Jailtacht: The Irish Language, Symbolic Power and Political Violence in Northern Ireland, 1972-2008

JAILTACHT

JAILTACHT

THE IRISH LANGUAGE, SYMBOLIC POWER AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN NORTHERN IRELAND, 1972–2008

DIARMAIT MAC GIOLLA CHRÍOST

© Diarmait Mac Giolla Chríost, 2012

Cover image: Richard Hamilton, The Citizen 901981-3) © Richard Hamilton. All rights reserved, DACS 2010

Cover design: Dalen (Llyfrau) Cyf

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff CF10 4UP.

www.uwp.co.uk

British Library CIP Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN       978-0-7083-2496-7

e-ISBN    978-1-78316-511-7

The right of Diarmait Mac Giolla Chríost to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

CONTENTS

List of illustrations

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

2 Chronology

3 Style

4 Performance

5 Visual Grammar

6 Ideology

7 Conclusions

Notes

Bibliography

List of illustrations

FIGURES

Figure 1: Plan of HMP the Maze

source: Longwell, 1998: 233

Figure 2: H-Block architecture

source: Longwell, 1998: 232

TABLES

Table 1: List of prisoners in H-5 D wing in December1997

source: http://republican-news.org/archive/1997/December04/04pris.html and http://www.irlnet.com/saoirse/ (accessed 22 February 2009)

Table 2: List of prisoners in H-8 D wing in December1997

source: http://republican-news.org/archive/1997/December04/04pris.html and http://www.irlnet.com/saoirse/ (accessed 22 February 2009)

PLATES

Plate 1: Photograph of the Cages

source: ‘Prison Struggle’, 1977: 33

Plate 2: Photograph of a ‘Gaeltacht Hut’

source: ‘Prison Struggle’, 1977: 34

Plate 3: Image from a ‘dirty protest’ cell showing clean patches of wall possibly used for Irish lessons

source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L965m4GB55c (accessed 12 January 2009)

Plate 4: Image of protesting prisoner writing on cell wall

source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4QDHYW7DP8&feature=rela ted (accessed 12 January 2009)

Plate 5: Foghlaim na Gaeilge

source: Faoi Ghlas ag Gaill, 1981: 6

Plate 6: Hunger-strikers’ gravestone, 1981

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mcelwee_grave.jpg

Plate 7: ‘Seabhac’, Glenfada Park / Rossville Street, Derry, c.1983

source: © Tony Crowley and with acknowledgement to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Plate 8: ‘Ní bheidh síocháin ann gan saoirse’, Shaws Road, Belfast, c.1983

source: © Tony Crowley and with acknowledgement to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Plate 9: ‘Guth Án Phobail’, Unity Flats, Belfast, c.1983

source: © Tony Crowley and with acknowledgement to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Plate 10: ‘Mise Éire 1’, Chamberlain Street, Derry, c.1983

source: indymedia http://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/feb2006/mise_ eire.jpg

Plate 11: ‘Mise Éire 2’, Chamberlain Street, Derry, c.1983

source: Woods, 1995

Plate 12: ‘Éire saor’, Turf Lodge, Belfast, 1982

source: Stanford

Plate 13: ‘Tiocfaidh ár lá 1, Hawthorn Street, Belfast, c.1984

source: Sinn Féin, 1984: 2

Plate 14: ‘Tiocfaidh ár lá 2, Cable Street, Derry, 1984

source: Rolston, 1991: 102

Plate 15: ‘I ndíl chuimhne’, St. James, Road, Belfast, c.1984

source: Rolston, 1992: 39

Plate 16: ‘Loch gCál’, Springhill Avenue, Belfast, 1987

source: © Tony Crowley and with acknowledgement to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Plate 17: ‘Nuadha’, Springhill Avenue, Belfast, 1987

source: © Tony Crowley and with acknowledgement to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Plate 18: ‘Bua’, Cable Street, Derry, 1987

source: Rolston, 1991: 108

Plate 19: ‘Fiche blian 1’, Lower Falls, Belfast, c.1989

source: the author

Plate 20: ‘Fiche blian 2’, Sevastopol Street /Falls Road, Belfast, c.1989

source: © Tony Crowley and with acknowledgement to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Plate 21: ‘An Ghaeilge’, Falls Road, Belfast, c.1989

source: © Tony Crowley and with acknowledgement to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Plate 22: ‘Saoirse nó bás’, Carlisle Road, Belfast, c.1989

source: © Tony Crowley and with acknowledgement to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Plate 23: ‘Tiocfaidh ar la 3’, Springhill Park, Strabane, c.1993

source: Rolston, 1995: 21

Plate 24: ‘Beidh an lá linn’, Rosnareen Road / Shaws Road, Belfast, c.1989

source: © Tony Crowley and with acknowledgement to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Plate 25: ‘An Gorta Mór’, Ardoyne Avenue, Belfast, c.1995

source: Donnelly Pers.comm.

Plate 26: ‘The Mass Rock’, Ardoyne Avenue, Belfast, c.1995

source: donnelly pers.comm.

Plate 27: ‘Labhair an teanga Ghaeilge liom’, Ardoyne Avenue, Belfast, c.1995

source: http://peacelinetours.g2gm.com/reviews/mural.jpg

Plate 28: ‘Saoirse 1’, New Lodge Road, Belfast, c.1997

source: © Tony Crowley and with acknowledgement to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Plate 29: ‘Saoirse 2’, New Lodge Road, Belfast, c.1997

source: © Tony Crowley and with acknowledgement to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Plate 30: ‘Pobal’, Falls Road, Belfast, c. 2002

source: © Tony Crowley and with acknowledgement to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Plate 31: ‘Labhair cibé Gaeilge atá agat’, Belfast, 2007

source: indymedia http://www.indymedia.ie/article/82963

Plate 32: ‘Is fearr Gaeilge bhriste’, Belfast, 2007

source ‘fionnchu’ http://fionnchu.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.htm

Plate 33: ‘Borrokarako’, Belfast

source: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/197/476033519_021dd9db7f. jpg?v=0

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to a number of individuals for their help, sometimes unprompted, during the creation of this book: Neal Alexander, Kristian Brown, Colm Donnelly, Ciarán Dunbar, Roger Macginty, Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh, Seán McConville and Peter Sheridan. I am grateful too for the help of the staff of various organisations: Coiste, the library of the Queen’s University Belfast, the Linen Hall Library Belfast, the Public Record Office Northern Ireland, Ultach Trust, the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University, the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory University and, of course, all at the School of Welsh, Cardiff university. In addition, I would like to record my thanks to a number of scholarly groups and bodies who provided critical audiences for early presentations on the research that led to this book: the Celtic Studies Colloquium at Harvard University, the Linguistics Forum at the University of Aberystwyth, the Crime Narratives in Context Research Network at Cardiff University, the Ireland-Wales Research Network at Cardiff University, the Welsh Institute of Social and Cultural Affairs at Bangor University, the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Melbourne, the School of Irish, Celtic Studies, Irish Folklore and Linguistics at University college, Dublin and Cymdeithas Carnhuanawc.

I would also like to thank several individuals and organisations for permission to use various copyright material in this book.

Bill Rolston and Associated University Presses for permission to use:

Plate 14: ‘Tiocfaidh ár lá’ 2, Cable Street, Derry, 1984

Plate 15: ‘I ndíl chuimhne’, St. James, Road, Belfast, c.1984

Plate 18: ‘Bua’, Cable Street, Derry, 1987

Plate 23: ‘Tiocfaidh ar la 3’, Springhill Park, Strabane, c.1993

Colm Donnelly for permission to use:

Plate 25: ‘An Gorta Mór’, Ardoyne Avenue, Belfast, c.1995 (source: Donnelly pers.comm.)

Plate 26: ‘The Mass Rock’, Ardoyne Avenue, Belfast, c.1995 (source: Donnelly pers.comm.)

Wikipedia for permission to use:

Plate 6: Hunger-strikers’ gravestone, 1981

Tony Crowley and the Claremont Colleges Digital Library for permission to use:

Plate 7: ‘Seabhac’, Glenfada Park / Rossville Street, Derry, c.1983

Plate 8: ‘Ní bheidh síocháin ann gan saoirse’, Shaws Road, Belfast, c.1983

Plate 9: ‘Guth Án Phobail’, Unity Flats, Belfast, c.1983

Plate 16: ‘Loch gCál’, Springhill Avenue, Belfast, 1987

Plate 17: ‘Nuadha’, Springhill Avenue, Belfast, 1987

Plate 20: ‘Fiche blian 2’, Sevastopol Street / Falls Road, Belfast, c.1989

Plate 21: ‘An Ghaeilge’, Falls Road, Belfast, c.1989

Plate 22: ‘Saoirse nó bás’, Carlisle Road, Belfast, c.1989

Plate 24: ‘Beidh an lá linn’, Rosnareen Road/Shaws Road, Belfast, c.1989

Plate 28: ‘Saoirse 1’, New Lodge Road, Belfast, c.1997

Plate 29: ‘Saoirse 2’, New Lodge Road, Belfast, c.1997

Plate 30: ‘Pobal’, Falls Road, Belfast, c. 2002

Dr John L. Murphy for permission to use:

Plate 32: ‘Is fearr Gaeilge bhriste’, Belfast, 2007 (source ‘fionnchu’ http://fionnchu.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.htm)

The Guildhall Press for permission to use:

Plate 11: ‘Mise Éire 2’, Chamberlain Street, Derry, c.1983

Peaceline Tours for permission to use:

Plate 27: ‘Labhair an teanga Ghaeilge liom’, Ardoyne Avenue, Belfast, c.1995

Every effort has been made to contact all copyright holders. Any rights not acknowledged here will be acknowledged in subsequent printings if notice is given to the publisher.

Tiomnaím an leabhar seo d’Ema

1 INTRODUCTION

Questions of language are basically questions of power.1

[I]n the routine flow of day-to-day life, power is seldom exercised as overt physical force: instead, it is transmuted into a symbolic form, and thereby endowed with a kind of legitimacy that it would not otherwise have.2

Violence, political. Resort to force for political ends, outside its normal use in international warfare or in the internal administration of justice.[…] Terrorism is the paradigm of political violence.3

CONTEXT

This book is set in the context of the historical ethno-political conflict that occurred in Northern Ireland during the last quarter of the twentieth century, but it is not about it. Rather, it is concerned with a very particular aspect of that conflict, namely the relationship between the Irish language and the paradigm of political violence. In short, the research object at the heart of this book is the emergence of the Irish language amongst Irish republican prisoners and ex-prisoners in Northern Ireland in the period from around 1970 up until today. It would appear that the language emerged from very unpromising conditions. Most republicans claim that they entered prison with very little or no knowledge of the language while, at the same time, the prison authorities operated a ban upon Irish language teaching materials and on the use of the language more generally. Despite this, the prisoners acquired and used the language to such an extent that it became a working language, used exclusively in parts of the prison. These developments gave rise to the popular coinage of the terms ‘Jailic’ and ‘Jailtacht’, deformations of the terms ‘Gaelic (Irish language)’ and ‘Gaeltacht (official Irish-speaking districts of the Republic of Ireland)’. The relationship between the prisoners and the Irish language has affected society outside prison. During the 1980s the language was used by Irish republicans as a tool for the ‘radicalisation’ of community groups; during the 1990s it enabled a shift in the discourse of the Irish republican movement towards political accommodation, and most recently it has been ‘commodified’ by some ex-prisoners as a product suitable for consumption by visitors keen to experience ‘struggle tourism’. Today, certain ex-prisoners serve as members of Foras na Gaeilge, a statutory body which contributes to the shaping of Irish language public policy.

Given the recent political settlement in Northern Ireland, the conflict there is often referred to as an example of the effective management and resolution of deep-rooted political violence, yet despite this the political discourse regarding the Irish language has become increasingly divisive. Recent debates on the floor of the Northern Ireland Assembly regarding the use of the language in the chamber as well as the rhetoric surrounding the campaign for an Irish Language Act in Northern Ireland illustrate this point.4 More recently again, the First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (Peter Robinson) had in mind the politics of the Irish language when he announced plans for a ‘Unionist Academy’ as a means of returning the fight in the increasingly intense cultural war in Northern Ireland: ‘There has been something of a cultural war in Northern Ireland. We intend to fight back’.5

Yet, as I have argued elsewhere, the Irish language has the potential to transcend traditional boundaries in Northern Ireland and be a part of the solution rather than of the problem.6 The question arises – what is the function of the Irish language as acquired, developed and used by Irish republican prisoners and former prisoners in this? This dramatic and complex linguistic phenomenon has yet to be subject to serious academic scrutiny and, as a result, is subject to widespread popular misconceptions and prejudice. Properly understanding it is a matter of some significance; it is my view that the Irish language can be looked upon as the defining symbolic element of the political violence that has shaped the history of Northern Ireland and, to a great extent, the relationship between the UK and the Republic of Ireland. In addition, the matter is of more general importance. Since 9/11 much of the research on contemporary forms of political violence in different parts of the globe is concerned with the symbolic terrain which defines the so-called new terrorism.7 This study of language and political violence delineates that viscous landscape.

METHODS

In responding to these questions I offer a text that is ambitious with regard to its philosophical and theoretical aims and which, at the same time, is thoroughly grounded in a wealth of empirical data from a variety of sociolinguistic settings. To begin with, I set out to accomplish the following basic aims:

to describe the means of language acquisition by the prisoners, including specific teaching materials and techniques, and ascertaining the extent of the possible barriers faced by the prisoners in their acquisition of Irish, including prison policy, the attitudes of other prisoners and conflicting attitudes amongst Irish republican prisoners

to describe the use of the Irish language by prisoners including, specifically, the reconstruction of the key phrases or language strings developed by the prisoners during the different stages of imprisonment and to identify patterns of use of this formulaic language

to analyse the impact of the relationship between the (ex)prisoners and their form of Irish on wider society in NI, including its particular linguistic and sociological impact upon the Irish language more generally.

In order to achieve these aims, a range of data is subjected to a number of specific modes of enquiry. Amongst the most important data are the results of a series of semi-structured interviews with ex-prisoners who are, or were, important with regard to the Irish language in the Irish republican movement. Initially, contact was made with ex-prisoner organisations including Coiste na nIarchimí, Cumann na Fuiseoige and Tar Abhaile. Coiste na nIarchimí proved to be especially useful in providing a gateway to the network of former Irish republican prisoners and once this gateway had been successfully negotiated it was then possible to gain access to a wide range of former prisoners. As the fieldwork developed it was possible to use the fact of these contacts to legitimise access to other former prisoners who were not necessarily associated with organisations such as Coiste na nIarchimí. In all cases I conducted the interviews myself. This is a very distinctive feature of this research as most other investigators conduct such fieldwork (described as ‘dangerous’8 in the academic literature) by proxy, that is through using the ex-prisoners themselves as researchers. Other academic researchers have used this method because of concerns regarding personal security and also because the republican movement has chosen to make itself not easily accessible to the research community. The conduct of research by proxy reduces the integrity and objectivity of the results as there is a distance between the researcher and the object of research. The interviews were conducted in the language choice of the interviewee, allowing for code-switching between Irish and English.

As a result of contacts made during the preliminary fieldwork, I was allowed privileged access to ‘archival’ material on the Irish language held by associates of the Irish republican movement and ex-prisoners’ organisations. These include policy development documents, action research projects and covert teaching materials. In addition, I make considerable use of the autobiographical and biographical accounts of republicans, ex-prisoners and prison staff as primary and secondary sources of ethnographic material. These sources include, for example, Adams,9 Campbell et al.,10 Longwell,11 McKeown,12 Moen,13 Morrison,14 O’Rawe,15 Ryder16 and Wylie.17 The research includes the pragmatic and stylistic analysis of dramatic reconstructions and literary expressions in Jailic and of the Jailtacht. These include a screenplay for a feature film, the script for a play performed in the theatre, as well other creative writing by the (ex)prisoners. Also, relevant material from the blogs and websites of Irish republican, loyalist and other popular sources are collated and studied. In addition, a series of historical legal cases initiated by Irish republican prisoners against the authorities of HMP the Maze (aka Long Kesh) and HMP Maghaberry are examined. This includes interviews with the solicitors and barristers engaged on these cases. Amongst other interview subjects are external and invited ‘teachers’ of the Irish language of the prisoners held at HMP the Maze.

Other linguistic data is derived from the Irish language as it appeared, and indeed continues to appear, in political graffiti and murals in various parts of Northern Ireland during the period of study (much historical material has been collated and presented online via the CAIN conflict archive in the Mural Directory).18 Other extremely useful sources in this regard include the Murals of Northern Ireland Collection at Claremont Colleges Digital Library, the Ciaran MacGowan Collection at Stanford University, the published works of Rolston (various), and the Troubled Images: Posters and Images of the Northern Ireland Conflict CD-ROM collection from the Linen Hall Library, Belfast. I uncovered useful information in official archival materials held at the Public Record Office for Northern Ireland, amongst the ‘grey’ literature of the Republican movement in both English and Irish, for example in the publications An Glór Gafa, Ár nGuth Fhéin, An Phoblacht and Iris, and also in various journalistic sources in the English and the Irish language print media (both the UK and the Republic of Ireland) held in the Political and the Irish Language Collections at the Linen Hall Library. I also draw upon relevant unpublished research by other scholars based in the UK, Ireland and North America, including a number of PhD and other postgraduate dissertations in both English and Irish. Finally, all of this material is supplemented by the results of purposeful visits to the public spaces of the blogs and social network sites of Irish republicans, loyalists and ‘ordinary’ cybercitizens.

STRUCTURE

The substantive content of the book begins with a chapter on the history of the origins and evolution of the relationship between the Irish republican prisoners of the ‘long war’ in Northern Ireland and the Irish language. In this chapter I identify three different phases in this history as follows:

1972–1976, Internment

1976–1981, Protest

1981–1998, Strategic Engagement.

This chapter provides the reader with the detail of the historical narrative that is at the heart of this linguistic phenomenon. The relationships between the principal characters, significant events and main sites are drawn together so that the broad outlines of the story may be readily accessible, thereby enabling the reader to situate the distinctive parts of the linguistic analysis which follows in their appropriate context.

The linguistic analysis that builds upon the contextual work in chapter 2 comprises a number of distinctive modes of enquiry. These different analytical approaches are not adopted in order to be intellectually fashionable or to appeal to the widest possible audience but rather because each of them is necessary given the different types of evidence available to this particular case study. The modes I refer to are stylistics, pragmatics, semiotics, and critical discourse analysis and they each occupy a separate analytical chapter in the book. Chapter 3 is concerned with a stylistic analysis of a number of key texts which pertain to Jailic. It appears to me that the properties of the variety of language used by the Irish republicans can be said to be used distinctively and, therefore, to belong to a particular situation. In other words, they use a particular style and their language has a particular context. Using a stylistic approach, as characterised largely by Coupland,19 the particular choices made by certain individuals, and the organisations to which they belong, in their use of language are described and explained. Halliday’s theory of register, and its key concepts ‘field’, ‘tenor’ and ‘mode’, are key elements to this analysis of the relationship between semantic patterns and social context.20 To put it simply – I determine what is taking place, who is taking part and what part the language is playing.

In chapter 4 I turn to pragmatics in order to show how the subjects communicate more than that which is explicitly stated. This approach is essential to understanding the relationship between language, symbolic power and political violence for two reasons. Terrorist organisations often have severely limited access to normal means of communication due to the security policy of the authorities in democratic as well as other forms of society. Secondly, they often adopt convoluted channels of communication for their own reasons. Communication, in this case, includes code- switching, mass communication with the public, communication between terrorist organisations and normal political authorities, communication within terrorist organisations and even the tactical or strategic absence of communication. As Jaworski has shown,21 for example, the analysis of silence is a critical task in pragmatics. Ambiguity is central to much of the language relating to political violence and the pragmatic approach, with its peculiar sensitivity to the implied meaning of the given idea and to the social forces at play in the construction of meaning, is very useful in teasing out this function of language in this context. Pragmatics also offers a useful theoretical position on performativity. I apply this notion from the work of Butler,22 and Deleuze23 along with Guattari24 or example, to the way in which players in political violence use language to bring certain objects, such as ‘terror’ or ‘freedom’, into being, as it were. That is to say that language is not merely a description of an object but it makes it real.

Next, in chapter 5, semiotic methods of analysis are applied to a range of material which encompasses signs and symbols and which combines linguistic, pictoral (e.g. mural) and contextual material (e.g. architecture). In this context, meaning is a multimedia or multimodal construct. Semiotics is the study of sign systems and sign relations and, in this way, extends the definition of language in the widest possible sense. As such I consider it a part of the philosophy of language. This approach is very important to this study as the creation of multimodal material, in the form of political graffiti and murals, illegal street-names, posters etc., is common to all terrorist organisations. Similar material, especially in urban context, is understood in linguistics more generally as ‘semiotic landscape’25 or ‘linguistic landscape’.26

Techniques associated with critical discourse analysis,27 and to a degree meta-ideology, are used in chapter 6. The methods of critical discourse analysis are used so as to scrutinise the case study as a discursive formation. Particular attention is paid to the significance of the notion ‘Gaeltacht’ and the associated term ‘Jailtacht’ in this context. Following Foucault,28 discourse is understood to be an institutionalised way of thinking and that it functions as a type of boundary, defining that which can be said about a specific topic. Two types of institution may be regarded as being central to this work – a movement that espouses political violence on the one hand, and the state on the other. The work of Gramsci29 and Bourdieu30 on hegemony informs the analysis of the relationship between the Irish language in this context and the principal ideological positions at work in the political arena here. This is based upon the premise that attempts to bring about, or to resist, social ideological homogeneity are conducted through the manipulation of language. This chapter includes an analysis of the commodification of the relationship between the Irish language and Irish republicanism, drawing upon the literature on ‘struggle tourism’.31

In the closing chapter of the book, chapter 7, the principal insights perceived with regard to each of the different modes of enquiry are drawn together in order to construct a prisme à thèse through which the complex connections between language, symbolic violence and political terror may be more universally viewed and understood. In this chapter, in addition to the primary sources, the academic literature on the history and sociology of imprisonment in general32 and Irish republican and paramilitary prisoners33 in particular is drawn upon. Also, the scholarly literature on contemporary forms of asymmetric conflict, its management and resolution – with particular emphasis on the symbolic element in political violence – informs this chapter. The case study presented in this book is used in order to challenge the dominant notion of the ‘new terror’, apparently novel in its sense of scale, its use of new technologies, its manipulation of information and communications media, and in its break with those modernist ideologies (nationalism, Marxism) which characterise the ‘old’ form of terrorism.34 In this context, this case study can be seen as a uniquely linguistic contribution to an emerging critique of the symbolic terrain in the ‘new’ terror35 and as a provocative contribution to the study of language as symbolic violence.36

ETHICS

The problems of gaining access to criminal justice organisations in Northern Ireland have been noted by a number of researchers.37 Also, the challenges of researching members, or former members, of paramilitary organisations have been explored in the methodological literature on dangerous or difficult fieldwork.38 In this context the use of ‘gatekeepers’39 as a means of gaining access to the research subjects is widely regarded as an important tool. In the fieldwork of other researchers in similar such areas,40 such gatekeepers have been central to the identification of research subjects and, also, in the authentification of the bona fides of the researcher to the research subjects.

The researcher’s perceived religious, and thereby broader socio- political, affiliation is a factor in the conduct of fieldwork in politically sensitive areas of scholarly activity in Northern Ireland. In the case of this research it is most likely that my name, as the researcher, suggested to the research subjects a Catholic and nationalist background. The research literature on Northern Ireland shows that all individuals in that society subscribe to a well-developed system of signs, including personal name, place of birth, school attended, use of language, which variously allow judgements to be made in this regard (whether accurate or otherwise).41 Being identified as either Catholic or Protestant in conducting sensitive research in Northern Ireland may facilitate access to some research subjects but impede access to others.42 In general, this may mean that an academic or professionally affiliated interlocutor may be required in the first place in order to gain access to a gatekeeper for the community of former prisoners. This was not the case in this research.

Current practices in research ethics suggest that the written consent of the research subject be obtained. But in the case of the fieldwork behind this book the research subjects were not asked to sign any letters or notes of consent. Indeed, other work in this area has shown that it is most unlikely that any of the research subjects would have allowed themselves to be recorded.43

Instead, the consent to be interviewed was negotiated and confirmed orally or by e-mail with the individual research subject. These interviews were contemporaneously written after the interview. The text arising from the interviews was agreed with the research subjects via e-mail correspondence and the research subject informed of any subsequent use of the research data, including conference presentations, prior to publication. Assurances were given to all interviewees that they would remain anonymous in any publications arising from the research, unless otherwise agreed. All of the interviews are sourced by reference to their professional or political affiliation and the date upon which the interview was held.

It is possible to gain some insight into the way in which the Irish republican movement, as a potential and very particular type of research subject community, operates in relation