By the time he arrived back in the H-Blocks, the British government had withdrawn Special Category status and the IRA members had commenced their blanket protest.

[1] When the hunger strike ended in late 1981, Walsh became the Officer Commanding (OC) of the IRA prisoners in the H-Blocks.

[2] In July 2005, he appeared on a DVD reading out a statement from the IRA Army Council announcing the end to its armed campaign.

[5] In February 2015, along with three other former members of the IRA, he met, in Derry, four former British Army soldiers who had served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

[7] In 2015 he was co-opted by the party onto Belfast City Council for the District Electoral Area of Collin to replace Bill Groves.