Síle Darragh

Síle Darragh was born, raised, and still lives in a small nationalist enclave in a predominantly unionist area of East Belfast. In June 1970, the area came under serious armed attack by loyalists backed up by the RUC. She became an active republican at an early age and was arrested and imprisoned in Armagh Gaol in August 1976, at 18 years old, and sentenced to five years for membership of the IRA. She replaced Mairéad Farrelly as Officer in Command throughout the hunger strikes of 1980 and 1981 until shortly before her release in August 1981 when Mairéad resumed the role. She has been a member of Sinn Féin since my release and continues to work for the party on a full-time basis. She is the author of John Lennon’s Dead: Stories of Protest, Hunger Strike and Resistance (2011).