THERE has always been a tradition amongst republican prisoners when they were in jail to learn their native language stretching back over many years. In Long Kesh prison from the early 1970s internees and sentenced republican prisoners in the cages had learnt the Irish language throughout their imprisonment. I had learnt Irish when I was in the cages of Magilligan prison and Long Kesh, so I had some knowledge of Irish before I was on the blanket protest.
On the blanket protest you were confined to your cell for most of the day as the prison regime would not allow you to mix with other prisoners – outside of going to mass on a Sunday. The Irish language was used as a means of communication when we were talking to each other out the doors. It was the language used to communicate with other wings in the H-Block and even with other H-Blocks. Irish on the blanket protest therefore played a crucial role in all of our lives during the protest and it became essential to learn it if you wanted to know what was happening and talk to other prisoners.
The Irish language was also used to prevent prison wardens from understanding what we were talking about especially if orders were being given out concerning the protest. The prison wardens on the wing, the prison hierarchy and the NIO despised the Irish language. It was perceived as a symbol of defiance and seen as undermining their authority. The hostility to the Irish language was present throughout my imprisonment as seen in the banning of newspapers such as the Andersonstown News that contained Irish language articles.
I cannot really remember a lot about being charged with ‘defacing the wall’ of my prison cell with ‘Gaelic writing.’ During the blanket protest I was charged several times with breaking prison rules. The prison regime used these charges as part of their attempts to try and break individual prisoners and get them to come off the protest. I think the writing on the wall was related to learning Irish on the protest. The prison denied us access to writing materials such as pens and paper. However, religious items were allowed into the prison, and I remember I used the end of the crucifix on a set of rosary beads my mother had sent into me to write down my Irish on the walls of whatever cell they put me in. So, ending up on a prison report for defacing the cell wall was something that was written with a set of rosaries beads.
