The Time Has Come

by Tony O’Hara

Civil rights, Bloody Sunday, hunger strikes, and the freedom struggle in Northern Ireland in the 1960s, through the eyes of one man who lived through it.

U.S. $17.95 | CANADA $21.95

Book Review | The Time Has Come

By Malachy McCourt

Ireland’s history is nothing if not turbulent, unoccupied for centuries until a variety of pagan settlers arrived and cultivated it. Turbulence was the order of the day when St. Patrick, himself enslaved for years, arrived to convert the Irish to Catholicism, and turbulence has continued throughout Britain’s ceaseless efforts to control the land, religion, politics and language of the Irish people…

About The Book

The Time Has Come is the memoir of Tony O’Hara, INLA Volunteer, Blanketman and OC of INLA prisoners within the H-Blocks at the commencement of the 1981 Hunger Strike.

Tony’s brother, INLA Volunteer Patsy O’Hara, was one of three INLA Volunteers who died while on Hunger Strike, along with the seven Volunteers from the PIRA. Patsy survived 61 days on Hunger Strike, from 21 March 1981 until 21 May 1981 when he died.

“I was to be on protests for four years and four months, until I was released having served my sentence. I was on the blanket and on the No-Wash protest (which began in September 1978) until it ended when the first hunger strike started in the autumn of 1980. We ended it to ensure a hygienic environment so the hunger strikers could stay on the wing for as long as possible, or until they were almost at death’s door. I was 22-years-old when No-Wash protest started, but I had already been inside since I was 20.”

“When Patsy went on hunger strike, I stood down as OC of the INLA because I thought to myself, “I’ll be the weakest link, if my brother starts dying or falls into a coma.” If that happened, the pressure would have been put on me to come to an agreement with the Brits; so, I was thinking, “For the sake of the hunger strikers, we cannot allow any weakness.”

“I didn’t know how I would feel if my brother were dying, but no part of me wanted to tell my brother Patsy to come off the hunger strike as I was 100 percent behind him at the time, and those who were against it, would have been pushing all these demands at me. We still wanted all six demands, so Rab Collins from Belfast replaced me as OC of the INLA.”

“If it had been a few years earlier, I would have been the one on hunger strike and not Patsy. I was not permitted to go on the hunger strike because Patsy and the other volunteers were saying, “No you’ve only got five more months to serve, and you’ll be out of here.”

—Tony O’Hara

I didn’t know how I would feel if my brother were dying, but no part of me wanted to tell my brother Patsy to come off the hunger strike as I was 100 percent behind him at the time…

Chapters

Pages

What’s inside

THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES

The Pub on Bishop Street • Guardian Angels • School Days

Adolescence

Christian Brothers School · Benny Duddy

THE TROUBLES

One Man, One Vote · Sammy Devenney · The Battle of the Bogside · More Turmoil · Bloody Sunday · John Starrs · Rory Gormley

WAR & MUSIC

Music in Derry: 1960-1970 · Internment · The Music Man · Two Callings

THE ANGER INSIDE

Joining Up · Operation Motorman · 1972 Hunger Strike · Crazy Existence

BROTHERS IN ARMS

MY GAOL DAYS

Possession of a Gun · Sunny Jim · A Parade for Tom Williams · Still a Music Man · Protests and Songs · Prison Maltreatment · 1980 Hunger Strike · 1981 Hunger Strike

ADJUSTING AMID SADNESS

Cell on the Inside, Cell on the Outside · Father Faul · Uinseann MacEoin · Music: The 1980s · Public Speaking

GOING TO AMERICA

My Sister, Liz · Speaking Tour · Back Home in Derry

LOOKING BACK

Their Legacy Lives On · Senseless Killings · Senseless Feuding · The Miami Showband Massacre

IF I CAN CHANGE THINGS

Working with Children · Helping the Homeless ·Combatting Sectarianism · Striving for Peace · My Son Patrick Donal · The Band Plays On · Vying for a Better Future

55 HOURS: THE DEATH OF JOE McDONNELL

An extensive investigation by Carrie Twomey

“The Time Has Come” is not a glorification of violence. It is a matter-of-fact recitation of the sometimes brutal conflict between various groups fighting against a common enemy, and the realities of everyday existence in that world.

— Malachy McCourt

Tony O’Hara

Author of The Time Has Come