Patsy O'Hara

Patsy O'Hara (; 11 July 1957 – 21 May 1981 ) was an Irish republican hunger striker and member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). O'Hara was one of 10 Irish republicans who died in the 1981 hunger strike.

Biography O'Hara was born in Bishop Street, Derry, Northern Ireland. He joined Official IRA-aligned faction of Na Fianna Éireann in 1970, and in 1971, one of his brothers Sean was interned in Long Kesh. In late 1971, at the age of 14, he was shot and wounded by a soldier while manning a barricade. Due to his injuries, he was unable to attend the civil rights march on Bloody Sunday but watched it go by him in the Brandywell, and the events of the day had a lasting effect on him. During the hunger strike, O'Hara and other hunger strikers were given golden crucifixes by Pope John Paul II.

On Thursday, 21 May, at 11:29 pm, he died after 61 days on hunger strike, at the age of 23. Despite a plea from his mother two days before his death, O'Hara expressed his desire not to receive the medical intervention needed to save his life. She was not elected, but she was one of the more successful dissident republican candidates opposed to the new policy of the Sinn Féin leadership of working with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), and won 1,789 votes. On the eve of the election, over 330 former republican prisoners wrote a letter to the Derry Journal endorsing her campaign.

O'Hara's brother, Anthony O'Hara, was also a prisoner in Long Kesh and stood as a candidate during the 1981 general election for the Dublin West constituency. He received 3,034 votes (6.49% of the vote) but failed to take a seat.

His sister, Elizabeth O'Hara, took part in a tour in the United States by NORAID. Some in NORAID objected to O'Hara's involvement stating her brother was a "communist" and that it would tarnish their image among Irish-Americans at the time. However, Malachy McCreesh and Seán Sand, relatives of other hunger strikers, refused to participate unless O'Hara was allowed to accompany them. A meeting of the IRSP Ard-Chomhairle following the tour revealed that all the money collected was distributed to Provisional prisoners families, with none going to INLA prisoners families. She later married Kevin Kelly and became a multi-millionaire.