 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Anti H-Block" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Anti H-Block | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Collective leadership |
| Founded | 1981 (1981) |
| Dissolved | 1981 (1981) |
| Merged into | Sinn Féin |
| Ideology | Irish republicanism The Five Demands |
Anti H-Block was the political label used in 1981 by supporters of theIrish republican hunger strike who were standing for election in bothNorthern Ireland and theRepublic of Ireland. "H-Block" was ametonym for theMaze Prison and its H-shaped cell blocks, within which the hunger strike was taking place.
Bobby Sands, the first of these hunger strikers, was nominated in the WestminsterApril 1981 by-election in Fermanagh and South Tyrone. After his electoral victory and death, theRepresentation of the People Act was passed to prevent convicted prisoners serving sentences of more than one year from serving in the UK parliament. In response,Owen Carron, Sands's agent, stood as an "Anti-H-Block Proxy Political Prisoner", winning a seat in thesubsequent August by-election.[1][2]
In the Republic of Ireland'sgeneral election in June 1981 twelve candidates ran under the Anti H-Block banner, nine of whom were prisoners.Kieran Doherty andPaddy Agnew won seats inCavan–Monaghan andLouth respectively, while bothJoe McDonnell andMartin Hurson narrowly missed election inSligo–Leitrim andLongford–Westmeath.[3] Eamonn Sweeney noted that:
Altogether, H-Block candidates averaged 15% of the first-preference vote in constituencies they contested. This was a remarkable performance, given that they had been without money, television exposure (because ofcensorship laws), or any sympathetic media. It was probably beyond the wildest dreams of even their director of elections,Daithi O Conaill, who said the day before the election that "if the H-Block prisoner candidates get between 2,500 and 3,000 votes they will have put up a credible performance"[4]
The successes of the Anti H-Block movement galvanised the Irish republican movement, and led to the entry the following year into mainstream electoral politics ofSinn Féin.
Nine candidates were officially endorsed by the Anti H-Block committee, eight of which were imprisoned at the time.
Candidates:
Denotes candidates elected to Dáil Éireann
| Constituency | Candidate | Paramilitary and political affiliation | 1st Pref. votes | % | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cavan–Monaghan | Kieran Doherty | Provisional IRA –Sinn Féin | 9,121 | 15.10 | Elected on the fourth count |
| Clare[5] | Tom McAllister | INLA –Irish Republican Socialist Party | 2,120 | 4.68 | |
| Cork North-Central | Mairéad Farrell | Provisional IRA –Sinn Féin | 2,751 | 6.05 | |
| Dublin West[6] | Anthony O'Hara | INLA –Irish Republican Socialist Party | 3,034 | 6.49 | Candidate was the brother ofPatsy O'Hara |
| Kerry North[7] | Seán McKenna | Provisional IRA –Sinn Féin | 3,860 | 11.26 | |
| Longford–Westmeath[8] | Martin Hurson | Provisional IRA –Sinn Féin | 4,573 | 10.08 | Was not eliminated. Deemed not elected on last count |
| Louth | Paddy Agnew | Provisional IRA –Sinn Féin | 8,368 | 18.29 | Topped the Poll |
| Sligo–Leitrim | Joe McDonnell | Provisional IRA –Sinn Féin | 5,639 | 11.82 | Eliminated on fourth count |
| Waterford[9] | Kevin Lynch | INLA –Irish Republican Socialist Party | 3,337 | 7.63 |
 | ThisNorthern Ireland–related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
 | ThisIrish history article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
