A former IRA hunger striker is to replace Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Last night, the party confirmed that 52-year-old Pat Sheehan will succeed Mr Adams at Stormont.
The party’s president announced on Sunday that he was resigning his West Belfast Stormont Assembly seat in a bid to be elected to the Dáil in the Louth constituency at the next General Election.
Mr Sheehan replaced Kieran Doherty on the hunger strike in the Maze Prison on 10 August 1981.
He was serving a 15-year sentence at the time for his part in the IRA bombing of a warehouse in Belfast.
Mr Sheehan had spent 55 days on hunger strike when it ended on 3 October 1981.
He was said to be close to death at the time, as he was having trouble with his eyesight and weighed only seven stone (44kg).
Mr Sheehan served two jail terms for IRA activity before being released under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
