Joe McDonnell (hunger striker) jurisdiction of the court. McDonnell agreed with the goals of the Irish hunger strike, namely: the right not to wear a prison uniform; the right not to do prison work; the right of free association with other prisoners; the right to organise their own educational and recreational facilities and the right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week. Although McDonnell was not involved in the first (1980) hunger strike, he joined Bobby Sands and the others in the second (1981) hunger strike. During the strike he fought the general election in the Republic of Ireland, and only
Hunger strike a 62-day hunger strike in 1976 which he began as a campaign to be repatriated to Ireland. In 1980, seven Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoners in the Maze Prison launched a hunger strike as a protest against the revocation by the UK government of a prisoner-of-war-like Special Category Status for paramilitary prisoners in Northern Ireland. The strike, led by Brendan Hughes, was called off before any deaths, when the Government seemed to offer to concede their demands; however, the Government then reneged on the details of the agreement. The prisoners then called another hunger strike the following year. This