and association. The hunger strikers were positive but cautious, wanting the wider view of their comrades. The prisoners on July 4 issued a statement indicating that a settlement along such lines should be considered. We were meeting with the relatives and some H-block committee members when the prisoners' statement reached us. With good reason, the meeting finished with the view that the choreography of concluding the Hunger Strike without further loss of life was being set in place. Next day we met again with the relatives and on this occasion Sinn Fein representatives were present. The relatives made clear their wish to go for the ICJP-brokered offer. A senior IRA representative left the meeting early, without saying where he was going, and went in to see the hunger strikers. When we later visited the hunger strikers that night, their mood had hardened but a number of them clearly indicated that what was on offer was acceptable. Eventually all agreed that if the British government sent a delegate into the prison and read out the offer it would be accepted. This condition, we were told, had been demanded as a minimum by the IRA representative who had visited them. Double dealing on the earlier botched hunger strike was given as the reason for this demand. We went back to the British and it was agreed that an envoy would visit the hunger strikers to read out the offer. As we all know, the British prevaricated and Joe Mc Donnell tragically died