Death threats made after Stagg funeral

Hunger strike:Four members of the cabinet received an anonymous death threat in 1976 over the government's controversial handling of the funeral of Frank Stagg, the republican prisoner who died on hunger strike in a British jail.

Stagg (35), brother of Labour deputy Emmet Stagg, died on February 12th after refusing food for 62 days at Wakefield prison in Yorkshire. He was serving a 10- year sentence for conspiring to commit arson and had been seeking repatriation.

There was rioting in Northern Ireland when he died and plans were afoot for a military-style funeral similar to the one held for fellow hunger striker Michael Gaughan almost two years earlier. These plans were thwarted when the government ordered that the aircraft carrying his body from London to Dublin be diverted to Shannon.

It was then flown by helicopter to Robeen, Co Mayo, where it was met by gardaí and Special Branch men. The funeral there was boycotted by many family members and republican sympathisers. Republicans held their own ceremony at the graveyard the following Sunday with an oration by Joe Cahill and a pledge that the body would be moved to lie beside Gaughan in accordance with Stagg's wishes.

Six months later, IRA volunteers dug up the coffin and reburied him in the nearby republican plot. After the funeral, an anonymous letter was sent to the taoiseach Liam Cosgrave, minister for justice Patrick Cooney, minister for post and telegraphs Conor Cruise O'Brien and minister for foreign affairs Garret FitzGerald. It said: "This is a note for you four, which simply warns you that you are marked out for assassination."

Addressing the taoiseach, the writer said, "Your old father before you was bad, but you are worse. He escaped the bullet but you and the other three will not escape this time. All the guards and soldiers in the country will not prevent your assassination."

It continued: "You are a traitor of the lowest degree but the day is coming when you and your rotten band of tinkers will be no more. Four handy bits of lead will do the job . . . wherever you hide, you will be got . . . you can ponder on this now but you will not know the day or the hour when you will be blasted into eternity."

The American Committee for Ulster Justice sent a telegram to Mr Cosgrave saying: "Your British masters are proud of your outrageous uncivilized treatment of Frank Stagg's body. His noble sacrifice shall endure. Your infamous actions promote civil strife."

The Cahir district executive of Fine Gael wrote to the taoiseach to congratulate the government on its handling of the affair and to say the Kilmoyler branch agm had passed a vote of congratulations to the government.

Sr M Rosarii, with an address at a school in Newcastle, England, also wrote to congratulate him on his "firm handling" of the affair. "Your stand has allowed us to raise our heads again and to look forward with new hope," she wrote. The Stagg family became divided over the involvement of the IRA in the burial. Newspapers quoted a government spokesperson saying Stagg's widow, Bridie, had faced "outrageous intimidation" by the Provisional IRA over the funeral arrangements.

The Irish Press claimed that she and Emmet Stagg were threatened because they opposed a military funeral. Ms Stagg later issued a statement saying she had always wanted her husband to be given a funeral with full republican honours.

Asked in recent days about his recollection of the controversy 30 years later, Emmet Stagg said it was a sensitive subject for everyone involved and he would prefer not to comment on it.

The State files show that Ms Stagg had sent telegrams to the president and taoiseach in the final weeks of her husband's life, asking them to prevent his death.

Her telegram to President Ó Dálaigh said: "Please intervene and help prevent my husband Frank Stagg from dying."

In January 1976 she sent a telegram to Mr Cosgrave saying "I beg you, please, don't let my husband die." However, the post office worker who took the message in Coventry clearly did not understand the Irish word for prime minister as the telegram arrived addressed to "Mr Cosgrave, The Teashop, Lencister [ sic] House, Dublin."