Frank Stagg

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**Frank Stagg**
**Proinsias Stagg**

Paramilitary organisation	Provisional Irish Republican Army
Date of birth	circa 1948
Place of birth	Hollymount, near Ballinrobe, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland
Hungerstrike started	14 December 1975
Died	12 February 1976
Days on strike	62

Frank Stagg (born circa 1948, near Ballinrobe, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland) was a member (volunteer) of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, who was convicted in 1973 in Britain of conspiracy to commit arson. During his imprisonment, he participated in several hunger strikes. On December 14, 1975, Stagg embarked on a hunger strike in Wakefield Prison, seeking repatriation to Ireland. He died on February 12, 1976 after 62 days on hunger strike.

Frank Stagg's burial caused considerable controversy in Ireland, with republicans seeking to have Stagg buried in the republican plot in Ballina as was the wish of Frank Stagg, while the Irish government and some members of the Stagg family including Emmet Stagg, wished to have him buried in the family plot in the same cemetery and to avoid republican involvement in the funeral. As the family of Stagg waited at Dublin Airport for the body, the British Government ordered the flight to be diverted to Shannon Airport.

It was here that his body was brought to Ballina and buried near the family plot. In order to prevent the body being disinterred and reburied by republicans in accordance to the wishes of the dead man, the grave was covered with concrete. In November 1976, a group of republicans, including Joe Cahill, tunnelled under the concrete to recover the coffin under cover of darkness and reburied it in the republican plot.

His brother, Emmet Stagg (b.October 1944) is an Irish Labour Party politician, currently a Teachta Dála (TD) for Kildare North.