Kieran Doherty (16 October 1955 –2 August 1981) was an Irish republican hunger striker and politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency from June 1981 to August 1981. He was a volunteer in the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Doherty was the third son in a family of six. [1] He was born in the Andersonstown area of Belfast. He was educated at St. Theresa's Primary School and Glen Road Christian Brothers School (CBS). The Doherty brothers were known cyclists and sportsmen in the Andersontown area;Kieran won an Antrim Gaelic football medal at minor level in 1971. [2]
Doherty joined Fianna Éireann in Autumn 1971,quickly being recruited into the Provisional IRA thereafter. [1] [3] On 6 October 1972,his home was raided by the British Army and he was detained. He was later released after it was proven he was under 17 and couldn't be interned. The Army returned again ten days later,when he turned 17,but Doherty had been warned and fled across the border to stay with an uncle in Limerick. He eventually returned to Belfast in early 1973. [3]
He was interned by the British Government between February 1973 and November 1975. [1] [3] Kieran's brothers Michael and Terence were interned between 1972 and 1974. [1]
Doherty worked as an apprentice heating engineer. [4] His girlfriend was Geraldine Scheiss;although they never became formally engaged,they became very close towards the end of his life. Before his arrest,she had not known that he was in the IRA. [5]
In August 1976,while he was out to set a bomb,the van he was in was chased by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). During the chase Doherty managed to leave the van and hijack a car. He later ditched the car some streets away and was found 1 mile (1.6 km) away from the car. [1] He was convicted and sentenced to 18 years for possession of firearms and explosives,with another four years for the hijack. [1]
Doherty began his strike on 22 May. He died at the age of 25 in the 1981 Irish hunger strike in the Maze Prison (known to republicans as Long Kesh ). He lasted 73 days on hunger strike,the longest of the 1981 hunger strikers,and only one day short of Terence MacSwiney. [6]
While on hunger strike he was elected as an Anti H-Block TD for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency at the 1981 general election,which was held in Ireland on 11 June. [4] He received 9,121 (15.1%) first preference votes and was elected on the fourth count. [7] Doherty is the shortest-serving Dáil deputy ever,having served as a TD for two months. The two seats gained by Anti H-Block candidates denied Taoiseach Charles Haughey the chance to form a government, [8] and the 22nd Dáil saw a Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition government come to office,with Garret FitzGerald as Taoiseach.
He is commemorated on the Irish Martyrs Memorial at Waverley Cemetery in Sydney,Australia. [9] Decades earlier,another hunger striker,Joseph Whitty (aged 19),likewise died on 2 August,during the 1923 Irish Hunger Strikes. In October 2016,a painting of him was unveiled in Leinster House by Sinn Féin. [10]
He is buried in the republican plot at Milltown Cemetery in West Belfast. [11]
Caoimhghín ÓCaoláin is an Irish former Sinn Féin politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency from 1997 to 2020. ÓCaoláin's victory in 1997 made him the first member of Sinn Féin to be elected to the Dáil since 1957,and the first to actually take their seat since 1922. His election,which paralleled the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998,is cited as the beginning of Sinn Féin's involvement in the formal national politics of the Republic of Ireland.
Events from the year 1981 in Ireland.
Events from the year 1920 in Ireland.
Henry Edward Colley was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-East constituency from 1944 to 1957. He was also a Senator for the Labour Panel from 1957 to 1961.
Anti H-Block was the political label used in 1981 by supporters of the Irish republican hunger strike who were standing for election in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. "H-Block" was a metonym for the Maze Prison,within whose H-shaped blocks the hunger strike was taking place.
DáithíÓConaill was an Irish republican,a member of the IRA Army Council of the Provisional IRA,and vice-president of Sinn Féin and Republican Sinn Féin. He was also the first chief of staff of the Continuity IRA,from its founding in 1986 until his death in 1991. He is credited with introducing the car bomb to Northern Ireland.
Joseph McDonnell was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died during the 1981 Irish hunger strike.
Milltown Cemetery is a large cemetery in west Belfast,Northern Ireland. It lies within the townland of Ballymurphy,between Falls Road and the M1 motorway.
Michael James Devine was an Irish militant and Republican activist. He was a volunteer in the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA),and the last hunger striker to die during the 1981 Irish hunger strike.
RuairíBrugha was an Irish Republican and IRA volunteer who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Ireland from 1977 to 1979,Senator for the Industrial and Commercial Panel from 1969 to 1973 and 1977 to 1981 and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin County South constituency from 1973 to 1977.
Patrick Agnew is an Irish former militant,politician,and Republican activist. He was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer who was elected to Dáil Éireann during the 1981 Irish hunger strike.
Michael Gaughan was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) hunger striker who died in 1974 in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight,England. Gaughan was one of 22 Irish republicans to die while on hunger strike in the 20th century.
Events during the year 1981 in Northern Ireland.
Pat "Beag" McGeown was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who took part in the 1981 Irish hunger strike.
Martin "Doco" Doherty was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA),who was shot dead while attempting to prevent a bombing by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) at a pub in Dublin,Republic of Ireland. Doherty was the first person to be killed in the Republic of Ireland by the UVF since 1975.
The National Graves Association,Belfast is a private Irish republican organisation which undertakes to care for and maintain the graves of some Irish Republican Army volunteers who are buried in Belfast cemeteries. It is a separate organisation from the National Graves Association based in Dame Street,Dublin.
Cavan–Monaghan is a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann,the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas. The constituency elects five deputies on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).
Matthew Carthy is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency since the 2020 general election. He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Midlands–North-West constituency from 2014 to 2020.
Michael Joseph Whitty was an Irish militant and Republican activist who was the youngest of the 22 Irish republicans who died while under on hunger strike in the 20th century. Decades after his death another Volunteer also died on 2 August during the 1981 Irish hunger strike. Volunteer Whitty fought with the IRA in the Irish War of Independence,on the Anti-Treaty side in the Irish Civil War and died while under internment by the Irish Free State government.
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