- Kieran Nugent
Kieran "Header" Nugent (Irish: Ciarán NúinnseannFact|date=October 2007,
1958 -4 May ,2000 ) was a volunteer in theProvisional Irish Republican Army and best known for being the first IRA 'blanket man' in the H-Blocks. When sentenced to 3 years Nugent refused to wear a prison uniform and said the prison guards would have to "...nail it to my back". [cite web | author=Fra McCann | title=Tribute to Kieran Nugent| work=Coiste Ireland| url=http://web.archive.org/web/20060518172441/http://www.coiste.ie/politicaltours/kieran_nugent.asp| accessdate=5 October| accessyear=2003 ] [cite web | author=Laura Friel| title=The first H Block blanket man| work=An Phoblacht | url=http://republican-news.org/archive/2000/May11/11kier.html| accessdate=11 May| accessyear=2000 ]Life before prison
Kieran Nugent's childhood came at a time when
Northern Ireland was exploding into turmoil. On20 March 1973 as a 15 year old he was standing with a friend on the corner of Merrion Street and Grosvenor Road, when a car pulled up beside them and one of the occupants asked them for directions. Another occupant of the vehicle then opened fire with a sub machine gun. Kieran was seriously wounded after being shot eight times in the chest, arms and back by loyalists. A friend Bernard McErlean, also aged 15, who was standing nearby was shot and killed. [H Block - British Jail for Irish Political Prisoners by Fr.Denis Faul and Fr.Raymond Murray 1979]Prison life
In the coming years he joined the IRA as a young man. He was arrested, aged 16, by the
British Army and spent five months on remand inCrumlin Road Prison . When he was eventually tried, the case against him was withdrawn and he was released. He became an active volunteer until his arrest and imprisonment, without trial, on9 February 1975 underMerlyn Rees ,Secretary of State for Northern Ireland He spent nine months in Cage 4 ofLong Kesh prison camp until12 November 1975 . He was imprisoned again after his arrest on12 May 1976 , and sentenced to three years imprisonment on14 September 1976 for hijacking a vehicle and, upon entering the Maze Prison, refused to wear a prison uniform. He was not provided with alternative clothing and wrapped himself in the blanket from his cell beginning the "Blanket Protest".He was soon joined in his protest;
Jackie McMullan was the next prisoner to don the blanket,cite book | last = Beresford | first = David | authorlink = | title = Ten Men Dead | publisher = Atlantic Monthly Press |year=1987 | pages = p. 66 | isbn = 0-87113-702-X] followed by six more republican prisoners from the Beechmount area ofBelfast . By Christmas 1976 the number had risen to over forty prisoners on protest.From this moment on republican prisoners emulated him and this started five years of prison protests in pursuit ofpolitical status , which ended in the 1981 Hunger Strike and the death of seven IRA and three INLA prisoners. [ [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/hstrike/chronology.htm CAIN] ]Death
On
4 May 2000 Nugent died from a heart attack. He was a father of two.ee also
1981 Hunger Strike References
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