April 1977: "The system will break before we will"

Aug 29, 2024

April 1977 saw Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album go to Number 1 & stay atop the charts for 31 weeks. In Northern Ireland, there were also rumours within the unionist community that the UUAC had been involved in discussions with the IRA…

Political Developments in April 1977

April ‘77 began when the British government came out to support the idea of treating Northern Ireland as a single constituency, returning three members, for elections to the European Parliament. The government also supported the use of proportional representation in these elections. The proposals were supported by the SDLP and the Alliance Party but were opposed by the Ulster Unionist Party and the DUP.

On the 2nd of April, Conservative Party spokesperson on Northern Ireland Airey Neave said that Provisional Sinn Féin should be proscribed (declared illegal).

An interesting document dated the 4th of April, detailing the ongoing hunger strikes concerning special category status was released in the early 2000s. Some of the content is as follows;

Numbers

The number of protesters as of 1 April 1977 was 97…
The total of 97 includes 10 female prisoners.
All protestors are Republican prisoners - 94 are PIRA and 3 are IRSP.
The male prisoners are refusing to work or to wear prison clothing. The female prisoners are refusing to work. They are not required to wear a prison uniform.

Location

The protestors are located as follows:- Maze 83, Belfast 4 and Armagh 10.
All male protesters are accommodated one to a cell. At Maze Prison, the adult protestors, of whom there are 34, are housed in 2 wings of H4. The Young Prisoner protestors, who number 48, are located in 2 wings of H2.
One protestor is at present held in the cell block. He is a PIRA prisoner (McFeely) and is being held there under Prison Rule 24(1) with the approval of the Board of Visitors. McFeely was a disruptive influence and was removed from association with other prisoners for the maintenance of good order and discipline.

Regime (Male Protestors)

Each protestor is provided with a bed, a mattress, bedding, a table, a chair and a chamberpot. Prison clothing (including underclothing) is also available to him in his cell at all times as is a bible.
Except for visits to the Welfare Officer, the Medical Officer, and legal representatives, attendance at religious services, appearances before the Governor, time spent in the oblutions, or the receipt of statutory visits protestors normally remain in their cells
24 hours a day.
They conform to 'the extent of brushing out and helping to clean up their cells each day; they slop out themselves and they collect their own meals from the trolly when it comes round.
They wear a shirt and prison trousers when visiting the Welfare Officer or the Medical Officer or attending religious services. They wear full prison clothing for their statutory visits.
Each prisoner has a statutory right to not less than one hour of exercise in the open each day. This is offered daily to the protestors but they do not avail themselves of it.
On average they leave their cells about twice a week for a shower.
A library is available in each cell block and every prisoner is allowed to have library books and exchange them as often as practicable. In practice, however, I am advised that few of the protesters avail themselves of this facility. Prison Chaplains are permitted to leave religious journals with the protestors subject to scrutiny by
prison staff. Most prisoners have a few of these journals.
Convicted prisoners are allowed, as a privilege, to have a radio in their cells. Protestors however lose all privileges and are not therefore allowed the use of a radio.
It follows from the foregoing that protestors are undergoing self-imposed cellular confinement, and are spending their time sitting in their cell wrapped in a blanket.
Refusing to wear prison clothing or to work is an offence against discipline and results automatically in loss of privileges, including association with other prisoners, the right to wear leisure clothing in association periods, the use of a radio, privilege visits, letters and parcels. Every prisoner is however allowed by statute to write
and receive a letter on reception and thereafter once in four weeks and to receive a visit once in four weeks. Most protestors decline their statutory visits.
Adjudications take place at fortnightly intervals and the normal punishment is loss of remission - one day for each day that the prisoner is in breach of the prison rules. In addition, the Governor normally imposes a punishment of 3 days cellular confinement in respect of each appearance before him by a protestor.
The latter punishment is served in the prisoner’s own cell, and in this period the bed, mattress and bedding are removed from the cell during the day. All that he is then left with is a blanket, a table and a chair. A mattress and bedding are always available at night.
Prison rule 68(3) provides that the Medical Officer shall once every day, or oftener, visit every prisoner under punishment or under special discipline or any other prisoner to whom his attention is specially directed. I am assured that this is done.
The temperature in the cells is kept at about 65°F and the heat is controlled centrally for each wing - it cannot be cut off in a particular cell or cells.
Electric light in the cells is controlled by the prisoners and is on all day and late into the evening.

Regime (Female Protestors)

The regime operated in respect of female protestors is less restrictive.
The Governor adjudicates on the protestors at fortnightly intervals and the normal punishment is loss of remission (1 day for each day spent on protest), loss of privilege visits and parcels, loss of association with other prisoners at weekends, and ban on attendance at the weekly film show.
Female protestors are permitted to associate with other prisoners in the evenings on weekdays. They are offered and they do take exercise each day. They share cells and they are not debarred from having a radio.

Duration of Protests

A statement (Appendix B) is attached summarising the duration of protests by weeks and the numbers involved. This shows that 31 prisoners have been on protest for over 3 months; 45 for over 2 months and 71 for over 1 month.
A statement (Appendix C) is also attached giving details in respect of 53 prisoners who were protesting at one time but are now conforming. These include 27 PIRA, 1 OIRA, 3 IRSP, 5 UDA and 17 UVF.

Attitudes

A number of the protestors are defiant, truculent and unrepentant. They either refuse to plea, answer in Irish or make utterances such as "the system will break before we will". There are other protestors however who would be prepared to conform but are afraid to do so because of pressure from both inside and outside the prison. Their main concern is for the safety of their families. Some protestors undergo considerable emotional stress immediately following a statutory visit and resort to tears in their cells. McShane is a case in point.

Prison Management

Protestors are demanding as regards accommodation since doubling up is not practicable. They are time-consuming also in relation to Medical supervision and in adjudications by the Governor but so far as normal prison management is concerned they present no immediate problems and ironically the workload on the discipline staff is much reduced because of the protesters’ self-imposed cellular confinement.
This protest is however an important fact of the special category battle and not only could the numbers of new committals swell the ranks of existing protestors but there is always the danger of some of the present conformers joining the protestors either by choice or as a result of pressure from within the command structure. This is particularly true of the Easter period.
There is no room for compromise. The position could become acute if the physical or mental condition of any of the long-term protestors seriously deteriorated. Fortunately, there is no problem at present in relation to the medical condition of any of the existing protesters.
There has been very little propaganda of late regarding the protestors and this must be discouraging to them and frustrating for the paramilitary organisations. My own view is that no publicity is good news as regards this particular issue and any initiative on our part might be construed as a sign that we were worried about this problem and that the protestors were making an impact on the system.
We can control the situation within the prisons. The longer this protest continues however and the more prisoners become involved the greater is the danger that it will attract/support in the form of violent action by paramilitary organisations which may be directed against the prison service or take the form of widespread attacks on property and/or persons.
We never of course expected the ending of special category to be accepted without protest and we can be thankful that to date this is the most serious protest we have had to cope with inside the prisons. It will no doubt become worse before we can look for an improvement on the present position but it is a case of sticking it out and any weakening of our attitude would be a body blow to the staff who have so far borne the brunt of the protests and the attacks on the prison service.

Catholic Primate of Ireland Cardinal Willian Conway died on the 16th of April in Armagh after a short illness.

On the 23rd of April, Ian Paisley, in his role as head of the United Unionist Action Council, threatened to organise a region-wide strike unless Secretary of State Roy Mason acted against the IRA and also implemented the Convention Report.

On the same day, County Grand Master of the Orange Order in Belfast Thomas Passmore launched a verbal attack on the UUAC and its plans for a general strike. In addition, he alleged that a member of the UUAC had been involved in discussions with the IRA.

Just two days later, the United Unionist Action Council, led by Ian Paisley and leader of the United Ulster Unionist Movement Ernie Baird announced that it would hold a region-wide strike in May 1977. The strike was organised to demand a tougher security response from the government and a return to a 'majority-rule' government at Stormont. The strike was supported by the Ulster Workers' Council, the group that had organised the successful strike of May 1974, and also by the UDA, the largest of the Loyalist paramilitary groups. The UUAC gave Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Roy Mason seven days to respond to their demands. The threat of strike action by the UUAC was condemned by other groupings within unionism including the Vanguard Unionist Party, the Ulster Unionist Party, and the Orange Order.

On the 27th of April, a series of personal attacks on one another by leading figures such as Enoch Powell, James Molyneaux, and Ian Paisley, illustrated the growing disagreement within unionism on the issue of the planned United Unionist Action Council strike.

Also on that day, Secretary of State Roy Mason announced that the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast was to receive an order worth some £70 million to construct two liquid gas carriers.

The 29th of April was another day full of developments. Ian Paisley warned in a statement that if the British authorities failed to alter its policies then loyalists might have to consider taking over the administration of Northern Ireland. He also called for people to consider a rent, rates and VAT strike.

A meeting was also held in Harland and Wolff shipyard at which a large majority of workers voted not to support the planned UUAC strike.

In addition, workers at the Ballylumford power station made it clear that they would only support the stoppage if it obtained clear support across all sectors of the Northern Ireland industry.

Following a request by Roy Mason, it was announced that extra British soldiers would be sent to Northern Ireland to maintain law and order in anticipation of the UUAC strike taking place. 1,200 soldiers would arrive on the 1st of May 1977.

It was also reported that approximately 200 UDA men from Scotland along with 50 more from Liverpool had arrived in Belfast on the 29th to support the strike planned by the UUAC.

April ended with Ian Paisley saying that if the forthcoming United Unionist Action Council strike was not a success then he would quit political life in Northern Ireland. Most political and media commentators viewed the UUAC strike as a failure however on the 13th of May 1977 Paisley declared that the strike had been a success.

It was alleged by sources 'close' to the UUAC that plans had been made to establish a loyalist provisional government in Northern Ireland.

There were reports of panic buying of food, bottled gas, and other provisions in the face of the threats to supplies posed by the forthcoming strike.

Shootings in April 1977

02/04/77 - Civilian William Clarke (30) was found shot, at Tullymacreeve, near Forkhill, County Armagh. It’s believed that the Republican Action Force was responsible.

06/04/77 - UDR soldier Gerald Cloete (46) was shot dead while driving a vehicle in the Northland Road area of Derry City.

07/04/77 - An INLA unit was ambushed by undercover British soldiers near Bellaghy, County Londonderry. An INLA member was seriously wounded but suppressed the soldiers long enough to allow the rest of his unit to escape.

08/04/77 - Two RUC officers, John McCracken (22) and Kenneth Sheehan (19), were shot dead by the IRA near Moneymore, County Derry.

09/04/77 - Civilian Myles McGrogan (22) was shot dead by the IRA in Hannahstown, near Belfast. The IRA claimed he was a British informer.

10/04/77 - John Short (49), a Catholic civilian, was shot dead by the IRA in the Turf Lodge area of Belfast. This killing was part of a feud between the Official and Provisional wings of the IRA.

15/04/77 - British soldier William Edgar (34) was shot dead by the IRA in the City Cemetery, Derry.

17/04/77 - IRA volunteer Trevor McKibben (19) was shot dead by a British Army sniper on Flax Street in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.

19/04/77 - The UVF shot dead Catholic civilian William Strathearn (39) at his shop in Ahoghill. Two RUC Special Patrol Group officers were later convicted for taking part.

21/04/77 - Civilian Brian Smith (24) was shot at the corner of Snugville Street and Queensland Street, Shankill, Belfast. It’s believed that the Republican Action Force was responsible.

23/04/77 - IRA volunteer Brendan O’Callaghan (21) was shot dead by the British Army while in a car park of The Hunting Lodge Bar, in the Stewardstown area of Belfast.

23/04/77 - The UVF shot dead Catholic civilian Patrick Devlin (72) outside the Legahory Inn, Craigavon.

28/04/77 - Two RUC detectives were wounded after cornering an INLA unit that had just kidnapped the son of a Belfast banker on the outskirts of Belfast. The INLA members escaped and were later paid a ransom of £25,000.

29/04/77 - UDR soldier Eric Sheills (49) was shot dead by the IRA outside his home in Dungannon, County Tyrone.

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Bombings in April 1977

04/04/77 - British soldier Sean Prendergast (22) was killed in an IRA landmine attack on an Armoured Personnel Carrier near Belleek, County Fermanagh. He died one day after the attack.

10/04/77 - Kevin McMenamin (10), a Catholic boy, was killed by the UVF when they carried out a bomb attack on a Republican Clubs Easter commemoration parade in the Falls Road area of Belfast.

20/04/77 - Catholic civilians Sean Campbell (19) and John McBride (18) were killed when the UVF carried out a bomb attack on the funeral of an IRA member in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.

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