Michael James "Mickey" Devine (26 May, 1954–21 August, 1981) was a volunteer

Volunteer (Irish republican)

Volunteer, often abbreviated Vol., is a term used by a number of Irish republican paramilitary organisations to describe their members. Among these have been the various forms of the Irish Republican Army and the Irish National Liberation Army...

 of the Irish National Liberation Army

Irish National Liberation Army

The Irish National Liberation Army or INLA is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group that was formed on 8 December 1974. Its goal is to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist united Ireland....

 (INLA) who died on the 1981 Irish hunger strike

1981 Irish hunger strike

The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during The Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners...

.

Background

Devine, also known as "Red Mickey" on account of his red hair, was born into a family of only two children from the Springtown Camp, Derry

Derry

Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

.

In 1960, when Devine was six years of age, the Devine family including his grandmother, sister Margaret and parents Patrick and Elizabeth, moved to the then newly-built Creggan

Creggan, Derry

Creggan is a large housing estate in Derry in Northern Ireland. It was the first housing estate built in Derry specifically to provide housing for the Catholic majority. It is situated on the outskirts of the city and is built on a hill. The name Creggan is derived from the Gaelic word creagán...

 estate to the north of Derry city centre. Both of Devine's parents died soon after.

Devine was educated to a primary level at Holy Child Primary School, Creggan, and at secondary level in St. Joseph's Secondary School also in the Creggan.

After soldiers shot dead two unarmed civilians, Dessie Beattie and Raymond Cusack, Devine joined the James Connolly

James Connolly

James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of...

 Republican Club in Derry in July 1971.

Paramilitary activities

In the early 1970s, Devine joined the Labour Party and Young Socialists, before helping found the INLA in 1975.

In 1976, after an arms raid in County Donegal

County Donegal

County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, Devine was arrested and sentenced to 12 years. He joined the blanket protest

Blanket protest

The blanket protest was part of a five year protest during the Troubles by Provisional Irish Republican Army and Irish National Liberation Army prisoners held in the Maze prison in Northern Ireland. The republican prisoners' status as political prisoners, known as Special Category Status, had...

 before joining the hunger strike.

Hunger strike

In May 1981, Devine sent an open letter to Cardinal Basil Hume (Archbishop of Westminster and Roman Catholic primate of England) in which he responded to Cardinal Hume's assertion that the hunger strike was a "form of violence against one's own body".

On 22 June 1981, Devine joined the 1981 Irish hunger strike

1981 Irish hunger strike

The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during The Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners...

, and died on 20 August after 60 days without food. On the same day Owen Carron

Owen Carron

Owen Gerard Carron is an Irish republican activist and who was Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 1981 to 1983.Carron is the nephew of former Nationalist Party politician John Carron....

 was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.