Joe McDonnell

At 5.11 a.m., on July 8th, Joe McDonnell, who - believeably, for those who know his wife Goretti, his children Bernadette and Joseph and his family - "had too much to live for" died after sixty one days of agonising hunger strike, rather than be criminalised. The fourth IRA Volunteer to join the hunger-strike for political status, he was from the Lenadoon housing estate in West Belfast. A well-known and very popular man in the Greater Andersonstown area he grew up, married and fought for the republican cause in, Joe had a reputation as a quiet and deep-thinking individual, with a gentle, happy go-lucky personality, who had, nevertheless, a great sense of humour, was always laughing and playing practical jokes, and who, although withdrawn at times, had the ability to make friends easily. As an active republican before his capture in October 1976, Joe was regarded by his comrades as a cool and efficient Volunteer who did what he had to do and never talked about it afterwards. Something of a rarity within the Republican Movement, in that outside of military briefings and operational duty he was never seen around with other known or suspected Volunteers, he was nevertheless a good friend of the late Bobby Sands, with whom he was captured while on active service duty. Not among those who volunteered for the earlier hunger strike last year, it was the intense disappointment brought about by the Brits' duplicity following the end of that hunger strike, and the bitterness and anger that duplicity produced among all the blanket men, that prompted Joe to put forward his name the next time round. And it was predictable, as well as fitting, when his friend and comrade Bobby Sands met with death on the sixty-sixth day of his hunger strike, that Joe McDonnell should volunteer to take Bobby's place and continue that fight. RESOLVE His determination and resolve in that course of action can be gauged by the fact that never once, following his sentencing to fourteen years imprisonment in 1977, did he put on the prison uniform to take a visit, seeing his wife and family only after he commenced his hunger-strike. The story of Joe McDonnell is of a highly-aware republican soldier whose involvement stemmed initially from the personal repression and harassment he and his family suffered at the hands of the British occupation forces, but which then deepened - through continuing repression - to a mature commitment to oppose an occupation that denied his country freedom and attempted to criminalise its people. It was that commitment which he held more dear than his own life.

[Intro] (Here's Tommy to sing of a young man from Belfast called Joe McDonnell) Oh, me name is Joe McDonnell, from Belfast town I came A city I will never see again For in the town of Belfast, I spent many happy days I love that town in oh, so many ways For it's there I spent my childhood, and found for me a wife I then set out to make for her a life But all my young ambitions met with bitterness and hate I soon found myself inside a prison gate [Chorus] And you dare to call me a terrorist, while you look down your gun When I think of all the deeds that you had done You had plundered many nations, divided many lands You had terrorised their peoples, you ruled with an iron hand And you brought this reign of terror to my land Through those many months interment, in the Maidstone and the Maze I thought about my land throughout those days Why my country was divided, why I was now in jail Imprisoned without crime or without trial And though I love my country, I'm not a bitter man I've seen cruelty and injustice at first hand So then one fateful morning, I shook bold freedom's hand For right or wrong, I'd try to free my land [Chorus] And you dare to call me a terrorist, while you look down your gun When I think of all the deeds that you had done You had plundered many nations, divided many lands You had terrorised their peoples, you ruled with an iron hand And you brought this reign of terror to my land Then one cold October's morning, trapped in a lions' den I found myself imprisoned once again I was committed to the H-Blocks for fourteen years or more On the blanket, the conditions, they were poor Then a hunger strike we did commence, for the dignity of man But it seemed to me that no-one gave a damn But now I am a saddened man, I've watched my comrades die If only people cared or wondered why [Chorus] And you dare to call me a terrorist, while you look down your gun When I think of all the deeds that you had done You had plundered many nations, divided many lands You had terrorised their peoples, you ruled with an iron hand And you brought this reign of terror to my land May God shine on your, Bobby Sands, for the courage you have shown May your glory and your fame be widely known And Francis Hughes and Ray McCreesh, who died unselfishly And Patsy O'Hara; the next in line is me And those who lie behind me, may your courage be the same And I'll pray to God, my life is not in vain Ah, but sad and bitter was the year of Nineteen Eighty-One For everything I've lost, and nothing's won