The Troubles republican prisoners led to more than 500 of them in the Maze prison initiating the "blanket" and "dirty" protests. Their protests culminated in hunger strikes in 1980 and 1981, aimed at the restoration of political status, as well as other concessions. In the 1981 Irish hunger strike, ten republican prisoners (seven from the Provisional IRA and three from the INLA) died of starvation. The first hunger striker to die, Bobby Sands, was elected to Parliament on an Anti-H-Block ticket, as was his election agent Owen Carron following Sands' death. The hunger strikes resonated among many nationalists; over 100,000 people attended
Kieran Doherty (hunger striker) the car and was found 1 mile away from the car.He was convicted and sentenced to 18 years for possession of firearms and explosives, with another four years for the hijack. Doherty started his strike on 22 May. He died at the age of 25 in the 1981 Irish hunger strike in the Maze prison (known to republicans as "Long Kesh"). He lasted 73 days on hunger strike, the longest of the 1981 hunger strikers, and only one day short of Terence MacSwiney. While on hunger strike he was elected as an Anti H-Block TD for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency at