Funeral to be held for former senior IRA man Brendan McFarlane

By Rebecca Black (PA)

The funeral of former senior IRA man Brendan “Bik” McFarlane is to be held.

McFarlane, from the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, was known for taking part in the biggest escape in UK prison history.

He died at the age of 74 after a short illness on Friday.

Crowds, which included former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, Donegal TD Pearse Doherty, Cavan Monaghan TD Matt Carthy and North Belfast MP John Finucane, gathered outside his family home off the Cliftonville Road for a burial service and blessing by priest Father Gary Donegan.

Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly is set to deliver a graveside oration at Milltown Cemetery later.

The party’s president Mary Lou McDonald described McFarlane as “a giant of Irish republicanism”.

He was sent to Maze Prison after being convicted of a deadly bomb attack on a pub in the Protestant Shankill Road area in 1975.

McFarlane was the officer in command of the H-Block prisoners during the 1981 hunger strike over conditions in the Maze.

He was among 38 IRA inmates who fled the Maze in Co Antrim in September 1983.

They used smuggled guns and knives to overpower prison staff before hijacking a food lorry and driving to the main gate.

He was later recaptured with fellow escapee Mr Kelly in the Netherlands.

Brendan McFarlane died on Friday after a short illness (Niall Carson/PA)