Séanna Walsh or Séanna Breathnach (born 1957) is a

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

member of

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhéal Feirste) is the local authority with responsibility for part of the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of (), the ...

and a former

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

in the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

(IRA).

Early life

Walsh was born in the

Short Strand The Short Strand ( ga, an Trá Ghearr) is a working class, inner city area of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a mainly Catholic and Irish nationalist enclave surrounded by the mainly Protestant and unionist East Belfast. It is on the east ba ...

area of East Belfast but for a time lived in Ravenhill Avenue until

loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

intimidated the Walsh family out of their home. Séanna's great grandfather had been shot dead in the same area by

B-Specials The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC; commonly called the "B-Specials" or "B Men") was a quasi-military reserve special constable police force in what would later become Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, shortly before the par ...

when

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

was founded.

IRA activity and imprisonment

In 1973, Walsh was arrested along with a number of fellow IRA men while robbing a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment. In

Long Kesh Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

prison, where he was entitled to

Special Category Status In July 1972, William Whitelaw, the Conservative British government's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, granted Special Category Status (SCS) to all prisoners serving sentences in Northern Ireland for Troubles-related offences. This had be ...

as an IRA prisoner, he met and befriended

Bobby Sands Robert Gerard Sands ( ga, Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh; 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was a member (and leader in the Maze prison) of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison M ...

. Séanna was released from prison in May 1976. Three months later he was arrested and charged with possession of a rifle and was sentenced to ten years in prison. By the time he arrived back in the H-Blocks, the British government had withdrawn Special Category status and the IRA members had commenced their

blanket protest The blanket protest was part of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners held in the Maze prison (also known as "Long Kesh") in Northern Ireland. The ...

. Walsh refused to wear a prison uniform and went on to become one of the leaders of the blanket protest. When the

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

ended in late 1981, Walsh became the

Officer Commanding The officer commanding (OC), also known as the officer in command or officer in charge (OiC), is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size), principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, t ...

(OC) of the IRA prisoners in the H-Blocks. He was released after seven years and seven months. Upon his release, he married Sinéad Moore, a former republican prisoner. They and had two daughters, the youngest of whom was only two weeks old when he was arrested again, caught making explosives and mortar bombs He was sentenced to twenty-two years in prison. While on remand in

Crumlin Road Gaol HMP Belfast, also known as Crumlin Road Gaol, is a former prison situated on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since 1996 it is the only remaining Victorian era former prison in Northern Ireland. It is colloquially known as ' ...

, Walsh again became OC of the IRA prisoners.

Release

At the age of forty-two, Walsh had spent over half his life, a total of twenty-one years, in jail. He was released along with other imprisoned IRA members under the provisions of the 1998

Belfast Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

. In July 2005, he appeared on a DVD reading out a statement from the

IRA Army Council The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about independence to the whole island of Ireland and the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and Grea ...

announcing the end to its armed campaign. In doing so, Walsh became the first IRA member since 1972 to represent the organisation without wearing a mask.

Working for reconciliation

In 2012, Walsh, along with other former paramilitaries, of both sides, participated in the launching of the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

edition of the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

's ''From Prison to Peace'' education pack, intended for 14–16 years old pupils. In February 2015, along with three other former members of the IRA, he met, in Derry, four former

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

soldiers who had served in Northern Ireland during

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

. The men talked about the reasons they had taken up arms, the consequences of their decision, and the prospects for a lasting peace.

Political career

In 2012 Walsh was working for

as head of its

department. In 2015 he was co-opted by the party onto

for the

District Electoral Area The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distr ...

of Collin to replace Bill Groves. He held his seat at the 2019 council elections.;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Seanna 1957 births Irish republicans Living people Prisoners accorded Special Category Status Provisional Irish Republican Army members Republicans imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict Members of Belfast City Council