A collection of letters by republican prisoners smuggled out of the Maze prison ahead of the 1981 hunger strikes has emerged in Kerry.
Killarney man Richard Behal, who was head of Sinn Féin’s foreign affairs bureau from the mid 1970’s to early 80’s, found the letters in refuse bags outside the party’s Dublin offices in 1982.
The collection includes tiny handwritten letters on cigarette boxes and toilet paper by Bobby Sands, who died 40 years ago today, and former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams.
It also includes a letter to the late Bishop of Kerry, Kevin McNamara, asking him to support the “anti H-block” candidate Sean McKenna in the upcoming election.
Mr Behal is handing over the letters to the history department at the University of Limerick.
He believes they should be catalogued and preserved.
