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
Tony O’Hara
Author of The Time Has Come