Joe O'Connell (Irish republican) security wing of Portlaoise Prison, Ireland, in early 1998. They were presented by Gerry Adams to the 1998 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis as 'our Nelson Mandelas', and were released together with Brendan Dowd and Liam Quinn in 1999 as part of the Belfast Agreement. Joe O'Connell (Irish republican) Martin Joseph O'Connell (born 1951), better known as Joe, is an Irish republican and a former volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). He is most noted for having been a member of the Balcombe Street gang. O'Connell was born in Kilkee, in rural County Clare, 'a stronghold of Gaelic-speaking inhabitants
Elections in Northern Ireland at which nationalists failed to gain any seats. 1959 The nationalist vote fell dramatically (it would take until February 1974 to regain the heights it had reached in 1955), and Sinn Féin failed to hold the seats they had won in 1955. Both their MPs had been disqualified shortly after election anyway. 1955 Sinn Fein contested the full range of seats and united the nationalist vote behind them, winning both the seats won by nationalists in 1951. Labour candidates contested only the four Belfast seats. 1951 This was the last election at which candidates stood unopposed; four Unionist candidates in