Thatcher & IRA – A War of Wills 1979 – 1985 Direct Rule (2) 1974 - 1998 Hunger Strikes New Ireland Forum Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985)

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Thatcher & IRA – A War of Wills

1979 – 1985

Direct Rule (2) 1974 - 1998

• Hunger Strikes• New Ireland Forum• Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985)

1979 British General ElectionMargaret Thatcher

Right – wing Conservative Strongly Pro-Empire

(Commonwealth) Strong supporter of Reagan’s

Foreign Policy Strong supporter of armed

forces and rule of law Successfully fought Argentina

over Falklands Islands in 1982 Pursued a policy of aggressive

military action in Northern Ireland – SAS & increased army deployment.

“This lady’s not for turning”

The Hunger Strikes 1980 - 1981

“Our revenge will be the laughter of our children``

- Bobby Sands

Background to Hunger Strikes ‘Ulsterisation’ policy was becoming successful in Northern Ireland.

IRA demoralised due to proactive social and economic policy of Roy Mason.

General public will for peace was growing.

Roy Mason’s ‘criminalisation’ of IRA prisoners coupled with release of internees undermined recruitment in IRA.

Prevention of Terrorism Act (1974) coupled with ‘Ulsterisation’ and socio-economic policy was stabilising Northern Ireland in basic security terms.

However, it did not in any way address the Unionist domination of political, social & economic life.

Status quo still remained – Direct Rule.

IRA seized on the ‘criminal status’ of IRA prisoners as a platform for protest.

IRA Prisoner Campaign for ‘Special Category Status’

1980 – 1981

Blanket Protest Prisoners refuse to dress in

prison clothes/uniforms.

Dirty Protest Prisoners refuse to wash or use

toilet facilities.

Hunger Strike (1) 27 October - 18 December 1980

Hunger Strike (2) 1 March - 3 October 1981

Hunger Strikes

• 1980 Strike ordered by IRA – eventually families intervened and asked them to stop

• 1981 Strike was independently taken – led by Bobby Sands and then followed by others

• 9th of April 1981 – Bobby Sands elected to Westminster as MP

• 5th of May 1981 – Bobby Sands dies on hunger strike after 66 days

“We are not prepared to consider special category status for certain groups of people serving sentences for crime. Crime is crime, it is not political.”

- Margaret Thatcher, 21 April 1981

“I am a political prisoner because I am a casualty of aperennial war that is being fought between the oppressed

Irish people and an alien ... regime that refuses to withdrawfrom our land.”

- Bobby Sands, Day 1 of Hunger strike

- “Yielding to coercion would provoke further coercion and encourage more young people to follow the path of violence.”

- Margaret Thatcher, 15th of May 1981

- “You have got your pound of flesh, now give us our rights. Do not for one minute think that we are going to allow you to rob us of our principles. There are more

Bobby Sands in these Blocks and we will continue to die if need be to safeguard these principles.”

- Republican Prisoners’ Statement, 6th of May 1981

International Reaction to Hunger Strikes

“The Irish patriots are in the process of writing one of the most heroic pages in human history.”

- Fidel Castro, 19th of September 1981

“We have no right to destroy the beautiful gift of God’s life, so any way of destroying that gift is a violence. I see many people dying of hunger because they don’t

have a decent chance to eat. I see people who are hungry because they haven’t got food, but I’ve never dealt with people who are hungry because they chose

to be hungry.”- Mother Teresa, 6th of July 1981

“Unfeeling inflexibility will achieve nothing but more deaths.”- Edward Kennedy, 15th of May 1981

Historical Precedence of Political Martyrdom

“It is not those who can inflict the most, but those who can suffer the most who will conquer”

- Terence MacSwiney (Sinn Féin), inauguration speech as Lord Mayor of Cork, 1920

Republican ideology perceived itself as the highest form of national identity. As a result, it was considered that no sacrifice was too great for the achievement and protection of

that national identity.

Combined with often intransigent colonial forces resisting and blocking that nationalist expression, Republicanism often employed the ‘last resort’ of emotional war. The

attempt was to underline the willingness of individuals to fight to the death, even using their own bodies as a weapon of demonstration.

It hoped to achieve an increase in support amongst its own people, while simultaneously demoralising the political support of its’ enemies amongst their own people.

Impact & Results of Hunger Strikes

The hunger strike of 1981 had very important and far-reaching consequences for Northern Ireland and proved to be one of the key turning points of ‘the Troubles’. The Republican movement had achieved a huge propaganda victory over the British government and had obtained a lot of international sympathy.

Active and tacit support for the Irish Republican Army (IRA) increased in Nationalist areas.

Political support for Sinn Féin (SF) was demonstrated in two by-elections (and the general election in the Republic of Ireland) and eventually led to the emergence of SF as a significant political force in Northern Ireland.

The British government’s fear that SF would overtake the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) as the main representative of the Catholic population of Northern Ireland was a key reason for the government signing the Anglo-Irish Agreement on 15 November 1985

Source: http://iisresource.org/Documents/HS01_Hunger_Strikes_Tbks_Tasks.pdf

Why Hunger Strikes?Impossible to defeat/counteract if personal will of

Hunger Strikers was strong enoughDemonstration of willpower = source of all political

powerImmeasurable opportunity for national & international

publicity Platform & opportunity to expose and magnify any

and all inequalities in region of conflictIn Northern Ireland’s case, the impact was further

heightened by the election of Bobby Sands as MP to Westminster. It demonstrated that Republicanism, even militant Republicanism, clearly had a very real political mandate from the people.

Northern Ireland Assembly Election Results 1982

Northern Ireland 1982 – 1985

• Stagnation of political process • Growth in IRA activity & support • Fianna Fáil / Fine Gael disagreement on

North• New Ireland Forum 1984• Anglo-Irish Agreement 1985

New Ireland Forum 1984 ***

New Ireland Forum 1984

• ”The New Ireland Forum was established for consultations on the manner in which lasting peace and stability could be achieved in a

new Ireland through the democratic process and to report on possible new structures and processes through which this objective

might be achieved” - New Ireland Forum Report (Preface)

• Involved all Nationalist Parties in Ireland, North & South.

• Involved Catholic & Protestant clergy.

• Individual Unionist delegates attended but no Unionist Party delegation was present.

New Ireland Forum Report Proposals (2nd May, 1984)

•

Phase VIII

The Anglo-Irish Agreement1985

Anglo-Irish Agreement 1985

• Irish Rationale 1st official consultative role for

R.o.I. in N. Ireland affairs Acknowledgement of Nationalist

aspirations Representation and Protection of

Nationalists by Republic of Ireland government?

• British Rationale Necessary step to counteract

international criticism of British policy in N. Ireland

Consultation & Assistance from R.o.I. in combating IRA activity – police, army, legal system etc.

Established Republic’s acknowledgement of the existence of N. Ireland state** (Articles 2 & 3 of Bunreacht na hEireann)

Articles 2 & 3 (Bunreacht na hEireann

1937 – 1999)• Article 2

“The national territory consists

of the whole island of Ireland, its islands and the territorial seas.”

(aspirational)

• Article 3 “Pending the re-integration of

the national territory, and without prejudice to the right

of the parliament and government established by this

constitution to exercise jurisdiction over the whole

territory, the laws enacted by the parliament shall have the

like area and extent of application as the laws of

Saorstát Éireann and the like extra-territorial effect.”

(effectual – legal clarification of Article

2)

Articles 2 & 3 (Bunreacht na hEireann 1999 - )

• Article 2

“It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of

the Irish Nation. That is also the entitlement of all persons otherwise

qualified in accordance with law to be citizens of Ireland. Furthermore, the Irish nation cherishes its special affinity with

people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage”

• Article 31. “It is the firm will of the Irish Nation, in harmony

and friendship, to unite all the people who share the territory of the island of Ireland, in all the

diversity of their identities and traditions, recognising that a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of

a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island. Until

then, the laws enacted by the Parliament established by this Constitution shall have the like area and extent of application as the laws enacted by the Parliament that existed immediately before

the coming into operation of this Constitution.”2. “Institutions with executive powers and functions

that are shared between those jurisdictions may be established by their respective responsible

authorities for stated purposes and may exercise powers and functions in respect of all or any part

of the island.”

Reaction to anglo-irish agreement (n.Ireland)***

• Sinn Féin • DUP

Reaction to anglo-irish agreement (Republic of Ireland)

• Fianna Fáil

Haughey publicly rejected the Anglo-Irish

Agreement as simply “reinforcing partition”

of Ireland

Secretly, Haughey accepted it as a positive step

forward.

Party Political Support in N. Ireland1973 - 1975