St Patrick’s Hospital

St Patrick’s Hospital was a mental-health facility in Dublin where Dolours Price was receiving treatment for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. In the book, it is also the setting for several hours of recorded testimony to Ed Moloney: a clinical place that became, briefly, an interview room for an account of her past and the conflict around it.

Treatment and the Question of Speaking

In February 2010, after journalist Allison Morris interviewed Price at her home in Malahide, Price’s sister Marian telephoned Morris and objected to the interview. Marian explained that Price was receiving treatment at St Patrick’s Hospital and was not well; she should not be talking to people. Morris replied that Price was an adult. The exchange brings the hospital into a dispute not just about health, but about who could speak for Price and whether her treatment should prevent her from giving an account in her own words.

Moloney’s Hospital Interview

Price agreed to a separate interview with Moloney, who proposed asking about her past in greater detail and keeping the account under the same terms as the Belfast Project: it would not be released until after her death. One morning, Moloney visited her at St Patrick’s Hospital. They spoke for several hours in her room, and he recorded their conversation on a digital recorder. The account describes Price as sober and coherent during the interview. A few days later they met again in a rented flat outside the hospital, where a small camera crew filmed her.

Testimony and Narrative Significance

The hospital conversation ranged across Price’s family history and political involvement. She spoke about Aunt Bridie’s injuries in an IRA arms-dump accident and how the family went into mourning, then connected Bridie’s suffering with her own decision to join the struggle. She also recounted being beaten at Burntollet Bridge and joining the Irish Republican Army and the Unknowns. When Moloney asked about the practice of disappearing people, Price said she had not believed in it and recalled that volunteers had questioned whether it was wise, but had been told that this was how it was done.

St Patrick’s Hospital therefore marks a particular stage in the making of Price’s testimony: she was receiving mental-health treatment, while also speaking in detail about events whose disclosure carried political and personal consequences. The interview’s promised posthumous release made the room more than a backdrop; it was where a guarded account was recorded for an anticipated future audience.