.

United Kingdom[link]

At Old Firm football matches in Glasgow, Scotland, some Rangers fans have been known to sing songs mocking Bobby Sands to taunt fans of Celtic. Rangers fans are mainly Protestant, and predominantly sympathetic to the Unionist and Loyalist community; Celtic fans are traditionally more likely to support the Nationalist and Republican community.^[56] Celtic fans regularly sing the republican song "The Roll of Honour" which commemorates the ten men who died in the 1981 hunger strike, amongst other songs in support of the IRA. Sands is honoured in the line "They stood beside their leader - the gallant Bobby Sands." Rangers' taunts have since been adopted by the travelling support of other UK clubs, particularly those with strong British ties, as a form of anti-Irish sentiment.^[57] The 1981 British Home Championship football tournament was cancelled following the refusal of teams from England and Wales to travel to Northern Ireland in the aftermath of his death due to security concerns.

Cardinal Basil Hume, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, condemned Sands, describing the hunger strike as a form of violence. However he noted that this was his personal view. The Roman Catholic Church's official stance was that ministrations should be provided to the hunger strikers who, believing their sacrifice to be for a higher good, were acting in good conscience.^[45]

Political impact[link]

Nine other IRA and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) members who were involved in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike also died after Sands. On the day of Sands' funeral, Unionist leader Ian Paisley held a memorial service outside of Belfast city hall to commemorate the victims of the IRA.^[37] In the Irish general elections held the same year, two anti H-block candidates won seats on an abstentionist basis.

The media coverage that surrounded the death of Sands resulted in a new surge of IRA activity and an immediate escalation in the Troubles, with the group obtaining many more members and increasing its fund-raising capability. Both nationalists and unionists began to harden their attitudes and move towards political extremes.^[58] Sands' Westminster seat was taken by his election agent, Owen Carron standing as 'Anti H-Block Proxy Political Prisoner' with an increased majority.^[59]

Music and film[link]

The Grateful Dead played the Nassau Coliseum the following night after Sands died and guitarist Bob Weir dedicated the song "He's Gone" to Sands.^[60] The concert was later released as Dick's Picks Volume 13, part of the Grateful Dead's programme of live concert releases.

The music video for the The Cranberries song Zombie shows a clip of a mural commemorating Sands.

Songs written in response to the hunger strikes and Sands' death include songs by Black 47, Nicky Wire, The Undertones,^[61] Bik McFarlane and Eric Bogle. Christy Moore's song, "The People's Own MP", has been described as an example of a rebel song of the "hero-martyr" genre in which Sands' "intellectual, artistic and moral qualities" are eulogised.^[62] American rock band Rage Against the Machine have listed Sands as an inspiration in the sleeve notes of their self titled debut album.^[63] and as a "political hero" in media interviews ^[64]

Bobby Sands has also been portrayed in the following films:

• Bobby Sands was played by John Lynch in the 1996 film Some Mother's Son. It was directed by Terry George and written by George and Jim Sheridan.^[65]
• Bobby Sands was played by Mark O'Halloran in the 2001 film H3.^[66]
• Il Silenzio dell'Allodola (2005, aka The Silence of the Skylark) by Italian film director and scriptwriter David Ballerini features Ivan Franek as Bobby Sands. It won awards and was premiered in Ireland at the Cork Film Festival, screened at Rotterdam Int. Film Festival and several other festivals.^[67]
• Michael Fassbender played Bobby Sands in Hunger, a 2008 film by artist Steve McQueen about the last six weeks of Bobby Sands' life in the context of the 1981 Irish hunger strike. It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival^[68] and won McQueen the prestigious Caméra d'Or award for first-time filmmakers.^[69] It was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK for the first time on 15 December 2009.^[70]

See also[link]

	Ireland portal
	United Kingdom portal
	Biography portal

• List of United Kingdom MPs with the shortest service
• Terence MacSwiney - Lord Mayor of Cork in 1920 who died in Brixton Prison after a hunger strike lasting 74 days.
• Khader Adnan

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bobby Sands

• Bobby Sands Trust – Official website of poetry and writings by Bobby Sands MP
• Biography from Irish Republican website
• Bobby Sands diary entries & biographies of the ten hunger strikers
• Timewatch: Hunger Strike – a Hidden History (Otmoor Productions/BBC 1993.)
• The Diary of Bobby Sands secret diary written during the first seventeen days of his hungerstrike, before being moved to the prison hospital.

Brian Stanley (born January 1961) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician.^[1] He was elected as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Laois–Offaly constituency at the 2011 general election, after the 7th count.^[2] He serves as Sinn Féin's Spokesperson on Environment, Community and Local Government. He had contested the seat unsuccessfully at the 2002 and 2007 general elections.^[3]

Stanley was elected at the 1999 local elections as a member of Port Laoise Town Council, and was re-elected in 2004, and in 2009.^[3] He was elected as a member of Laois County Council for the Port Laoise electoral area at the 2004 local elections, and was re-elected in 2009.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Brian Stanley's page on the Sinn Féin website

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