Bobby Sands

Written by Eileen Reinhardt

When thinking about the calculated actions of resistance by the IRA during the Troubles, one story that stands out is that of Bobby Sands. As a member of the IRA, Sands came to the forefront of the Republican struggle for independence in 1981 when he started his hunger strike protest while in prison. The hunger strike ultimately resulted in his death, but Bobby Sands became a celebrated figure among Republican communities. Even Gerry Adams, the leader of the IRA, commented that Sands’ death had “‘a greater international impact than any other event in Ireland my lifetime’” (Keefe 218). 

Bobby Sands was born in 1954 to Catholic parents living in Belfast. For many years, he lived in a predominantly Protestant neighborhood and had Protestant friends, but as tensions rose in Northern Ireland those relationships worsened. In 1972, Sands wrote that “my family was intimidated out of our home” through the threat of violence by Protestants, forcing them to move to a more Catholic area of Belfast (Borders 1981). Soon after, Sands explained: “I was intimidated from my workplace at gunpoint. Shortly after this, I joined the republican movement” (Borders 1981). Elements of Sands’ story such as being forced out of his home or joining the IRA mirrors that of many people during this time, such as the McConville family and Dolours Price. 

In 1977, Bobby Sands and other IRA members were sentenced to 14 years in prison. The British government denied the IRA members to call themselves political prisoners which damaged their psyche and made them angry (Keefe 201). On March 1, 1981, Bobby Sands started his hunger strike to bring attention to the cause and to force the British to listen to the IRA prisoners’ demands: the ability to wear their own clothes, ability to refrain from prison work, the freedom to associate, the freedom to organize leisure activities, and to have lost remission restored (BBC). The British government refused to cooperate, even though Sands was elected to serve Parliament on April 9, 1981. He died on March 5, 1981 at 27 years old after 66 days on hunger strike.

While Sands’ actions while alive were important, it is his death that made the biggest impact. On a smaller and personal scale, Sands’ death affected Dolours Price, a famous member of the IRA who was on hunger strike at the same time in her women’s prison. She felt very connected to Sands due to their dedication to a free and united Ireland through hunger strike, and she “would weep when she thought of that moment, in which Bobby Sands perished and she was set free” (Keefe 219). Sands’ death clearly impacted the public, demonstrated by the 100,000+ people that attended his funeral in West Belfast. Reporters deemed his funeral as “one of the biggest political funerals in the history of Ireland” (RTE). His coffin was wrapped in the tricolor flag of Ireland, showing how people thought of him as a martyr for Irish unification and freedom. The large turnout at Sands’ funeral demonstrated that many people were sympathetic to the hunger strikers, and by default supported the IRA. This type of solidarity could not be ignored, as the media picked up on the amount of support. 

A mural was later painted of Bobby Sands on Sevastopal Street in Belfast. Analyzing the mural allows for a deeper understanding of how Sands’ death was used to continue the struggle for independence. The Bobby Sands in the mural is depicted as a young, happy, and smiling man, which is not the way he looked when he died (CAIN Archive). Painting him in this way shows that the idea of Sands’ death was more important than the actual event itself. Reinvigorating Sands’ image relates to ideas of rebirth and resurrection that would have resounded with Catholic Republicans and IRA members. Sands’ death might have been gruesome, but his death was not in vain. The mural is a promise to continue the struggle and fight for independence, and its placement on a big wall in the city served to remind younger generations of Sands’ sacrifice. This line of thinking was popular among many Republican families like that of Dolours Price. Price grew up with the mindset that she should do whatever possible to continue the struggle and create an intimate connection with a previous generation of fighters. This consumed her, and eventually she had a difficult time adjusting to life after she stepped away from the IRA. Bobby Sands, in life and death, served an important role of continuing the struggle for Irish independence, and the use of his death represents an overarching theme of remembrance found throughout Republican Nationalist discourse.

Works Cited

BBC News. “1981: Violence Erupts at Irish Hunger Strike Protest.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/18/newsid_2514000/2514727.stm

Borders, William. 1981. “Jailed I.R.A. Member Wins Commons Seat.” The New York Times. April 11. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/11/world/jailed-ira-member-wins-commons-seat.html

CAIN Archive. “Bobby Sands Mural (Sevastopal Street).” https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/victims/memorials/static/monuments/655.html

Keefe, Patrick Radden. 2019. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. New York: Anchor Books.

RTE Archives. “IRA Burial for Bobby Sands: 1981.” https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0505/786340-bobby-sands-funeral/

Tourism Ireland. “Ireland’s Cities.” https://www.ireland.com/en-us/articles/regions/ireland-cities/irelands-cities/