Analysis: The circumstances which led to Bobby Sands embarking on a hunger strike in Northern Ireland in 1981 all started with the move of the republican prisoners from Mountjoy Prison to Portlaoise Prison.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the hunger strikes in the H-Blocks of HMP Maze, Co Antrim. On 1st March 1981, Provisional IRA Volunteer Robert Bobby Sands embarked on a hunger strike. A series of hunger strikes by men in the H-Blocks and women in Armagh Women s Gaol had not brought the desired outcome in the previous autumn.
After 66 days, Sands died on 5th May. Nine more republican prisoners, three of whom were members of the socialist Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), died in the hunger strikes. While on hunger strike, Sands was elected as a republican candidate in the Fermanagh/South Tyrone by-elections.