The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal 1966–1995 and the Search for Peace

by Tim Pat Coogan

by 1980, two hunger-strikers had gone the full way down the agonisingly slow path that leads to a starvation death. The first hunger-strike fatality of the contemporary troubles was Michael Gaughan, who died in Parkhurst Prison on 3 June 1974, the sixty-fifth day of his strike, and was buried in his native Mayo. His partner on the strike, Frank Stagg, lived and later went on strike again, dying in Wakefield prison on 12 February 1976. Stagg’s death precipitated a bizarre incident involving the Government of the Republic. The IRA had intended to stage a military funeral for Stagg and bury him alongside Gaughan. But the Government had the plane carrying the coffin diverted to Shannon, where Special Branch detectives ensured that the body was buried without Republican ceremony, and under a layer of concrete to prevent re-internment. However, six months after the fuss had died down, Stagg was dug up under cover of darkness and reburied, with the blessing of a priest, alongside his friend.