Dolours Price
Encyclopedia
Dolours Price is a former volunteer
of the Provisional Irish Republican Army
(IRA). She is also a politicial activist and critic of Gerry Adams
and the current leadership of Sinn Féin
.
, are the children of Albert Price, a prominent Irish Republican and former IRA member, from Belfast
.
in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She participated in a car bombing of the Old Bailey
on 8 March 1973. The explosion injured over 200 people and likely caused one person's death of heart failure.
The two sisters were arrested, along with Gerry Kelly, Hugh Feeney
and six others, on the day of the bombing, as they were boarding a flight to Ireland
. They were tried and convicted at the Great Hall on Winchester Castle
on 14 November after a six-hour discussion by a jury. Although originally sentenced to life imprisonment, which was to run concurrently for each criminal charge, their sentence was eventually reduced to 20 years.
Dolours Price served seven years of her sentence for her part in the IRA car bombing during which time she immediately went on a hunger strike
in a campaign to be repatriated to a prison in Northern Ireland
. The hunger strike lasted over 200 days, because the hunger strikers were force-fed by prison authorities. The force-feeding ended after the death of another hunger striker, Michael Gaughan, in June 1974. As part of the campaign, her father, Albert Price, contested West Belfast
at the British General Election of February 1974
receiving 5,662 votes (11.9%) The Price sisters, Hugh Feeney, and Gerry Kelly
were repatriated to Northern Irish prisons in 1975. This was a benefit of negotiations that occurred during a British-IRA truce.
In 1980 Price received the Royal Prerogative of Mercy
and was freed on humanitarian grounds suffering from anorexia nervosa
in 1981. After her release, she married Stephen Rea
, who was hired to speak the words of Gerry Adams
when Sinn Féin
was under a broadcasting ban.
Dolours Price, along with her sister Marian, remains active politically. In the late 1990s, Price and her sister claimed that they had been threatened by their former comrades in Sinn Féin for speaking out against the Good Friday Agreement. Price also regularly contributed to the on-line journal The Blanket, which was edited by Anthony McIntyre and his wife, Carrie Twomey until it ceased publication in 2008.
In 2001, Price was arrested in Dublin and charged with possession of stolen prescription pads and forged prescriptions. She pleaded guilty and was fined £200 and ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous
meetings. She and Rea were divorced in 2003. They have two sons together.
In February 2010, it was reported by The Irish News
that Price had offered help to the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains in locating graves of three men, Joe Lynskey, Seamus Wright and Kevin McKee, who were allegedly killed by the IRA and whose bodies have not been found.
At the same time, Price claimed that Gerry Adams had been her "Officer Commanding" when she was in the IRA. Adams, who has never admitted to being a member of that group, denied her charge. Price also admitted to driving the kidnapped Jean McConville
, accused by the IRA of being an informer, to the place where she was killed in 1972. She claimed that the killing was ordered by Adams, who denied that Price's story was true.
Oral historians at Boston College
interviewed both Dolours Price and Brendan Hughes
between 2001 and 2006. The two former IRA members spoke on condition that the tapes not be released in their lifetimes. In May, 2011, British police subpoenaed
the material, possibly as part of an investigation into the disappearance of a number of people in Northern Ireland during the 1970s. In June of 2011, the college filed a motion to quash
the subpoena. A spokesman for the college stated that "our position is that the premature release of the tapes could threaten the safety of the participants, the enterprise of oral history, and the ongoing peace and reconciliation process in Northern Ireland." In July 2011, U.S. federal prosecutors asked a judge to require the college to release the tapes in order to comply with treaty obligations with the United Kingdom.
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 Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
(IRA). She is also a politicial activist and critic of Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
and the current leadership of Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
.
Early life
Dolours Price and her sister, Marian PriceMarian Price
Marian Price , also known by her married name as Marion McGlinchey, is an Irish republican militant, one of the so-called "Price sisters", who was jailed for her part in the IRA London bombing campaign of 1973. Price was part of a unit who placed four car bombs in London on 8 March 1973...
, are the children of Albert Price, a prominent Irish Republican and former IRA member, from Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
.
Life and activism
Price became involved in Irish republicanismIrish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She participated in a car bombing of the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
on 8 March 1973. The explosion injured over 200 people and likely caused one person's death of heart failure.
The two sisters were arrested, along with Gerry Kelly, Hugh Feeney
Hugh Feeney
Hugh Feeney was a volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who, together with Dolours Price and Marian Price, organised the car bombings of the Old Bailey and Scotland Yard on March 8, 1973...
and six others, on the day of the bombing, as they were boarding a flight to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. They were tried and convicted at the Great Hall on Winchester Castle
Winchester Castle
Winchester Castle is a medieval building in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1067. Only the Great Hall exists now; it houses a museum of the history of Winchester.-Great Hall:...
on 14 November after a six-hour discussion by a jury. Although originally sentenced to life imprisonment, which was to run concurrently for each criminal charge, their sentence was eventually reduced to 20 years.
Dolours Price served seven years of her sentence for her part in the IRA car bombing during which time she immediately went on a hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
in a campaign to be repatriated to a prison in 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...
. The hunger strike lasted over 200 days, because the hunger strikers were force-fed by prison authorities. The force-feeding ended after the death of another hunger striker, Michael Gaughan, in June 1974. As part of the campaign, her father, Albert Price, contested West Belfast
Belfast West (UK Parliament constituency)
Belfast West is a parliamentary constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.-Boundaries:The seat was restored in 1922 when as part of the establishment of the devolved Stormont Parliament for Northern Ireland, the number of MPs in the Westminster Parliament was drastically cut...
at the British General Election of February 1974
United Kingdom general election, February 1974
The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...
receiving 5,662 votes (11.9%) The Price sisters, Hugh Feeney, and Gerry Kelly
Gerry Kelly
Gerard "Gerry" Kelly is an Irish republican politician and former Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer who played a leading role in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998...
were repatriated to Northern Irish prisons in 1975. This was a benefit of negotiations that occurred during a British-IRA truce.
In 1980 Price received the Royal Prerogative of Mercy
Prerogative of Mercy
In the British tradition the Prerogative of Mercy is one of the historic Royal Prerogatives of the British monarch in which he or she can grant pardons to convicted persons...
and was freed on humanitarian grounds suffering from anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
in 1981. After her release, she married Stephen Rea
Stephen Rea
Stephen Rea is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in high profile films such as V for Vendetta, Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire and Breakfast on Pluto...
, who was hired to speak the words of Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
when Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
was under a broadcasting ban.
Dolours Price, along with her sister Marian, remains active politically. In the late 1990s, Price and her sister claimed that they had been threatened by their former comrades in Sinn Féin for speaking out against the Good Friday Agreement. Price also regularly contributed to the on-line journal The Blanket, which was edited by Anthony McIntyre and his wife, Carrie Twomey until it ceased publication in 2008.
In 2001, Price was arrested in Dublin and charged with possession of stolen prescription pads and forged prescriptions. She pleaded guilty and was fined £200 and ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
meetings. She and Rea were divorced in 2003. They have two sons together.
In February 2010, it was reported by The Irish News
The Irish News
The Irish News is a compact-sized daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is perceived as being broadly Irish nationalist in outlook...
that Price had offered help to the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains in locating graves of three men, Joe Lynskey, Seamus Wright and Kevin McKee, who were allegedly killed by the IRA and whose bodies have not been found.
At the same time, Price claimed that Gerry Adams had been her "Officer Commanding" when she was in the IRA. Adams, who has never admitted to being a member of that group, denied her charge. Price also admitted to driving the kidnapped Jean McConville
Jean McConville
Jean McConville was a woman from Northern Ireland who, in 1972, was abducted and killed by the Provisional IRA and secretly buried on a beach in the Republic of Ireland. The IRA subsequently claimed that she had been passing information on republican activities to British security forces...
, accused by the IRA of being an informer, to the place where she was killed in 1972. She claimed that the killing was ordered by Adams, who denied that Price's story was true.
Oral historians at Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
interviewed both Dolours Price and Brendan Hughes
Brendan Hughes
Brendan Hughes , also known as "The Dark", was an Irish republican and former Officer Commanding of the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army...
between 2001 and 2006. The two former IRA members spoke on condition that the tapes not be released in their lifetimes. In May, 2011, British police subpoenaed
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
the material, possibly as part of an investigation into the disappearance of a number of people in Northern Ireland during the 1970s. In June of 2011, the college filed a motion to quash
Motion to quash
A motion to quash is a request to a court to render a previous decision of that court or a lower judicial body null or invalid. Such a motion isn’t always motivated by legal interests in vigorous pursuit of a case, but can arise out of mistakes made by any lawyer in a court proceeding...
the subpoena. A spokesman for the college stated that "our position is that the premature release of the tapes could threaten the safety of the participants, the enterprise of oral history, and the ongoing peace and reconciliation process in Northern Ireland." In July 2011, U.S. federal prosecutors asked a judge to require the college to release the tapes in order to comply with treaty obligations with the United Kingdom.