West Tyrone Sinn Fein Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Pat Doherty Addressed Gaughan / Stagg Commemoration

Published: 28 June, 2010

Vol. Michael Gaughan, the eldest of six children, born in Ballina on 5th October 1949 was killed by British prison and medical authorities in Parkhurst Prison on 3 June 1974, 36 years ago. After enduring three years of almost constant solitary confinement in Albany, Parkhurst and Long Lartin prisons and on his fourth hunger strike and less than two years later Vol. Frank Stagg, born 4th October 1942, the seventh of thirteen children also died after 62 days on hunger on 12th February 1976 in Wakefield Prison

Today we commemorate and celebrate the lives of Irish patriots, Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg. Michael died as a result of pneumonia induced by the force-feeding tube having pierced his lung and food lodging in his lung. Michael was 24 years old. We also remember at this time Michael's comrade and fellow Mayo man, Frank Stagg who also died on hunger strike in an English prison. Frank was 33 years old.

During that awful period we mourned the death of these courageous Volunteers and the Republican movement lost two stalwarts of our struggle who risked and gave their all away from family and friends in the belly of the beast - in England. Michael and Frank were aware of the political injustices that were being perpetrated by the British government and its cohorts in the North of their country and decided to take a stand and fight this oppression.

Little did we know that their sacrifice was to be followed in 1981 by a further 10 volunteers led by Bobby Sands, also through hunger strike. Of course we lost hundreds of Volunteers during the conflict and each and every one of them is remembered with pride as well as a great sense of loss. But because of the nature of their deaths and the prolonged torture they had to endure before they died the names of Michael Gaughan Frank Stagg and all of the hunger strikers are indelibly etched in our minds

Today as we stand here facing a brighter future because of the sacrifice of men and women of the calibre of Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg in the struggle for freedom pursued by the tenacity and ingenuity of the IRA, we were able to construct a political process through which we can now deliver the united Ireland for which they died, through peaceful and democratic means. We can now pursue our goals and aspirations without our young and finest either losing their lives or their liberty to achieve them.

Only a fortnight ago we witnessed the British Government and a Tory one at that, being forced to admit the innocence of the fourteen men murdered and thirteen injured on Bloody Sunday. Never before in Britain's history has its government pointed the finger of accusation and guilt at a Regiment of the British Army. It was achieved through the tenacity, determination and resourcefulness of the Bloody Sunday Families. And they are to be congratulated on their achievement.

The same determination and resourcefulness if applied to our political project is capable of delivering equally successful results. Our project is to build a new Ireland of Equals and now as the largest party in the North we have put equality at the heart of all the Executive and Assembly business. We need to replicate and build on that success in the rest of the country and we need each and every republican to play their part. We cannot afford the luxury of even one republican being a spectator. We must continue to build on our achievements to ensure that we reach the united, independent and sovereign Republic for which our comrades gave their lives. When we set our sights on something we keep at it until we achieve it.

We were told that we would never get the DUP into power sharing government based on equality. Where are they now? We were told that we were wasting our time attempting to get Policing and Justice powers transferred from London back to the island of Ireland. Where are they now? The work to develop the all-Ireland agenda is proceeding with more cooperation between the Dublin and Belfast administrations than ever before. But it is not cooperation between Belfast and Dublin that we are about nor is that what our brave volunteers sacrificed their lives for. Our strategy is to achieve a United Ireland and we are progressing that agenda through our political strategy North and South and it is proving successful. Maybe not as fast as most would like to see but it is progressing nonetheless!

Today we are paying tribute to Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg who with hundreds of other Volunteers, through their selfless sacrifice paid the ultimate price for their dedication which has allowed us to develop that strategy. So I appeal to everyone here today to leave this place committed to playing your part, however small, in delivering the Republic that our patriot dead fought for.

I would like to conclude by reading a short extract from Michael Gaughan in his last message to his republican comrades:

``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.''