Richard O'Rawe
Richard O’Rawe is a former Provisional IRA prisoner and author of Blanketmen.
Background
He grew up in a house at the corner of Peel Street and Mary Street in the Lower Falls district of Belfast. When that house was demolished in 1970 as part of the redevelopment of the area he and his family moved to Ballymurphy. It was there that he got involved in politics. He was interned and imprisoned in both the Crumlin Road gaol and in Long Kesh.[1]
Role in the hunger strikes
In Long Kesh prison in 1981, he was Provisional IRA press officer. He claims that terms for ending the 1981 hunger strikes, accepted by the prisoners' leadership in the prison, were rejected by IRA commanders outside. He suggests that the IRA rejected the deal as the Irish republican candidate Owen Carron would have a better chance of winning the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election if the hunger strike was ongoing on polling day.[2]
Publications
- 2011: Afterlives: The Hunger Strike and the Secret Offer that Changed Irish History. Lilliput Press.
- 2016: Blanketmen: An Untold Story of the H-block Hunger Strike. New Island Books
- 2017: In the Name of the Son: The Gerry Conlon Story. Merrion Press.
- 2018: Northern Heist. Merrion Press[3]
- 2023: Stakeknife's Dirty War: The Inside Story of Scappaticci, the IRA's Nutting Squad and the British Spooks Who Ran the War. Merrion Press.
References
- "From the cradle up". Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- "Will IRA ever admit truth over hunger strike?". The Belfast Telegraph. 27 March 2008. Archived from the original on 24 April 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
- "Northern Heist". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2020.