Remembering Frank Stagg

Last week marked 50 years of the death of Frank Stagg on hunger strike in Wakefield Prison, in England.  Events, including a black flag vigil and a march and rally were organised to remember the Mayo man. Gerry Kelly who was on hunger strike in England in the 1970s for over 206 days, during which he was force fed 167 times, gave the main oration in Ballina and spoke of Frank’s great courage and commitment.

I was in Long Kesh when Frank died on 12 February 1976 after 62 days on hunger strike. Britain’s intransigence and in particular the obduracy of the then Home Secretary Roy Jenkins, ensured that Frank’s fourth hunger strike would result in his death. As we walked around the Cage or sat in our cells the talk from when Frank embarked on his fast, was about his resolve and strength of character as on his own he faced the brutality of a British system determined to break him.

Two years earlier we had watched as Frank’s friend and comrade Michael Gaughan, another Mayo man, had died on hunger strike. 

Holy Smoke

I used to smoke. I was very addicted to it. I smoked everything that was legal. I smoked a pipe for years. I liked the pipe. There is a certain ritual attached to pipe smoking. Filling your pipe requires special skills. It takes time. And care. Fill it too loosely and it will not last long. Too tightly and it will not burn at all. Most pipe smokers had a number of pipes. But there was always a favourite one. My favourites were invariably Kapp and Petersons. Particularly the bendy ones, favoured by Sherlock Holmes. Kapp and Peterson still have  a shop in Dublin. Kapp and Peterson gets honourable mention in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot. In Belfast Miss Morans in Church Lane, which is still doing business, was a favoured supplier of pipes and good tobacco.

Pipe tobacco is of course a matter of choice and taste. And addiction. I was inclined towards heavier brands like Condor. The I graduated to War Horse, particularly War Horse plug tobacco. The preparation of this type of pipe filler requires a pen knife for cutting off little slices of tobacco. These were then rubbed between your hands until they were reduced to the desired consistency. This added to the ritual. It was probably theraputic. If thats not a contradiction. Ditto  with the smell of pipe smoke. Back in the day pipe smokers were a fixed presence  in pubs and at most social gatherings. Many people, barely visible in the clouds of smoke, would declare how much they liked the smell. 

The death of Nora Comiskey

It was with sadness that I heard of the death last week of Nora Comiskey. Many Dublin republicans and some of us from Belfast and other parts knew Nora over many years. She was a former president and long-time activist in the 1916-1921 Club. This was a unique institution founded in the 1940s whose aim was to try and bring together some of those who fought on the pro and anti- Treaty sides in the Civil War. Many did, including Nora who had been in Fianna Fáil. Its founding charter is the 1916 Proclamation and among its objectives are a commitment to honour those who fought for Irish Freedom and who work for its achievement. It also seeks to contribute to the cause of an Ireland — united, independent and sovereign