All language subtitles for I,.Dolours.2018.en

[car engine rumbling]

[male radio announcer]
RTE Radio 1 News at ten o'clock

with Michael Murphy.

[Michael Murphy] Good morning.

Gardai County Louth
have recovered

the body of a man
believed to have been murdered

by the IRA more than
20 years ago.

They body is thought
to be the first

of a number of the
so-called Disappeared

whose whereabouts the IRA
is preparing to disclose.

The man's remains
were in a coffin that was found

about seven o'clock
this morning

at Old Faughart Graveyard,

about four miles
North of Dundalk.

The coffin is thought
to have been taken there

from another location
during the night.

Gardai haven't yet formally
identified the victim.

[phone ringing]

[ringing continues]

[woman panting]

[interviewer]
Let's start talking

about your...
Your family history,

-and republican background.
-Hmm.

[interviewer]
Tell me about
your mother, your father,

-your aunts...
-Yeah.

...and, you know, the sort
of Republican influences

-that came up as you
were growing up?
-Yeah.

[Dolours Price] I come from
a strong, very staunch

Republican background
on both sides.

On my father's side,
I had a very religious aunt

who would have said,
for God and Ireland.

On my mother's side,

Ireland came first,
came before God.

In 1939 when the IRA
very grandly

declared war on England,

my father and some of
his comrades went over

as the expeditionary force

to wage war on the
imperial master.

[male announcer]
A scene of havoc

in Broadgate, Coventry.

The crowded thoroughfare
was suddenly

plunged into turmoil
and confusion

as a violent explosion

swept bystanders
off their feet.

Five people were killed
and nearly 60 injured.

The cause is attributed
again to IRA agents.

[Dolours] My father's two mates
were arrested

and they actually didn't have
anything to do

with that particular operation
but they were convicted

and executed for it.

So, as children growing up,
that's the kind of,

you know, bedtime story
we would hear.

We wouldn't hear

Little Red Riding Hood,
we would hear,

you know,
"They hanged my mate Jimmy."

As children, we looked forward
to these nights

when he'd gather us round

and tell us about
his time in prison.

[Albert Price]
The time was fast approaching,

a lad lay sentenced for to die

and on the 2nd of September,

he meets his God on high.

Now he's walking
to the scaffold,

[voices overlapping]
head erect, he shows no fear,

for on his proud
and gallant shoulders,

[secondary voice continues]
Ireland's cross

he holds so dear.

Now the cruel blow is fallen,

for Ireland
he has fought and died,

and we the countrymen
who bore him,

will love and honor him
with pride.

Brave Tom Williams,
we salute you,

and we never will forget,

those who planned
your cruel murder,

we vow to make them all regret.

[door opening]

So come all you Irish rebels,

if from the path
you chance to stray,

bear in the memory of the morn,

when Ireland's cross
was proudly borne,

but a lad who lay
within these prison walls.

[Dolours] My father spent
seven years altogether

interned in different prisons
but he never was charged.

He often said,

I blew them up before you did,

the only thing was
I didn't get caught.

We had the great honor
of having had three generations

of women in my family
spend time in Armagh Gaol.

We would have, as children,
you know, been aware

that my aunts had a dedication
to the prisoners,

and, you know, created parcels
for them on special occasions,

which, as children,
we were always very envious of

and I think
it made me begin to think

prison wasn't all that
bad a place to be.

You got these real big cakes
and bars of chocolate

and you got all sorts
of wonderful stuff

if you were in prison.

[Terence O'Neill]
Here in Ulster,
the Union Jack

is the flag of freedom
and my task, my duty,

my resolve are to keep it
hoisted at the top of the mast,

here in our beloved Ulster.

[crowd applauding]

[Dolours]
The Catholic population

in my growing up time

were very down-trodden people,

and very accepting of their
second-class citizenship.

Whereas we, as Republicans

had a kind of
strange arrogance,

because we believed that
we were the possessors

of the truth,
the absolute truth

about how the island

should be run,
and we believed ourselves

to be the custodians
of the men of 1916.

And we, in many ways
regarded ourselves as elite.

We were a very angry
people actually,

the runt of Republicans that
were left behind in Belfast

because, you know,
we always regarded the fact

that when they
signed away the six counties,

they actually signed us away.

[upbeat music playing]

♪ Hear it, hear it
Hear my heartbeat... ♪

Dolours, be a good girl,

your Aunt Bridie's read
for tea now.

♪ Pounding, pounding
Like a drum ♪

♪ Louder, louder
Goes my heartbeat ♪

♪ As nearer, and nearer
And nearer you come ♪

♪ So hurry, hurry
Says my heartbeat ♪

♪ Take me, touch me
Make me thrill ♪

♪ Faster, faster
Goes my heartbeat ♪

♪ I try but I can't
Keep it still... ♪

[Dolours] My Aunt Bridie
was an inspiration to us.

Bridie was a living martyr
and as children growing up

we were always
very aware of this,

of the enormous sacrifice
that she had made

because of her part
in the struggle.

In 1938, she went
to lift an arms dump

and the volunteer
who was to lift the dump,

and she was to be his escort,
didn't turn up.

She decided herself
that she would lift

the arms dump, and she did.

It exploded on her
and her hands were blown off,

her eyes were blown out,

and she was
very badly mutilated,

and she looked like that
for the rest of her life.

-[man shouting at a distance]
-[siren wailing]

She was 25,

and my grandmother
put the house into mourning,

the girls weren't
allowed to go dancing.

It was like having a wake
but with a living body.

She was a smoker

and, as children,
once you got to be
eight or nine

you had to be able
to hold the cigarette for her

and put it to her
mouth and take it away,

and I hated the job.

I thought
it was the most awful job,

I couldn't stand it,

but I did it
because it was Bridie.

The fact that she was
in the state that she was in,

and the condition she was in
obliged me in some way

to continue the struggle

because it validated
her sacrifice.

To have ignored
the struggle would have been

to make her sacrifice
futile, useless.

And I went in one day,

and I could see these
great big tears

rolling down her cheeks.

And I went back to my mother

and I said, "Mommy,
how can my Aunt Bridie cry

when she has no eyes?"

And my mother burst into tears
and said, "My poor sister",

and it was really a very,
very touching, touching moment.

And, as a child,
I can remember

how much pain
there actually was

in that family that they hid,

that was concealed
by this strength,

this Republican strength
that they maintained.

As a family they didn't cry.

We were too strong to cry

and to cry
was a sign of weakness.

[people singing]
♪ We shall overcome ♪

♪ We shall overcome, some day ♪

[singing indistinctly]

[inaudible]

[Dolours] I would've still been
a sixth-former at school,

doing my A-levels,
and we would go regularly

to the student meetings,
and we would take part

in the debates and discussions
as to what we could do,

you know,
to bring about civil rights,

one man one vote,

you know, one family one house,

and all of the slogans
that we had gathered,

because I had often
debated with my father,

you know that this is the way
that it would change.

And he would say,
"Oh, you know, you'll learn,

you'll learn as you grow up."

And I'd say,
"No, I have learned,

I've learned that

you didn't win the war,
you fought the war in 1940,

and yous didn't win.

This way we can change
the system."

[crowd protesting
in foreign language]

♪ We shall overcome some day ♪

♪ For deep in my heart ♪

[people screaming]

Please, God save us. [screams]

[crowd shouting indistinctly]

[Dolours]
October the 5th happened,

the RUC were seen

in their true light as being

a very sectarian police force.

Things were becoming
more polarized.

I think, as Republicans,

we began to see
a glimmer of light

that there could be a change.

♪ We shall overcome ♪

♪ We shall overcome, some day ♪

[Dolours] We had long debates
about the only way

to change the system
was to unite the Protestant

and the Catholic working class

against the imperialist system.

[protestant] Well,
I think, it's been
very successful so far.

We've had a very good turnout.

Now, we've had some
difficulties along the route

and there are certain times
we've been prevented

from going through.
We don't like that,

but we feel that
that demonstrates the fact

that in Northern Ireland,
we have a situation

like the Southern States
of America

where you do not have

the basic democratic liberty
of free procession.

[Ian Paisley] This march
flew its proper flag

into an outlawed
Republican club banner

and this unmasks this march
as nothing what-so-ever

to do with civil rights
but simply

an outlawed rebel march.

[Dolours] We were
marching along

to Derry being stopped

at every Protestant town
and being turned back

and re-routed and eventually
ending up at Burntollet Bridge.

We did get a kind of warning

that it wasn't
going to be peaceful

or be allowed to be peaceful.

There's a good possibility
that some stones

may be thrown,
some people may be hurt.

[Dolours]
The gathered Loyalists

stockpiled stones

to throw at us,
and they had their cudgels

with nails in them,
and they had all
their weaponry.

Clearly the police
saw them there,

and the police
led us into the trap.

-We were massively decimated.
-[Protestant screams]

[woman]
We had to get into the water,
and they came after us.

We tried to go up
the back field

to just get away from them,

and they surrounded us
in the back field.

We were stuck in the water.

We waded in and out
of the water for half
a dozen times

up to our waists,
and they all battered us,

and they took the...
They took a fella singly,
and they battered him

and then they came
for another fella,
and they battered them.

And not one policeman in sight
opened the gates, jeez!

[Dolours] It was at that point
I think, I looked into the eyes

of some of these people
who were beating us,

and they were glazed over
with some kind of hate.

And I thought to myself
I thought, "No,

that person
is never going to want

to walk alongside of me."

I'm never gonna
convert those people.

It changed me entirely.

It brought me back round
towards Republicanism.

The Northern state was rotten.

Change wouldn't be brought
about by us marching

up and down the road or being
hammered into the ground.

[crowd shouting]

My Aunt Kathleen
was burned out of Dover Street,

my Aunt Evelyn was burned
out of Percy Street.

The B-Specials, Loyalists,
and RUC brought out the guns

and began to shoot down
towards the Falls Road.

And we didn't have any guns,
but we suddenly realized

there were no guns
to protect the community.

-They machine-gunned us.
-All those people.

[male reporter]
Did you shoot back?

What with,
peashooters and bottles?

Armored cars paving the way
for the hooligans to come in?

[Dolours] We found out that
the young Fianna boy,

Gerald McCauley had been
shot dead and I think also

the little boy in Divis Towers
had been shot dead,

the young child of...
I think he was nine.

And so we realized
it was quite serious.

There was
a lot of gunfire coming

and, you know,
we were dodging bullets.

And I decided
I'd make my way home.

There was nothing else to do

except stand around
and wait to be shot.

And when I arrived home
to our house,

there were sitting
the leadership
of the Republican movement

of the day, uh, Bobby McKnight,
Billy McMillen, Jimmy Sullivan,

and they were
sitting in our house, my house,

waiting for their transport
to take them across the border

to Dundalk.

And I remember thinking,

"You cowards,
you're running away."

And the people
of the Falls Road are now,

are being burned out,
being shot at, being murdered,

and that would have been a time

when I would have been
turning against them,

and I would have been
looking for leadership

in a different direction.

[soldiers shouting
indistinctly]

Boys, d'you want a cup of tea?

There you are, love.

That's for after your lunch
or after your dinner.

Thank you very much,
appreciate it, thank you.

[soldier] The honeymoon period
cannot continue forever,
obviously.

We're perhaps at the peak now,
where, everybody is smiling

and swapping cups of tea
and all this sort of business

and cracking jokes
but unless there is a solution,

or some hope
for the future,

the soldiers are not going to
be welcomed on the streets.

-[crowd shouting]
-[glass shattering]

[male reporter] Two men
have died in rioting in Belfast

after a big round up
of suspects this morning

which was followed
by an official announcement

that there's to be internment.

[Brian Faulkner]
I have decided,
after consultation

with Her Majesties Government
in the United Kingdom

last Thursday,
to exercise where necessary,

the powers of detention
and internment vested in me

as Minister of Home Affairs.

[people shouting indistinctly]

[Dolours] The place
was in upheaval,

but the strange thing
was that the local people

had suddenly changed,

and they had suddenly
become Republican.

Protestant extreme organization
are shooting over

into the Catholic areas
and being protected,

protected by the British Army,
and then they tell you,

"Oh, if you complain
about this or say anything
about this,

it's only IRA propaganda."

Now, wait 'til I tell
you something,
everybody around here

don't need to be an IRA man,

but they'll definitely
support it now!

[Dolours] Young boys
who were out throwing stones

were pulled in to have
cups of tea handed to them

and sticky buns and back out
to throw more stones

and there was a sea change

within the thinking
of the Catholic population.

♪ If you hate the British Army
Clap your hands ♪

♪ If you hate the British Army
Clap your hands ♪

♪ If you hate the British Army
Hate the British army ♪

♪ Hate the British Army
Clap your hands ♪

[people shouting]

[Dolours] I suppose
that was the seeds

of the Provisional movement

coming along and the seeds
of people who had been,

not really
politically inclined,

becoming politically inclined
because of necessity,

and they began
to look to Republicans

as protectors.

I, Dolours Price,
promise that I will promote

the objects
of the Irish Republican Army

to the best of my knowledge
and ability

and that I will obey all orders
and regulations issued to me

by the army authority
and by my superior officer.

That was basically it.

I put my hand up,
I made that declaration

and I was a member of the IRA.

[scratching]

You had spent your life
learning this as a way of life

and you had spent your life
being taught

that it was a glorious way
of life,

and it was a proud
and honorable way of life.

When I reported to the army
and said I wanted to join,

I said, "I don't want
to be rolling bandages.

That's not
what I want to do,

I want to fight."

They put me in a room
with a load of rusty bullets

and some steel wool,

and my job
was to clean these bullets.

That incensed me, but I did it.

I obeyed all orders.

[helicopter hovering]

One of my jobs
was to transport explosives

from Dundalk to the
Battalion areas.

I would travel to Dundalk,
sometimes twice a day,

certainly four or five times
a week

and have my car
loaded up with explosives.

[interviewer] Where were
the explosives hidden?

[Dolours] In the door panels.

We robbed a couple of banks,

Once, we went in
dressed as nuns.

I'm withdrawing funds on behalf

of the Irish Republican Army.

And he said to me, "I need
to see your credentials."

-Here's my credentials...
-[gun cocking]

Now, we'll do this
really calmly.

Just open the safe
and fill the little bag,

and we'll all get this done
very quickly.

I would hire a car
using a fake license

that I had been given.

I got so familiar
to the soldiers on the border

that they knew me
by my first name.

[interviewer]
They knew you as Dolours?

They knew me as Rosie.
No, Rosie was my fake name

on my driving license,
on the fake license.

I found it so much easier
than you would imagine

and I think that probably comes

from the recklessness of youth.

We were young,
we were very idealistic.

We were very dedicated.

When we carried out
operations like that,

we did it in a remarkably
calm way.

[crowd shouting]

[glass shattering]

[doctor] One has just
got to be blunt,
almost brutal at times

at telling you your wife
has lost both her legs.

Your young son has been killed
in an explosion.

This is the sort of situation
which we're faced with

almost daily in this hospital.

Taking a father to the morgue
to identify his only child,

who is unidentifiable
following an explosion.

[man] Marion?

The IRA in Belfast was divided

into three operational areas,

the First, the Second

and the Third Battalions,
or Batts,

as they were usually called.

On top of all three Battalions,
was the Brigade,

headed by
the Brigade Commander.

Each Battalion
also had a Commander

with his own staff.

Check that there's
nothing in the breach.

[Dolours] The Brigade Commander
was in charge of the IRA

in all of Belfast
and he, never a she,

reported to the IRA's
Chief of Staff.

[interviewer] It seems
to be about that time

that this special squad
called The Unknowns
was set up,

-Mmm-hmm.
-...what can you tell me
about The Unknowns?

The Unknowns, they were, um,

supposed to be unknown people

who were
trustworthy, dedicated,

had their wits about them

and could be trusted
with very, very specific jobs,

and obeying orders
without question.

I was selected
to be one of them.

There would have been
12 or 13 in all.

[interviewer]
Was there a Commander
of this, "The Unknowns"

and to whom did he report,

and from whom did he get
his orders?

[Dolours] Well, Pat McClure
would have been

one of the immediate commanders
within the squad,

and they would have
reported back

to the Officer Commanding
in Belfast

who would have been
Gerry Adams.

[inaudible]

They came away very willingly
because they had been told

they were going for a break,
a holiday.

Occasionally volunteers
who were stressed

would be sent away
and given time off

and taken across the border
to spend a few weeks somewhere.

They were generally
in holiday mood, I just,

I mean I had to bring
them across the border

and leave them there.

I believe they

hung out with the local unit
for a while,

that they had some
fun with them.

They were taken to pubs
and they did have

some kind of break.

[guns firing in distance]

Ultimately, I believe
they were shot.

We believed that informers

were the lowest form
of human life.

They were less than human
and death was too good
for them.

[male reporter]
The widowed mother
of ten children was kidnapped

last December, from her home
here in the Divis Flats complex

on Belfast's Lower Falls Road.

On the evening of December 7th,
four women entered the home

of Mrs. Jean McConville,
told her family

that their mother
would be returned

in half an hour,
and then left with her.

[male reporter]
Helen, when did you
last see your mother?

On the 7th December '72.

[male reporter] Before this,
did she give you any idea

at all as to why she was
going to go away?

No.

[male reporter]
Where do you think she is gone?

[Helen] I dunno.

[Dolours] This where
it gets dangerous for me.

[interviewer] Yes, okay.

[Dolours] These were--
[interviewer] Are these
one of these areas

-we were talking about
before? Okay.
-[Dolours] Yeah.

[interviewer] So we're going
to handle this very carefully

but I need to know the facts.

[Dolours] Jean McConville
was identified as an informer,

her house,
her flat in Divis Flats

had been discovered

to have had a transmitter
where she was supposedly

passing information over
to the British Army.

She was also observed
by some volunteers

who were taken into
Hasting Street Barracks

to be identified by a person
concealed behind a blanket.

[interviewer] And what
actually happened,

where was she,
was she with you?

[Dolours] She was behind
the blanket,

she was concealed
behind a blanket

with a slit in it
that she could see through.

And the blanket
stopped short of her feet.

[interviewer]
And that's how she--

And some of the volunteers

who went through
that identification process

recognized the slippers.

When Cumann na mBan
arrested her

and questioned her,

she made an admission
to the fact

that that's exactly
what she had done for money.

She was ordered to be
taken across the border,

to be taken away,
and, in her case,

the verdict was,
again, death.

Our first contact with her

was to just pick her up
in the house.

[interviewer]
And was, again,
Pat McClure--

[Dolours] Pat and myself
and another volunteer

took her and we went with her
across the border.

She, having told everything,

believed that she
was being taken away
by the legion of Mary.

[interviewer] Where did she
get that idea from?

[Dolours] She was told that.

[interviewer] By you?

[Dolours] Yes.

And it was only at that stage
that I realized even

that she had children.

[Pat] All right,
chips for everybody?

[Dolours]
And she talked a lot,

and she was very arrogant.

My children,
they will be brought to me?

Yes, I'm sure they will be.

Will they give me money,
will they get me a house?

[scoffs] Well, I imagine so.

I knew those Provo bastards

wouldn't have the balls
to shoot me.

[Dolours] And at one point,
she said,

"I knew those Provo bastards

wouldn't have the balls
to shoot me."

[interviewer] Hmm.

And the Provo bastards
who were driving her

-thought "Oh, wouldn't they?"
-[interviewer] Hmm.

-Which was unfortunate for her,
she talked too much.
-[interviewer] Right.

[door shuts]

[Dolours] She was left
in Dundalk

with the Dundalk unit,

and stayed with them
for some days.

[interviewer]
But I understand that
the Dundalk IRA

didn't want to do it?

[Dolours] They didn't want
to do it, no.

[interviewer] So you guys
had to do it, is that right?

[Dolours] Hmm, yeah.

They couldn't bring themselves
to execute her,

probably because
she was a woman.

[interviewer] What actually
happened that day?

There had been
a grave dug by the Dundalk Unit

and she was taken
by the three volunteers

to the grave,

and shot
in the back of the head

by one of the volunteers.

And then
the other two volunteers,

each fired a shot,

so that no-one would say
that they for certain

had been the person
to kill her.

She was left in the grave
and the local unit

buried her.

[interviewer]
They covered up the grave?

Yeah.

[interviewer]
There are those who regard
the disappearing of people

as a war crime,
do you think it's a war crime?

I think
it's a war crime, yes.

I think it's a war crime.

It had never before been done

within the Irish
Republican Army.

I certainly advocated
and said that it is nonsense,

that informers
should be thrown out,

their bodies should be
thrown out on the street

to put the fear of God
and the Republican movement

into anybody who would choose
that form of life.

We had lots of discussions
as to what we could do

to bring the war
to a higher level.

It was at that time,
we discussed the possibility

of bringing the war to England,

back to what my father
had done.

We selected targets that were
emblems of the British Empire.

Gerry Adams was there.

Gerry announced to the room

that this was a very
serious operation

they were being asked
to volunteer for,

and that it could
be a hanging job.

And he instructed
those who did not wish

to have any further input
into the operation,

he instructed them to leave.

I was very shocked
and surprised

that people were so unwilling
to actually undertake

an important operation,

which I was only too happy
and too willing to undertake.

I carried the role of OC
on that operation.

We could set off ten car bombs
in Belfast,

and they would have
little effect

on the English public opinion.
But that one car bomb

in London
would change English opinion

to such an extent
that they would perhaps

begin to call
to have their troops taken out.

A lot of time and effort
was put into planning,

then the operation
which was decided should happen

on the 8th of March
which was the day

there was to be a referendum
held in the North

as to whether or not
the people of the North

wish to remain
part of Britain or not.

And that being
a foregone conclusion,

the car bombs
placed in London

were to be the IRA response
to that referendum.

The plan was that we would take
six car bombs.

Four cars got through,
I had already been to London

to select the targets.

The boys had been instructed
to not acknowledge each other,

to be oblivious of each other,

nothing untoward was to happen

and they, of course,
disobeyed all of that,

went to pubs, got drunk,

were carried
into boarding houses,

and, generally,
the thing became a haimes.

As I approached Gerry Kelly
outside the art museum

in Trafalgar Square,

he was leapfrogging

over the bollards
and shouted across
the road to us,

"What about yous?"
in a broad Belfast accent.

[phone ringing]

But, having said all of that,
it didn't really matter.

We were set up.

[sirens wailing]

[male reporter 1]
Unidentified terrorists strike

at the heart of London.

The first bomb explodes
in Great Scotland Yard

on the riverside of White Hall
injuring 38 people.

The second bomb explodes
outside the Old Bailey,

shattering the windows
and buildings--

[male reporter 2]
In the two explosions,
one man was killed,

two policemen
were seriously hurt,

more than 180 people
were injured,

police concentrated their hunt
for the bombers on the IRA.

London now knows
what Belfast is like.

[Dolours] The police in London
were waiting for us,

they knew we were coming,
they had my photograph

and Marian's photograph
available to Special Branch

so basically the operation
was going to be a failure

from the start.

[interviewer] Was there
an informer on the job?

There was an informer.

There was an informer
back in Ireland.

They interrogated Marian first,
and she said nothing.

And then they interrogated me.

To every question
they asked me, I responded,

"I have nothing to say."

And, eventually,
after the 20th
"nothing to say",

I did remark that, at the risk
of sounding repetitive,

I had nothing to say.

We were put in cells, stripped,

given blankets to wear

which I refused to wear
because I said it was filthy.

I was walked through
the police station, naked,

in front of the gathered
accumulation of policemen.

Mummy?

-[Dolours cries]
-Don't cry.

Don't cry.

Don't cry.

[Dolours] My mother arrived,

to visit us
after about four days.

She whispered in my ear,
"No tears,

"not in front of these people."

So that's how
staunch we had to be.

That's how staunch
my mother was.

She told us not to cry
in front of these people.

And she continued that
all the way through
our prison time.

And I asked her,
"What's prison
really like, Mommy?

And she said, "I did 14 days,
and it was like 14 years."

And I thought that was
a very honest answer

but not very consoling
for our ourselves

who were looking
at enormous sentences

when we would be convicted,

being fully aware
we would be convicted.

To be on a hunger strike,
you've got to condition
your mind

and convince your mind
that food is bad.

To have food, to take food,
to eat food is failure,

is defeat, is wrong.

[prison door opens]

[struggling]

[sobbing]

[muffled screaming]

[panting]

[door unlocking]

[footsteps approaching]

[Dolours grunting]

No, no!

[shouting indistinctly]

-[officer] Settle down.
-[Dolours crying]

[grunting]

[Dolours] Our hunger strike
was 208 days

and 180 something of those days

we were forcibly fed each day.

Sometimes twice a day.

If you were sick enough,
they would measure

how much sick you brought up

after the tube
had been removed.

That had
a very, very traumatic effect

on both myself and Marian.

[liquid flowing]

[breathing heavily]

[protesters]
Release the Price Sisters now!

Release the Price Sisters now!

[male reporter]
Brixton Prison, London,
and today,

inside these walls,
Dolours and Marian Price
are dying.

The British Home Secretary
Roy Jenkins

has got three options
open to him.

One, he can accede
to the Price Girls' demands

and have them sent back
to Northern Ireland

to serve out the remainder
of their sentence

in Armagh Gaol.

Two, he can allow them
to continue their hunger strike

without any interference
and die,

or three, he can
order the resumption

of the forcible feeding
that has caused

so much controversy

within sections of
the British medical profession.

[Albert]
Well at the moment,
they're very weak,

but in spirit and mentally
they are very alert,

and I suppose happy
in their way.

[male reporter] What did they
say to you?

Well, they said,
"Dad, it's one way
or the other.

We're going home to Armagh
or we're going home some way.

We'll go home."

[male reporter] How long
do you feel they can survive?

[Albert] The doctors
would probably know

more than I know
but, as far as I'm concerned

they're not the wee girls
that left home.

[Dolours] Something in my heart
told me that it was that time.

I don't know why,
I don't know what happened

but when I went into my cell,
I started packing my stuff.

I don't know why,
I put my coat on,

and I started to gather
my bits and pieces together

and the governor
came in and she told us

we were going home.

She said, "Well, not home,
you're going to Armagh."

I said,
"That's near enough for me."

[male reporter]
She's just coming
into Downing Street now.

Here comes
the Prime Ministerial Rover

bearing now Mrs. Thatcher
as Prime Minister.

A wave that we've now become
really quite well accustomed to

throughout this campaign,
Mr. Denis Thatcher,

her husband standing behind.

I know full well
the responsibilities
that await me

as I enter the door
of number ten.

And I'll strive unceasingly
to try to fulfill the trust

and confidence
that the British people
have placed in me

and the things
in which I believe.

And I would just like
to remember some words

of St. Francis of Assisi
which I think are really just

particularly apt at the moment.

"Where there is discord,
may we bring harmony.

where there is error,
may we bring truth,

where there is doubt,
may we bring faith

and where there is despair,
may we bring hope."

[panting]

[Dolours]
After the hunger strike

and the force-feeding

and all of the psychological
damage that that created,

we didn't ever have
a normal relationship

with food or eating.

We both ended up
with very distorted notions

of the function of food

which resulted in us
both being anorexic

and not wanting to eat.

[door opening]

Dolours, it's Marian,
they've released her.

She's going home today.

[Dolours] A little part of me
had always hoped that,

because we'd been
through everything together,

that, again, this would be
a together thing.
But it wasn't.

And, actually,
I should be quite pleased

that we were treated
as two individuals

in that situation
'cause we hadn't been before.

We were always lumped together

as if we were
some kind of Siamese twins.

So, I suppose, in a way,
I should have been
quite pleased

that they released
that individual prisoner,

and the other
individual prisoner
had to stay behind.

And then I got really depressed

because it was like
I'd been separated

from my Siamese twin.

So, I was lost without Marian,
yes, I was lost without her.

[male reporter] The prisoners
believe that in ending

the dirty protest,
attention will be focused

on the second hunger strike.

This began yesterday
in the H Blocks

with one of the prisoners,
Bobby Sands

from Twinbrook
in West Belfast,
refusing food.

According
to Provisional Sinn Fein,

-[Dolours coughing]
-...more prisoners will join
the hunger strike

later this week
or early next week...

[Margaret Thatcher]
There can be no question
of political status

for someone who is serving
a sentence for crime.

Crime is crime
is crime. [echoes]

[coughing and vomiting]

[Fenner Brockway]
"Dear Margaret,
you may remember

that eight years ago,
Dolours and Marian Price

received a life sentence
for being involved

in a bombing outrage
outside the Old Bailey.

I'd sought to influence them
against violence and the IRA.

Marian has subsequently
been released on health grounds

and Dolours is left isolated
in Armagh Prison.

Her recent letters show me

that she is deeply upset
psychologically.

I am quite sure that if Dolours
were released,

she would become active,
despite the dangers,

in urging her fellow Catholics
to refrain from violence.

I enclose a letter
just received from Dolours.

It illustrates her condition
of mind and her convictions."

[Dolours] Thirty is a marker
in every woman's life.

For me, it is more.

It means nearly almost all
my 20s wasted in prison.

It means no babies,
and my fruitful years

passing me by.

[male reporter]
He said the lives
of the hunger strikers remain,

as they have done
since the protests began,

in their own hands.

And the RUC has now
confirmed that...

[Dolours] Marian comes
to visit me very rarely.

She will visit this week
for only the third time

since her release.

I no longer even pay
lip service

to any organization.

[male reporter]
With the condition
of Bobby Sands

now deteriorating seriously,
it seems that the British
government is bracing itself

for the consequences
if he dies.

Certainly,
the Northern Ireland office

will make no moves to...

[Dolours] Each day I live
my solitary life

and am made feel an outcast,
a traitor to their cause

because I declare it
no longer to be mine.

[Thatcher] The men of violence
have chosen to play

what may well be
their last card.

They've turned their violence
against themselves...

[Dolours] Am I to live through
all those awful memories?

I will be eating,
as well as any anorexic can,

but, mentally, I will live
and starve each day with them.

I want to live, to love
life again, to survive.

-I can't do that here.
-[breathing heavily]

I was very, very, very ill.

I think the last time
they'd weighed me,

I was about five stone
or something.

I suppose, at that point,
it didn't particularly
matter to me

one way or the other.
You know?

So I got to the stage
where I thought,

"If I live or die,
I'll still get out
of this place."

I'd had enough of it,
physically and mentally

there was nothing on me left
to keep on going.

[male reporter 1]
Dolours Price,
one of two sisters

jailed in 1973 in connection
with IRA bomb attacks in London

is being released.

[male reporter 2]
The Northern Ireland statement

said that Dolours Price
was being released

because there is unequivocal
independent medical evidence

that she was in imminent danger
of collapse

and death if she stayed
in prison.

[female reporter]
Reverend Paisley
failed to secure

an emergency debate
about the release

of Dolours Price
from Armagh Prison.

[male reporter 3] The news
has filtered through
to this community

that Bobby Sands has died
after 66 days of hunger strike.

And in scenes reminiscent
of the early days
of internment...

[male reporter] The IRA
has announced what it describes

as a complete cessation
of military operations

from midnight tonight.

The statement, issued in Dublin
just after 11 o'clock,

doesn't attach any conditions
or time limit to the ceasefire.

Reacting to the announcement,
the President of Sinn Fein,

Gerry Adams,
said it was courageous.

[Gerry Adams] I want to say
a word or two

about the volunteer soldiers
of the Irish Republican Army,

who have fought the British
for the last 25 years

and who are undefeated
by the British.

-[crowd cheering]
-[typewriter clicking]

I am a Republican,
born and bred.

As were my mother and father
before me

and theirs before them.

Give me an honest socialist
any day

over a lying treacherous
so-called Republican.

I would take no more joy
in seeing my sons

follow their convictions
to prison or the grave

than did my mother,
or the mothers of all those

who lie in Republican plots.

It was my free choice,

and I believe
we all have that freedom.

But I will never abandon
my Republican beliefs

and state them
whenever I choose.

Nobody will deny me that right.

That my own aunt lived
without hands or eyes

with quiet dignity
and without complaint

for 40 years.

No deal has been done
with the Brits.

I remember thinking, "What?"

We got nothing.

Congratulations Dr. Paisley,
you got what you wanted,

Stormont back,
Northern Ireland secure

and the Fenians in their place.

Not this Fenian
and a good few besides.

We don't recognize
The Northern State.

Never have, never will.

[sighs]

Admit it, lads,
you lost the war.

Some of us see it
as only having lost

another battle.

You can lose all the battles
but only when you surrender,

do you lose your soul.

[exhales]

A historic day at Stormont.

After two years of talks
and after a generation
of bloodshed,

and decades
of division and acrimony,

George Mitchell ushers in,
what the whole island hopes

will be a new era of peace.

An agreement that unites
Loyalists and Republican,

Unionist
and Nationalist Leaders

in a wide-ranging
historical accord.

[Tony Blair]
The principal of consent
is absolute

and is throughout
the agreement.

And the breakthrough

is that that is now accepted
by all, North and South.

[Dolours] I was on a very
protracted hunger strike,

I suffered forcible feeding

which was a very
horrendous experience,

I served eight years in prison,
and for what Sinn Fein

have achieved today,

I would not have missed
a good breakfast.

Sinn Fein, quite cynically,
seem to me

to be climbing over
the corpses of the people

who have died

since the commencement
of the struggle.

Volunteers didn't only die,
volunteers had to kill as well,
you know.

[interviewer]
Do The Disappeared
haunt you at all?

Yes, yes, I think back on those

who I had responsibility
for driving away.

I'm not a deeply
religious person

but I would say
a prayer for them.

[interviewer] Can I turn
to the very first
of those operations

that you believe The Unknowns
were involved in?

That's the Joe Lynskey affair.

-Yes.
-Can you tell...

What can you tell me
about the Joe Lynskey business?

[Dolours] Joe Lynskey
was an extremely gentle,
gentleman.

He made a horrendous
and grave mistake

which I believe came
from his naivety.

He'd been off to be a monk,
and he was a mature man

but he was
in many ways immature,

certainly in the ways
of the world

and he made the mistake
of falling in love

with another volunteer's wife.

Joe set up this husband,
and had another volunteer

go and shoot him.
The volunteer acted
in good faith

believing that this
person was an informer.

Which he wasn't.

Fortunately he didn't die,
fortunately he lived.

When it came to light that
this is what Joe had done,

he would have been
court-martialed for that

and the sentence
for having done that

would have been death.

And Joe would have been
sentenced to death.

[doorbell rings]

I was given the task
of taking him away,

bringing him across the border

and leaving him in the hands

of people who would deal
with him.

He came in the car
with me,

and he tried to explain to me

what had happened and I said,
"I don't want to know, Joe.

I really don't want
to know what happened.

I just know that I have this
very difficult thing to do."

And he apologized to me
for being responsible

for my having to,
to take him.

He brought his little
overnight bag with him,

which I thought
was very sad and pathetic

because he sat
with it on his knee

and I thought, on the way,

as I was driving down

I thought I should
take him to the boat

or I should...
Or why doesn't
he jump out of the car?

Why doesn't he smack me
on the head and run away?

Why doesn't he do something
to save himself?

But I realized that, you know,
his loyalty and his dedication

to the movement was such that
he had accepted his fate.

And my dedication
to the movement was such that

I couldn't have
taken him to the boat

because I would have
been disobeying my orders

and I would have been
acting contrary

to what I believed in.

And I know
Joe had done wrong, um...

I... I couldn't have seen
any other sentence for him

other than that,
and I think he accepted.

He accepted his fate fully.

He shook my hand
and he thanked me

for driving him

and I said, "Well,
I'll see you, Joe,"

knowing full well
that I wouldn't see him again.

[sniffles]

I couldn't live
with the failure

of what my life's purpose
had been.

My life's purpose had been
to fight the fight

that had been established
and had been conducted

throughout my family
over the generations

and to realize that
it had all been for nothing.