The only thing I would add is that Bobby Sands, May He Rest In Peace, used to sing to his comrades on the blankets through the keyhole of his cell door in order to keep their spirits up as they went through the awful ordeal of "ceala/chan". This is an Irish Gaelic term for the custom of starving oneself to death on the doorstep of one's adversary. I am sure that all of the Celtic nations have a term for it. In Celtic society, one of the worst thing that could be said of someone is that they were inhospitable to guests. W.B. Yeats described it thusly in "The King's Threshold"

"He pleaded for his Poets rights. I said I was the King and all rights had their original fountain in some King. My Bishops, soldiers and makers of law shouted approval. But the Seanachain went forth, and from that hour to this, though there was good food and drink before him, has eaten nothing. He has chosen to die, refusing eat or drink. Disgrace upon me!! The common people, for all time, will raise a cry against the threshold, even though it be the King's."

In March of 1981, these 10 lads invoked ceala/chan and died on hunger strike.

Mickie Devine, Martin Hurson, Francis Hughes Joe McDonnell, Kieran Doherty, Patsy O'Hara Kevin Lynch, Ray McCreish, Tom McElroe Bobby Sands

God Be Good to them.

Mick