Pat Sheehan (born 28 May 1958) is an Irish

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

politician, and former

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

member and

hunger striker A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are named d ...

at the

Maze Prison HM Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as the Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to September 2000. On 15 ...

Provisional IRA Activity

Sheehan was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Northern Ireland. He attended

St Malachy's College St Malachy's College, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is the oldest Catholic diocesan college in Ulster. The college's alumni and students are known as Malachians. History The college, founded by William Crolly, Bishop William Crolly, opened on th ...

and gained several O-levels before dropping out of full-time education. In his youth he was a member of Fianna, the IRA youth wing. In 1978—aged 19—Sheehan took part in the bombing of cash-and-carry. He was sentenced to 15 years. Sheehan was the 17th republican inmate at the

to join the 1981 hunger strikes, which was aimed at gaining political status for

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

and

Irish National Liberation Army The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA, ) is an Irish republicanism, Irish republican Socialism, socialist paramilitary group formed on 8 December 1974, during the 30-year period of conflict known as "the Troubles". The group seeks to remove ...

prisoners. Sheehan began fasting on 10 August – after nine prisoners had already died – and ended when the hunger strike was officially called off on 3 October. He survived 55 days without food. Sheehan was released in 1987. In 1989, he was convicted and sentenced to 24 years for attempting to booby trap a Belfast security checkpoint with a bomb. Sheehan spent his first two years at Crumlin Road Gaol, before being moved to H-Block, sharing a cell with Danny Morrison. He was released under the terms of the 1998

Belfast Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...

. He picked up his education again on his release and in 1992 began to study Social Sciences and Philosophy with

The Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

. He graduated with a first class honours degree in 1998.

Political career

On 7 December 2010, he succeeded

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams (; born 6 October 1948) is a retired Irish Republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. From 1983 to 19 ...

as MLA for Belfast West, Adams having resigned to contest the

2011 Irish general election The 2011 Irish general election took place on Friday 25 February to elect 166 Teachta Dála, Teachtaí Dála across Dáil constituencies, 43 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of Republic of Ireland, Ireland's parliament, the Oir ...

. Sheehan retained the seat for Sinn Féin at the 2011 Assembly election. Sheehan has provoked anger and controversy by describing

the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

as "probably quite civilised" and saying the IRA "could have left a 1,000lb car bomb on the Shankill" if it wanted to kill Protestants. As at August 2015, he is a Political Member of the

Northern Ireland Policing Board The Northern Ireland Policing Board (, Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlan Polisin Boord'') is the police authority for Northern Ireland, charged with supervising the activities of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). It is a non-department ...

Personal life

Pat Sheehan is the widower of Sinn Féin activist Siobhán O'Hanlon who died from cancer in 2006. He has a son. Pat is also a keen

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

fan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheehan, Pat 1958 births Irish republicans Living people Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 People educated at St Malachy's College Politicians from Belfast Provisional Irish Republican Army members Republicans imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict Sinn Féin MLAs Irish hunger strikers Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027