ON Tuesday we buried our friend and comrade Brendan McFarlane. Bik texted me just two weeks or so ago to say he was back in hospital. He had been battling cancer for some time. A few days later the medics stopped his treatment. There was nothing else they could do for him. Suddenly and unexpectedly he was gone. He died peacefully surrounded by his loving family.

My solidarity and sympathy to Lene, a mighty woman, and to their children, Emma, Tomás and Tina, his brother Gerard and the wider family circle. His loss for them is immeasurable. For his countless friends and comrades his death is a deep blow.

Bik spent almost all of his adult life as a republican activist – an Óglach, a political prisoner, a leader, a man of courage, fiercely proud of and loyal to his community, a resolute advocate for Irish unity, a Gaeilgeoir,  a friend and a comrade. 

A lot has been written about Brendan and his IRA activities and he surely was a very committed activist, but my memories of him are of a good-humoured, thoughtful and steadfast friend. We met in prison fifty years or so ago. He used to joke that he became the prisoners’ press officer when he admitted he could type. He was too modest. He could also write. We always got on well.

Years later Bik was OC of the blanket men during the 1981 hunger strike. For almost a year he minded the hunger strikers in the H-Blocks. He stood by Bobby, Francis, Raymond, Patsy, Joe, Martin, Kevin, Kieran, Tom and Mickey – and the others who survived it. He met them in the prison hospital as their bodies slowly failed. He was their voice with the prison administration and with the visiting delegations whose principal purpose was to persuade the prisoners to unilaterally end their hunger strike.

Brendan was in daily contact with a small number of us during that terrible but inspiring summer of 1981. He was the calm, steady leader. A bunch of us inside and outside the H-Blocks and Armagh Women’s Prison became, and remain, remarkably close as we worked to try and prevent the deaths of Bobby Sands and his nine comrades.

I still have the tiny little ‘teach’ that Brendan wrote to me when Bobby died. A ‘teach’ or ‘teachtareacht’, or ‘comm’, was usually written in tiny letters on cigarette paper and occasionally on pieces of paper from pages of the Bible and smuggled taobh amuigh from the H-Blocks.

Others will remember Bik’s many other talents and adventures. He was a central figure in the Great Escape when 38 H-Block prisoners busted their way out of H7 in 1983. They also recall his time with Gerry Kelly on the run in Europe, back again in the H-Blocks and then his work following his release as a political and community activist. He was a singer of note and a writer of fine songs.

In his oration, Gerry Kelly told the story of an inspiring republican – a united Irelander – who never gave up, never bowed the knee, who remained unyielding and brave to the end. On occasion over these last few days I have been asked to sum up Brendan, to define the kind of activist he was. For me, he was the man Bobby Sands and his comrades trusted.

Lene was the love of his life. He was a good family man. A great friend to those of us privileged to know him as well as we did. For that, I am forever grateful.

Originally published by The Irish Echo