Solicitor describes the condition of PIRA chief-of-staff Seán Mac Stíofáin who is on hunger and thirst strike in the Curragh Military Hospital.
In 1972 Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) chief-of-staff Seán Mac Stíofáin agreed a ceasefire to allow negotiations with the British government to take place. The ceasefire broke later that year and Seán Mac Stíofáin was arrested following an RTÉ interview with Kevin O'Kelly on the 'This Week' radio programme which resulted in the sacking of the RTÉ Authority.
This interview was used as evidence against Seán Mac Stíofáin on a trial of IRA membership. He was sentenced to six months in prison by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.
Jailed at the Curragh military detention centre in County Kildare, Seán Mac Stíofáin began a hunger and thirst strike. On the eleventh day of this strike he is visited at the Curragh Military Hospital by solicitor Myles Shevlin.
Myles Shevlin speaking to reporters describes Seán Mac Stíofáin’s condition,
He was exceptionally lucid and in astonishing mental condition.
He does not wish to give an opinion on how long Seán Mac Stíofáin can survive but knows the (IRA) chief-of-staff will continue,
Until victory or death.
Myles Shevlin has no idea what medical treatment is being administered to Seán Mac Stíofáin’s but he hopes the process of force-feeding is not being used.
Currently there is no intention of lodging a notice of appeal of Seán Mac Stíofáin’s six month sentence.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 28 November 1972. The reporter is John McAleese.
