Paddy Quinn (Irish republican)
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Patrick Quinn (Irish: Pádraic Ó Cuinn) (born, 1962, Belleeks, County Armagh, Northern Ireland) was a volunteer with the 1st Battalion, South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who took part in the 1981 Irish hunger strike.[1]
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[edit] Early life
Quinn was born into a republican family and was the third eldest child in a family of four boys and five girls born to James and Catherine Quinn in Belleeks, South Armagh. At the age of nine, Paddy's father died. As the new head of the family his mother relied heavily on Paddy for both emotional support and to help work their 35 acre farm in County Armagh.
Quinn's mother introduced him to Irish republicanism and told tales of when his uncle was shot by the Black and Tans during the Tan war.
The Quinn family were continually harassed by the British Army and RUC. When the family home was destroyed in 1979 Mrs Quinn moved with her family to Camlough, with the exception of Seamus Quinn who was on the run at the time.[2]
[edit] Active service
On 25 June 1976, Quinn along with Danny McGuinness and Raymond McCreesh planned to ambush a RUC patrol at the Mountain House Inn on the Newry-Newtownhamilton Road. However they were observed moving into their ambush position. The Brits opened fire on their position but the volunteers managed to hold them off and the IRA member in the car drove off. They escaped the length of a farmhouse hoping to attain a car but were surrounded and forced to surrender.
On 2 March 1977, Quinn Danny Mc Guinness and Raymond McCreesh were convicted and sentenced to fourteen years in prison for attempted murder, possession of a rifle and ammunition and a further five years for IRA membership.[3][4]
[edit] Imprisonment
Quinn was sent to Long Kesh prison where he refused to wear a prison uniform, demanded political status and joined the blanket protest.
[edit] 1981 Hunger Strike
Quinn joined the hunger strike on 15 June 1981. When he was close to death after 47 days, he was the first hunger striker whose family intervened. They helped to get him medical help to save his life.[5][6][7]
[edit] References
- ^ Irish Hunger Strikes Chapter 41
- ^ Remembering 1981: Two more join the Hunger Strike
- ^ Two Lives and Two Deaths for Ireland
- ^ Guardian
- ^ 1981 Hunger Strike Survivors.
- ^ The legacy of the hunger strikes
- ^ MESSAGES FROM A HUNGER STRIKE
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