tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post3489121024157965150..comments2024-03-28T17:44:07.653+00:00Comments on TPQ: How Portlaoise Prison Set The Stage For The H-Blocks Hunger StrikeAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-48725189204062113812021-04-25T23:48:50.053+01:002021-04-25T23:48:50.053+01:00The assertion that republican prisoners "enjo...The assertion that republican prisoners "enjoyed a special status in the Republic’s prisons since 1916, this situation changed with the outbreak of the Troubles" is historically inaccurate on a number of levels. <br /><br />First from 1916 to 1921/22 the 26-County state did not exist. The southern Irish state wasn't declared a republic until 1949. Secondly, Thomas Ashe died on a Des Daltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13637337143101230074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-80689057068395525512021-04-25T21:33:36.333+01:002021-04-25T21:33:36.333+01:00Interesting Read,Even though i grew up not that fa...Interesting Read,Even though i grew up not that far from Portlaoise and used to wonder at the soldiers on the roof as a kid passing it in the 70,s i never came across much accounts or books about life inside for republican volunteers. Have read many on long kesh and many articles on tpq.Peter Farrellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10578495155350518279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-18625216760943669682021-04-24T11:03:44.841+01:002021-04-24T11:03:44.841+01:00I think a good insight into Portlaoise protest. T...I think a good insight into Portlaoise protest. Though Irish prison protests, and particularly hunger strike have a much longer long history to draw from... even the 1970s is recent history. I think the first recorded irish republican who was permitted to wear his own clothes was John Mitchell. I remember forming a dislike of him from reading his account in his memoirs.. because he refers Christy Walshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07529990561635818286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-60337987746142509112021-04-24T09:52:02.883+01:002021-04-24T09:52:02.883+01:00This is a novel take on the history of it. I would...This is a novel take on the history of it. I would not draw the same conclusion as Dieter, feeling that the thinking at the time was more rooted in the 1972 hunger strike for political status than what happened in Portlaoise. <br /><i>TPQ</i> will run a piece this evening from Dixie Elliot in response which takes a different line. Always helps to have a number of perspectives on anything. <br />AAMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.com