Máiría Cahill: Apologists for IRA women prisoners would have us believe strip-searches are as bad as rapeMyths about the treatment of inmates in Armagh jail have persisted for 40 years and just got a new lease of lifeMairéad Farrell in Armagh jail in 1980 during the no wash/no slop-out protestMáiría Cahill Today at 06:30The Provisional IRA’s Armagh women were never shrinking violets. They took no shit, ran their own wings and weaponised their bodies, inside and outside prison — first as honeytraps or pretend girlfriends for IRA men, then, as the prison protest escalated, smearing menstrual blood and other excretions on cell walls.

Source: Irish Independent February 22, 2026 14:30 UTC