| Pat McGeown | |
| Office: | Belfast City Councillor |
| Term Start: | 1993 |
| Term End: | 1996 |
| Constituency: | Lower Falls |
| Party: | Sinn Féin |
| Allegiance: | Fianna Éireann (1970–1973) Provisional Irish Republican Army (1973–1996) |
| Birth Name: | Patrick McGeown |
| Birth Date: | 3 September 1956 |
| Birth Place: | Beechmount, Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Resting Place: | Milltown Cemetery |
| Nickname: | Pat Beag |
| Death Place: | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Branch: | Belfast Brigade |
| Battles: | The Troubles |
Pat "Beag" McGeown (3 September 1956 – 1 October 1996[1]) was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who took part in the 1981 Irish hunger strike.[2]
McGeown was born in the Beechmount area of Belfast, Northern Ireland on 3 September 1956, and joined the IRA's youth wing Fianna Éireann in 1970.[3] [4] [5] He was first arrested aged 14, and in 1973 he was again arrested and interned in Long Kesh until 1974.[1] [4] [6] In November 1975 McGeown was arrested and charged with possession of explosives, bombing the Europa Hotel, and IRA membership.[4] At his trial in 1976 he was convicted and received a five-year sentence for IRA membership and two concurrent fifteen-year sentences for the bombing and possession of explosives, and was imprisoned at Long Kesh with Special Category Status.[4] [6]
In March 1978 he attempted to escape along with Brendan McFarlane and Larry Marley. The three had wire cutters and dressed as prison officers, complete with wooden guns.[7] The escape was unsuccessful, and resulted in McGeown receiving an additional six-month sentence and the loss of his Special Category Status.[1] [4]
See main article: Blanket protest and Dirty protest. McGeown was transferred into the Maze Prison's H-Blocks where he joined the blanket protest and dirty protest, attempting to secure the return of Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners.[1] [4] McGeown described the conditions inside the prison during the dirty protest in a 1985 interview:
In late 1980 the protest escalated and seven prisoners took part in a fifty-three-day hunger strike, aimed at restoring political status by securing what were known as the "Five Demands":
The strike ended before any prisoners had died and without political status being secured, and a second hunger strike began on 1 March 1981 led by Bobby Sands, the IRA's former Officer Commanding (OC) in the prison.[9] McGeown joined the strike on 9 July, after Sands and four other prisoners had starved themselves to death.[10] Following the deaths of five other prisoners, McGeown's family authorised medical intervention to save his life after he lapsed into a coma on 20 August, the 42nd day of his hunger strike.[10] [11]
McGeown was released from prison in 1985, resuming his active role in the IRA's campaign and also working for Sinn Féin, the republican movement's political wing.[1] [11] In 1988 McGeown was charged with organising the Corporals killings, an incident where two plain-clothes British Army soldiers were killed by the IRA.[12] At an early stage of the trial his solicitor Pat Finucane argued there was insufficient evidence against McGeown, and the charges were dropped in November 1988.[12] [13] McGeown and Finucane were photographed together outside Crumlin Road Courthouse, a contributing factor to Finucane being killed by the Ulster Defence Association in February 1989.[14] [15] Despite suffering from heart disease as a result of his participation in the hunger strike, McGeown was a member of Sinn Féin's Ard Chomhairle and active in its Prisoner of War Department, and in 1993 he was elected to Belfast City Council.[16]
McGeown was found dead in his home on 1 October 1996, after suffering a heart attack.[3] [17] Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said his death was "a great loss to Sinn Féin and the republican struggle".[11] McGeown was buried in the Republican plot at Belfast's Milltown Cemetery, and since his death is often referred to as the "11th hunger striker".[18] [19] In 1998 the Pat McGeown Community Endeavour Award was launched by Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, with Adams describing McGeown as "a modest man with a quiet, but total dedication to equality and raising the standard of life for all the people of the city".[20] A plaque in memory of McGeown was unveiled outside the Sinn Féin headquarters on the Falls Road on 24 November 2001,[21] [22] and a memorial plot on Beechmount Avenue was dedicated to the memory of McGeown, Kieran Nugent and Alec Comerford on 3 March 2002.[23]