Former H-Block republican prisoners have angrily denied an allegation by a fellow former inmate of the Maze prison that the IRA army council blocked a deal that could have saved the lives of six of the 10 dead hunger strikers.
Former IRA prisoner Richard O'Rawe stood over his claim, contained in his book Blanketmen, published yesterday, that the prisoners' leadership accepted a deal in July 1981 to end the fast but that this decision was over-ruled by the IRA army council.
At that stage in early July 1981, Bobby Sands and three other prisoners had died. Six more died before the hunger strike ended in October 1981.
Mr O'Rawe wrote that at the time, Gerry Adams was acting as liaison between the army council and a senior British foreign office official known as "the Mountain Climber". Former Sinn Féin publicity officer Danny Morrison also liaised with the prisoners and the IRA leadership.
The claims by Mr O'Rawe generated a heated debate on BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme yesterday. Mr Morrison and Brendan "Bik" McFarlane, IRA commander in the Maze during the hunger strikes, angrily rejected what Mr O'Rawe said and accused him of causing great hurt and distress to the hunger strikers' families. Mr O'Rawe insisted his account was true and that the families also deserved to know the truth.
Mr O'Rawe also wrote that he was warned in 1991 that he "could be shot" for airing these views, although he now felt there was no such threat against him. He wrote the book to try to set the historical record straight, he said.
He said the British intermediary effectively conceded most of the prisoners' five demands for special status.
He said the army council acted in an "inexcusable manner" and suggested in his book that the purported IRA decision rejecting the deal could have been taken to facilitate the election of republican candidate Owen Carron in the Fermanagh/South Tyrone byelection of 1981.
The hunger strikes are generally accepted as the trigger for Sinn Féin electoral successes, which in turn helped create the climate to allow the IRA call its ceasefire in 1994.
In the book, Mr O'Rawe, who was the IRA public relations officer in the Maze during the hunger strikes, said he and Mr McFarlane agreed that the offer from "the Mountain Climber" should be accepted. "I thought that the offer was sufficient for us to settle the strike honourably."
Mr O'Rawe said he and Mr McFarlane were shattered by the army council's response but that they felt bound to accept the IRA's findings. "A more sceptical view would be that perhaps they didn't miscalculate at all."
But Mr McFarlane said: "As the officer commanding in the prison at the time, I can say categorically that there was no outside intervention to prevent a deal."
