Kate Yo đź”– “Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were like de Valera in 1927 taking their parties into a partitionist assembly for the first time.”


Jake MacSiacais was born in the Mater and according to his mother when her time came to deliver she showed up at the hospital and was instructed by the nun on duty firstly that she had to have a bath. However, his mother was barely able to pull the bath board into place before her baby came into this world. He was called after his father Gerard, but since around five years old he was given the nickname Jake and it stuck. 

The family were living in Ardoyne in the granny's house and there was always this feeling of “enveloping Irishness”, despite her four sons including Jake's father being economic conscripts to the British army.

In 1961 his parents got their own house but Jake remained with his granny Lizzie, until she became unable to look after him.

Jake then moved around the corner to his other granny’s house but eventually at school age he moved into his parents in West Belfast. The first chapter of the book is called 30 years growing, and what the author does is to tell the story of his own life running parallel with the outbreak of the troubles. His childhood was typical for the time as dark clouds began to gather over his innocence.

Loyalists were becoming active again and Gusty Spence released a statement that:

from this day on we declare war on The Irish Republican army and its splinter groups. Known IRA men would be executed without mercy. Less extreme measures will be taken against anyone sheltering or helping them, but if they persist in giving them aids then more extreme measures will be adopted.

Basically their rule of thumb was if you can’t kill an IRA man any Taig will do.

Around this time there was an incident that told Jake that there was another tribe out there that did not like their Irishness. Jake’s mother had a long term friend who worked in Graves Mill with her and she was a Protestant living in a loyalist estate. His mother took her children to visit the friend but had the door slammed in their faces. Jake also had a similar experience with his friend James Watt, nicknamed Tonto. He never saw Tonto again until he was in Crumlin Road jail in 1977. Tonto faced charges of murdering Catholics. He was also a UVF bombmaker and then eventually became a born again Christian. 

In 1975 Jake was charged with eleven counts of conspiracy to cause explosions. These charges were based on documents detailing plans of British barracks and installations. He was given three years for each count to run concurrently and sent to Long Kesh. Upon release Jake was ready to take up where he left off. This period of freedom ended when a British soldier was shot and wounded in West Belfast. He was shot from behind Ard Monagh flats in Turf Lodge.

Joe McQuillan, whom Jake only met that morning, was driving a car in which Jake was a passenger. They were being pursued by the Brits. Joe accelerated and managed to get well in front out of the Brits' sight long enough for Jake to hide a number of items between a hedge and a garden wall. When they reached Norfolk Way they met two army vehicles blocking their path.

Jake was charged with being a member of the Provisional IRA and possession of a rifle. A soldier identified Jake as the man coming out of the flats immediately after the shooting. Again he was sent to Crumlin Road jail to A Wing where he was debriefed upon arrival. Debriefing was to see if there were any clues during interrogation that the detectives may have learned or revealed that could be quickly sent to the outside. A few weeks later Jake was sitting in his cell reading when he had an Eureka moment. Jake knew that Joe admitted possession of an armalite and hijacking, but Joe also knew of the stuff that Jake put behind a garden wall and these were never mentioned or recovered.

The information the detectives had about the flats was very accurate and no one person could have known all of that, therefore there must have been a concealed spy post in the flats. Word was sent to the outside and the spy post was discovered within a week. This post was manned by two soldiers and they were given access to the roof via a trap door in an informers bedroom ceiling.

This informer's father was a prominent republican and instead of getting the death penalty like other informers, he was only exiled for a year.

Jake then describes what life was like in Long Kesh and the events leading to the hunger strike. When the fast ended life became more bearable in the Kesh. Prisoners were given fresh cells with furniture and within days they had their own clothes.

The screws were so relieved at being safe they let their guard down and this eventually led to a mass escape. It was announced that any prisoner who would do work and join the prison population would receive fifty percent of their remission back.

The most prominent prisoner to do so was the former PRO who would later profit from a highly contested account of  the hunger strike that did nothing other than wound families. This man has severed all his connections with the Republican Movement and has since written two books neither of which I will ever read. 

Jake was released in 1982 and went to St Louise’s college where he completed his O and A levels. At this time electoral politics was a hot topic of debate and it became the focus of the next Ard Fheis in 1983 where RuairĂ­ Ă“ Brádaigh declined to stand again for President of Sinn Fein. Ă“ Brádaigh cited the rejection of Eire Nua among his reasons. Ă“ Brádaigh was succeeded by Adams who remained President for 35 years.

Abstentionism was also debated at the next IRA convention and the ban against taking seats in the Dail was lifted. 

Jake’s private life was also developing. He met his wife Chrissie and they moved into their own house and their children came along.

Jake was working away in different jobs but by 1990 he was responsible for the northern input to An Phoblacht. He also spent time working at the Feile.

Things were developing politically. Arms had newly arrived in Ireland, and it was the time of the Anglo Irish agreement, The army was deeply opposed to both this Agreement and the Hume-Adams imitative. Adams agreed saying the Anglo Irish, Agreement was a disaster for republicans, but by 1993 it appeared that Adams was well down the road with the Hume-Adams imitative.

Jake had fallen out with some comrades over political differences. 1994 began a very unsettling period for the Movement.

Adams was given a U.S. visa and Jake thought this would exact a heavy price tag for republicans. A hot topic of debate in the Movement was the differences between Hume-Adams and the Downing St declaration. However it became a moot point as both were enshrined in the G.FA some years later.

At this point Jake felt that Sinn Fein was headed into a revamped Stormont, despite sloganizing there’d be no return to Stormont rule.

There was a serious danger of the army splitting in two, and this was the last thing Jake wanted, so he was determined not to do anything to contribute to this. Jake felt the leadership was not in control of events. The two things republicans’ had set their face against – the Unionist Veto and an internal settlement - and Jake feared they would become a reality sooner or later. He became very guarded about what he said.

He felt along with many others the IRA constitution had been violated. It looked like Sinn Fein was headed into Stormont with the Unionist Veto unchanged. A large number of the IRA’s front line soldiers left the Movement as individuals. Jake also left the Movement on October-16-1997.

This was a major change for Jake outside the Movement and he suffered deep depression alongside post-traumatic stress.

He writes, “in my personal life I had to reach the depths before I reached the heights." He continues:

If I offended or upset anyone all I can say is forgive me my trespasses as you so often and so readily forgive your own. Remember we are Gaels as were our ancestors before us. We don’t sleep we simply rest from time to time. BeirĂ­gĂ­ Bua.

Jake MacSiacais, 2022, Surfing Into Life On A Bathboard: A Gaeilgeoir Republican's Pathway To An Imperfect Peace. Beyond The Pale. ISBN 13: 978-1-914318-17-1 Paperback.


Kate Yo is a Belfast book lover.

Surfing Into Life On A Bath Board

Kate Yo đź”– “Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were like de Valera in 1927 taking their parties into a partitionist assembly for the first time.”


Jake MacSiacais was born in the Mater and according to his mother when her time came to deliver she showed up at the hospital and was instructed by the nun on duty firstly that she had to have a bath. However, his mother was barely able to pull the bath board into place before her baby came into this world. He was called after his father Gerard, but since around five years old he was given the nickname Jake and it stuck. 

The family were living in Ardoyne in the granny's house and there was always this feeling of “enveloping Irishness”, despite her four sons including Jake's father being economic conscripts to the British army.

In 1961 his parents got their own house but Jake remained with his granny Lizzie, until she became unable to look after him.

Jake then moved around the corner to his other granny’s house but eventually at school age he moved into his parents in West Belfast. The first chapter of the book is called 30 years growing, and what the author does is to tell the story of his own life running parallel with the outbreak of the troubles. His childhood was typical for the time as dark clouds began to gather over his innocence.

Loyalists were becoming active again and Gusty Spence released a statement that:

from this day on we declare war on The Irish Republican army and its splinter groups. Known IRA men would be executed without mercy. Less extreme measures will be taken against anyone sheltering or helping them, but if they persist in giving them aids then more extreme measures will be adopted.

Basically their rule of thumb was if you can’t kill an IRA man any Taig will do.

Around this time there was an incident that told Jake that there was another tribe out there that did not like their Irishness. Jake’s mother had a long term friend who worked in Graves Mill with her and she was a Protestant living in a loyalist estate. His mother took her children to visit the friend but had the door slammed in their faces. Jake also had a similar experience with his friend James Watt, nicknamed Tonto. He never saw Tonto again until he was in Crumlin Road jail in 1977. Tonto faced charges of murdering Catholics. He was also a UVF bombmaker and then eventually became a born again Christian. 

In 1975 Jake was charged with eleven counts of conspiracy to cause explosions. These charges were based on documents detailing plans of British barracks and installations. He was given three years for each count to run concurrently and sent to Long Kesh. Upon release Jake was ready to take up where he left off. This period of freedom ended when a British soldier was shot and wounded in West Belfast. He was shot from behind Ard Monagh flats in Turf Lodge.

Joe McQuillan, whom Jake only met that morning, was driving a car in which Jake was a passenger. They were being pursued by the Brits. Joe accelerated and managed to get well in front out of the Brits' sight long enough for Jake to hide a number of items between a hedge and a garden wall. When they reached Norfolk Way they met two army vehicles blocking their path.

Jake was charged with being a member of the Provisional IRA and possession of a rifle. A soldier identified Jake as the man coming out of the flats immediately after the shooting. Again he was sent to Crumlin Road jail to A Wing where he was debriefed upon arrival. Debriefing was to see if there were any clues during interrogation that the detectives may have learned or revealed that could be quickly sent to the outside. A few weeks later Jake was sitting in his cell reading when he had an Eureka moment. Jake knew that Joe admitted possession of an armalite and hijacking, but Joe also knew of the stuff that Jake put behind a garden wall and these were never mentioned or recovered.

The information the detectives had about the flats was very accurate and no one person could have known all of that, therefore there must have been a concealed spy post in the flats. Word was sent to the outside and the spy post was discovered within a week. This post was manned by two soldiers and they were given access to the roof via a trap door in an informers bedroom ceiling.

This informer's father was a prominent republican and instead of getting the death penalty like other informers, he was only exiled for a year.

Jake then describes what life was like in Long Kesh and the events leading to the hunger strike. When the fast ended life became more bearable in the Kesh. Prisoners were given fresh cells with furniture and within days they had their own clothes.

The screws were so relieved at being safe they let their guard down and this eventually led to a mass escape. It was announced that any prisoner who would do work and join the prison population would receive fifty percent of their remission back.

The most prominent prisoner to do so was the former PRO who would later profit from a highly contested account of  the hunger strike that did nothing other than wound families. This man has severed all his connections with the Republican Movement and has since written two books neither of which I will ever read. 

Jake was released in 1982 and went to St Louise’s college where he completed his O and A levels. At this time electoral politics was a hot topic of debate and it became the focus of the next Ard Fheis in 1983 where RuairĂ­ Ă“ Brádaigh declined to stand again for President of Sinn Fein. Ă“ Brádaigh cited the rejection of Eire Nua among his reasons. Ă“ Brádaigh was succeeded by Adams who remained President for 35 years.

Abstentionism was also debated at the next IRA convention and the ban against taking seats in the Dail was lifted. 

Jake’s private life was also developing. He met his wife Chrissie and they moved into their own house and their children came along.

Jake was working away in different jobs but by 1990 he was responsible for the northern input to An Phoblacht. He also spent time working at the Feile.

Things were developing politically. Arms had newly arrived in Ireland, and it was the time of the Anglo Irish agreement, The army was deeply opposed to both this Agreement and the Hume-Adams imitative. Adams agreed saying the Anglo Irish, Agreement was a disaster for republicans, but by 1993 it appeared that Adams was well down the road with the Hume-Adams imitative.

Jake had fallen out with some comrades over political differences. 1994 began a very unsettling period for the Movement.

Adams was given a U.S. visa and Jake thought this would exact a heavy price tag for republicans. A hot topic of debate in the Movement was the differences between Hume-Adams and the Downing St declaration. However it became a moot point as both were enshrined in the G.FA some years later.

At this point Jake felt that Sinn Fein was headed into a revamped Stormont, despite sloganizing there’d be no return to Stormont rule.

There was a serious danger of the army splitting in two, and this was the last thing Jake wanted, so he was determined not to do anything to contribute to this. Jake felt the leadership was not in control of events. The two things republicans’ had set their face against – the Unionist Veto and an internal settlement - and Jake feared they would become a reality sooner or later. He became very guarded about what he said.

He felt along with many others the IRA constitution had been violated. It looked like Sinn Fein was headed into Stormont with the Unionist Veto unchanged. A large number of the IRA’s front line soldiers left the Movement as individuals. Jake also left the Movement on October-16-1997.

This was a major change for Jake outside the Movement and he suffered deep depression alongside post-traumatic stress.

He writes, “in my personal life I had to reach the depths before I reached the heights." He continues:

If I offended or upset anyone all I can say is forgive me my trespasses as you so often and so readily forgive your own. Remember we are Gaels as were our ancestors before us. We don’t sleep we simply rest from time to time. BeirĂ­gĂ­ Bua.

Jake MacSiacais, 2022, Surfing Into Life On A Bathboard: A Gaeilgeoir Republican's Pathway To An Imperfect Peace. Beyond The Pale. ISBN 13: 978-1-914318-17-1 Paperback.


Kate Yo is a Belfast book lover.

1 comment:

  1. Jake certainly had a battle with depression. He almost died during Covid. Great that he is back on his feet again.
    His observations on the hunger strike books and their author do not serve him well. It would have been better had he read the works and then made his observations. The counter narrative around the hunger strike has stood the test of time and Jakes dismissal of it doesn't breach the ramparts. His actual take on what he thinks happened would be beneficial to have.

    Jake earlier did a podcast on the jail experience which is well worth a listen.

    ReplyDelete