1981 Irish hunger strike

The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during "the Troubles" by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners. In 1978, after a number of attacks on prisoners leaving their cells to "slop out", the dispute escalated into the dirty protest, where prisoners refused to leave their cells to wash and covered the walls of their cells with excrement. In 1980, seven prisoners participated in the first hunger strike, which ended after 53 days.^[1]

The second hunger strike took place in 1981 and was a showdown between the prisoners and the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. One hunger striker, Bobby Sands, was elected as a Member of Parliament during the strike, prompting media interest from around the world.^[2] The strike was called off after ten prisoners had starved themselves to death—including Sands, whose funeral was attended by 100,000 people.^[1] The strike radicalised Irish nationalist politics, and was the driving force that enabled Sinn Féin to become a mainstream political party.^[3]

Background

There had been hunger strikes by Irish republican prisoners since 1917, and twelve men had previously died on hunger strikes including Thomas Ashe, Terence MacSwiney, Seán McCaughey, Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg.^[4] After the introduction of internment in 1971, Long Kesh—later known as HM Prison Maze—was run like a prisoner of war camp. Internees lived in dormitories and disciplined themselves with military-style command structures, drilled with dummy guns made from wood, and held lectures on guerrilla warfare and politics.^[5] Convicted prisoners were refused the same rights as internees until July 1972, when Special Category Status was introduced following a hunger strike by 40 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoners led by the veteran republican Billy McKee. Special Category, or political, status meant prisoners were treated similarly to prisoners of war; for example, not having to wear prison uniforms or do prison work.^[5] In 1976, as part of the policy of "criminalisation", the British government brought an end to Special Category Status for paramilitary prisoners in Northern Ireland. The policy was not introduced for existing prisoners, but for those convicted of offences after 1 March 1976.^[6] The end to Special Category Status was a serious threat to the authority which the paramilitary leaderships inside prison had been able to exercise over their own men, as well as being a propaganda blow.^[5]

Blanket and dirty protests

On 14 September 1976, newly convicted prisoner Kieran Nugent began the blanket protest, in which IRA and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners refused to wear prison uniform and either went naked or fashioned garments from prison blankets.^[6] In 1978, after a number of attacks on prisoners leaving their cells to "slop out" (i.e., empty their chamber pots), this escalated into the dirty protest, where prisoners refused to wash and smeared the walls of their cells with excrement.^[7] These protests aimed to re-establish their political status by securing what were known as the "Five Demands":

1. the right not to wear a prison uniform;
2. the right not to do prison work;
3. the right of free association with other prisoners, and to organise educational and recreational pursuits;
4. the right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week;
5. full restoration of remission lost through the protest..^[8]

Initially, this protest did not attract a great deal of attention, and even the IRA regarded it as a side-issue compared to their armed campaign.^[9][10] It began to attract attention when Tomás Ó Fiaich, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, visited the prison and condemned the conditions there.^[11] In 1979, former MP Bernadette McAliskey stood in the election for the European Parliament on a platform of support for the protesting prisoners, and won 5.9% of the vote across Northern Ireland, even though Sinn Féin had called for a boycott of this election.^[12][13] Shortly after this, the broad-based National H-Block/Armagh Committee was formed, on a platform of support for the "Five Demands", with McAliskey as its main spokesperson.^[14][15] The period leading up to the hunger strike saw assassinations by both republicans and loyalists. The IRA shot and killed a number of prison officers;^[9][16] while loyalist paramilitaries shot and killed a number of activists in the National H-Block/Armagh Committee and badly injured McAliskey and her husband in an attempt on their lives.^[17][18]

First hunger strike

On 27 October 1980, republican prisoners in HM Prison Maze began a hunger strike. Many prisoners volunteered to be part of the strike, but a total of seven were selected to match the number of men who signed the Easter 1916 Proclamation of the Republic. The group consisted of IRA members Brendan Hughes, Tommy McKearney, Raymond McCartney, Tom McFeeley, Sean McKenna, Leo Green, and INLA member John Nixon.^[19] On 1 December three prisoners in Armagh Women's Prison joined the strike, including Mairéad Farrell, followed by a short-lived hunger strike by several dozen more prisoners in HM Prison Maze. In a war of nerves between the IRA leadership and the British government, with McKenna lapsing in and out of a coma and on the brink of death, the government appeared to concede the essence of the prisoners' five demands with a thirty-page document detailing a proposed settlement. With the document in transit to Belfast, Hughes took the decision to save McKenna's life and end the strike after 53 days on 18 December.^[8]

Second hunger strike

In January 1981 it became clear that the prisoners' demands had not been conceded. Prison authorities began to supply the prisoners with officially issued civilian clothing, whereas the prisoners demanded the right to wear their own clothing. On 4 February the prisoners issued a statement saying that the British government had failed to resolve the crisis and declared their intention of "hunger striking once more".^[20] The second hunger strike began on 1 March, when Bobby Sands, the IRA's former commanding officer (CO) in the prison, refused food. Unlike the first strike, the prisoners joined one at a time and at staggered intervals, which they believed would arouse maximum public support and exert maximum pressure on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.^[21]

The republican movement initially struggled to generate public support for the second hunger strike. The Sunday before Sands began his strike, 3,500 people marched through west Belfast; during the first hunger strike four months earlier the marchers had numbered 10,000.^[22] Five days into the strike, however, Independent Republican MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone Frank Maguire died, resulting in a by-election. There was debate among nationalists and republicans regarding who should contest the election: Austin Currie of the Social Democratic and Labour Party expressed an interest, as did Bernadette McAliskey and Maguire's brother Noel.^[1] After negotiations, and implied threats to Noel Maguire, they agreed not to split the nationalist vote by contesting the election and Sands stood as an Anti H-Block candidate against Ulster Unionist Party candidate Harry West.^[22][23] Following a high-profile campaign the election took place on 9 April, and Sands was elected to the British House of Commons with 30,492 votes to West's 29,046.^[24]

Sands' election victory raised hopes that a settlement could be negotiated, but Thatcher stood firm in refusing to give concessions to the hunger strikers. She stated "We are not prepared to consider special category status for certain groups of people serving sentences for crime. Crime is crime is crime, it is not political".^[25] The world's media descended on Belfast, and several intermediaries visited Sands in an attempt to negotiate an end to the hunger strike, including Síle de Valera, granddaughter of Éamon de Valera, Pope John Paul II's personal envoy John Magee, and European Commission of Human Rights officials.^[2][26] With Sands close to death, the government's position remained unchanged, with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Humphrey Atkins stating "If Mr. Sands persisted in his wish to commit suicide, that was his choice. The Government would not force medical treatment upon him".^[26]

Deaths and end of strike

On 5 May, Sands died in the prison hospital on the sixty-sixth day of his hunger strike, prompting rioting in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland.^[1] Humphrey Atkins issued a statement saying that Sands had committed suicide "under the instructions of those who felt it useful to their cause that he should die".^[27] Over 100,000 people lined the route of his funeral, which was conducted with full IRA military honours. Margaret Thatcher showed no sympathy for his death, telling the House of Commons that "Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice that his organisation did not allow to many of its victims".^[26]

In the two weeks following Sands' death, three more hunger strikers died. Francis Hughes died on 12 May, resulting in further rioting in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland, in particular Derry and Belfast. Following the deaths of Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O'Hara on 21 May, Tomás Ó Fiaich, by then Primate of All Ireland, criticised the British government's handling of the hunger strike.^[1] Despite this, Thatcher still refused to negotiate a settlement, stating "Faced with the failure of their discredited cause, the men of violence have chosen in recent months to play what may well be their last card", during a visit to Belfast in late May.^[27]

Nine protesting prisoners contested the general election in the Republic of Ireland in June. Kieran Doherty and Paddy Agnew (who was not on hunger strike) were elected in Cavan–Monaghan and Louth respectively, and Joe McDonnell narrowly missed election in Sligo–Leitrim.^[28][29] There were also local elections in Northern Ireland around that time and although Sinn Féin did not contest them, some smaller groups and independents who supported the hunger strikers won seats, e.g. the Irish Independence Party won 21 seats, while the Irish Republican Socialist Party (the INLA's political wing) and People's Democracy (a Trotskyist group) won two seats each, and a number of pro-hunger strike independent candidates also won seats.^[30][31] The British government rushed through the Representation of the People Act 1981 to prevent another prisoner contesting the second by-election in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, which was due to take place following the death of Sands.^[1]

Following the deaths of Joe McDonnell and Martin Hurson the families of some of the hunger strikers attended a meeting on 28 July with Catholic priest Father Denis Faul. The families expressed concern at the lack of a settlement to the priest, and a decision was made to meet with Gerry Adams later that day. At the meeting Father Faul put pressure on Adams to find a way of ending the strike, and Adams agreed to ask the IRA leadership to order the men to end the hunger strike.^[32] The following day Adams held a meeting with six of the hunger strikers to outline a proposed settlement on offer from the British government should the strike be brought to an end.^[33] The strikers rejected the settlement, believing that accepting anything less than the "Five Demands" would be a betrayal of the sacrifice made by Bobby Sands and the other men who had died.^[34]

On 31 July the hunger strike began to break, when the mother of Paddy Quinn insisted on medical intervention to save his life. The following day Kevin Lynch died, followed by Kieran Doherty on 2 August, Thomas McElwee on 8 August and Michael Devine on 20 August.^[35] On the day Devine died, Sands' election agent Owen Carron won the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election with an increased number of votes.^[36] On 6 September the family of Laurence McKeown became the fourth family to intervene and asked for medical treatment to save his life, and Cahal Daly issued a statement calling on republican prisoners to end the hunger strike. A week later James Prior replaced Humphrey Atkins as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and met with prisoners in an attempt to end the strike.^[1] Liam McCloskey ended his strike on 26 September after his family said they would ask for medical intervention if he became unconscious, and it became clear that the families of the remaining hunger strikers would also intervene to save their lives. The strike was called off at 3:15 pm on 3 October,^[37] and three days later Prior announced partial concessions to the prisoners including the right to wear their own clothes at all times.^[3] The only one of the "Five Demands" still outstanding was the right not to do prison work. Following sabotage by the prisoners and the Maze Prison escape in 1983 the prison workshops were closed, effectively granting all of the "Five Demands" but without any formal recognition of political status from the government.^[38]

Participants who died on hunger strike

Over the summer of 1981, ten hunger strikers had died. Their names, paramilitary affiliation, dates of death, and length of hunger strike are as follows:

Name	Paramilitary affiliation	Strike started	Date of death	Length of strike	Reason for imprisonment
Bobby Sands	IRA	1 March	5 May	66 days	Possession of a handgun
Francis Hughes	IRA	15 March	12 May	59 days	Various offences, including the killing of a soldier
Raymond McCreesh	IRA	22 March	21 May	61 days	Attempted murder, possession of a rifle, IRA membership
Patsy O'Hara	INLA	22 March	21 May	61 days	Possession of a hand grenade
Joe McDonnell	IRA	8 May	8 July	61 days	Possession of a firearm
Martin Hurson	IRA	28 May	13 July	46 days	Attempted murder, involvement in explosions, IRA membership
Kevin Lynch	INLA	23 May	1 August	71 days	Stealing shotguns, taking part in a punishment shooting
Kieran Doherty	IRA	22 May	2 August	73 days	Possession of firearms and explosives, hijacking
Thomas McElwee	IRA	8 June	8 August	62 days	Manslaughter
Michael Devine	INLA	22 June	20 August	60 days	Theft and possession of firearms

The original pathologist's report recorded the hunger strikers' cause of death as "self-imposed starvation". This was later amended to simply "starvation", after protests from the dead strikers' families. The coroner recorded verdicts of "starvation, self-imposed".^[39]

Other participants in the hunger strike

Although ten men died during the course of the hunger strike, thirteen others began refusing food but were taken off hunger strike, either due to medical reasons or after intervention by their families. Many of them still suffer from the effects of the strike, with problems including digestive, visual, physical and neurological disabilities.^[40][41]

Name	Paramilitary affiliation	Strike started	Strike ended	Length of strike	Reason for ending strike
Brendan McLaughlin	IRA	14 May	26 May	13 days	Suffering from a perforated ulcer and internal bleeding
Paddy Quinn	IRA	15 June	31 July	47 days	Taken off by his family
Laurence McKeown	IRA	29 June	6 September	70 days	Taken off by his family
Pat McGeown	IRA	9 July	20 August	42 days	Taken off by his family
Matt Devlin	IRA	14 July	4 September	52 days	Taken off by his family
Liam McCloskey	INLA	3 August	26 September	55 days	His family said they would intervene if he became unconscious
Patrick Sheehan	IRA	10 August	3 October	55 days	End of hunger strike
Jackie McMullan	IRA	17 August	3 October	48 days	End of hunger strike
Bernard Fox	IRA	24 August	24 September	32 days	Suffering from an obstructed kidney
Hugh Carville	IRA	31 August	3 October	34 days	End of hunger strike
John Pickering	IRA	7 September	3 October	27 days	End of hunger strike
Gerard Hodgins	IRA	14 September	3 October	20 days	End of hunger strike
James Devine	IRA	21 September	3 October	13 days	End of hunger strike

Consequences

The British press hailed the hunger strike as a triumph for Thatcher, with The Guardian newspaper stating "The Government had overcome the hunger strikes by a show of resolute determination not to be bullied".^[42] However, the hunger strike was a Pyrrhic victory for Thatcher and the British government.^[43] Thatcher became a republican hate figure of Cromwellian proportions, with Danny Morrison describing her as "the biggest bastard we have ever known".^[43] At the time most thought the hunger strike a crushing defeat for the republicans, a view shared by many within the IRA and Sinn Fein, but Sands' by-election win was a propaganda victory. ^[2] As with internment in 1971 and Bloody Sunday in 1972, IRA recruitment was boosted, resulting in a new surge of paramilitary activity.^[43] There was an upsurge of violence after the comparatively quiet years of the late 1970s, with widespread civil disorder in Northern Ireland and rioting outside the British Embassy in Dublin.^[1] Security forces fired 29,695 plastic bullets in 1981, causing seven deaths, compared to a total of around 16,000 bullets and four deaths in the eight years following the hunger strikes.^[44] The IRA continued its armed campaign during the seven months of the strike, killing 13 policemen, 13 soldiers, including five members of the Ulster Defence Regiment and five civilians. The seven months were one of the bloodiest periods of the Troubles with a total of 61 people killed, 34 of them civilians.^[21] Three years later the IRA tried to take their revenge on Thatcher with the Brighton hotel bombing, an attack on the Conservative party conference that killed five people and in which Thatcher herself only narrowly escaped death.^[2]

The hunger strike prompted Sinn Féin to move towards electoral politics. Sands' election victory, combined with that of pro-hunger strike candidates in the Northern Ireland local elections and Dáil elections in the Republic of Ireland, gave birth to the armalite and ballot box strategy. Gerry Adams remarked that Sands' victory "exposed the lie that the hunger strikers—and by extension the IRA and the whole republican movement—had no popular support".^[45] The election victories of Doherty and Agnew also had political impact in the Republic of Ireland, as they denied power to Charles Haughey's outgoing Fianna Fáil government.^[28] In 1982 Sinn Féin won five seats in the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, and in 1983 Gerry Adams won a seat in the UK general election.^[46] As a result of the political base built during the hunger strike, Sinn Féin continued to grow in the following two decades. After the United Kingdom general election, 2001, it became the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland.^[3]

In 2005, the role of Gerry Adams was questioned by former prisoner Richard O'Rawe, who was the public relations officer inside the prison during the strike. O'Rawe states in his book Blanketmen that Adams prolonged the strike as it was of great political benefit to Sinn Féin and allowed Owen Carron to win Sands' seat.^[47][48] This claim is denied by several hunger strikers and Brendan McFarlane, who was OC inside the prison during the hunger strike.^[49] McFarlane claims O'Rawe's version of events is confused and fragmentary, and states "We were desperate for a solution. Any deal that went some way to meeting the five demands would have been taken. If it was confirmed in writing, we'd have grabbed it . . . There was never a deal, there was never a "take it or leave it" option at all".^[50]

Commemorations

There are memorials and murals in memory of the hunger strikers in towns and cities across Ireland, including Belfast, Dublin, Derry, Crossmaglen and Camlough.^[51] Annual commemorations take place across Ireland for each man who died on the hunger strike, and an annual hunger strike commemoration march is held in Belfast each year, which includes a Bobby Sands memorial lecture.^[52][53] Several towns and cities in France have named streets after Bobby Sands, including Paris and Le Mans.^[2][54] The Iranian government also named a street running alongside the British embassy in Tehran after Bobby Sands, which was formerly called Winston Churchill Street.^[55]

A memorial to the men who died in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Easter Rising and the hunger strike stands in Waverley Cemetery, Sydney, Australia, which is also the burial place of Michael Dwyer of the Society of United Irishmen.^[56][57] In 1997 NORAID's Hartford Unit in the United States dedicated a monument to Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers.^[58] The monument stands in a traffic circle known as "Bobby Sands Circle", at the bottom of Maple Avenue near Goodwin Park.^[59] On 20 March 2001 Sinn Féin's national chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin opened the National Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee's exhibition at the Europa Hotel in Belfast, which included three original works of art from Belfast-based artists.^[60] A separate exhibition was also launched in Derry the following month.^[61] Three films have been made based on the events of the hunger strike, Some Mother's Son starring Helen Mirren, H3 (which was co-written by former hunger striker Laurence McKeown), and Steve McQueen's Hunger.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1981 Irish hunger strike.

• Bobby Sands Trust
• Irish Hunger strike Commemorative Project
• Hunger Strikers Memorial, Hartford, CT, USA
• Chicago Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee

The Troubles Timeline Directory Ireland Battle of the Bogside August 1969 riots Battle of St Matthew's Falls Curfew Scottish soldiers' killings Operation Demetrius Ballymurphy massacre McGurk's bombing Balmoral showroom bombing Bloody Sunday Abercorn bombing Donegall St bombing Battle at Springmartin Springhill massacre Bloody Friday Operation Motorman Claudy bombing Benny's bombing Dublin bombings Coleraine bombings UWC strike Dublin-Monaghan bombings Miami Showband killings Bayardo Bar Drummuckavall ambush Reavey-O'Dowd killings Kingsmill massacre Flagstaff incident Chlorane Bar Ramble Inn Jonesboro Gazelle downing La Mon bombing Warrenpoint ambush Dunmurry explosion Lough Foyle Glasdrumman ambush Ballykelly bombing Newry barracks Ballygawley barracks Loughgall ambush Enniskillen bombing Milltown Cemetery Corporals killings Lisburn van bombing Ballygawley bus bombing Jonesboro ambush Derryard checkpoint Derrygorry Gazelle shootdown Operation Conservation Fort Victoria 1990 proxy bombs Mullacreevie ambush Cappagh killings Glenanne barracks Coagh ambush Teebane bombing Bookmakers' shooting Clonoe ambush Cloghoge checkpoint Coalisland riots South Armagh sniper campaign Castlerock killings Cullaville occupation Battle of Newry Road 1993 Shankill bombing Greysteel massacre Crossmaglen Lynx shootdown Loughinisland massacre Drumcree crisis Thiepval barracks 1997 Coalisland attack July 1997 riots Omagh bombing Great Britain Aldershot bombing M62 coach bombing Guildford bombings Birmingham bombings Balcombe St siege Hyde & Regent's Park bombings Harrods bombing Brighton bombing Deal barracks Downing St attack Warrington bombings Bishopsgate bombing Docklands bombing Manchester bombing Elsewhere Operation Flavius (Gibraltar) Osnabrück barracks (Germany)

1981 Irish hunger strike Participants who died Bobby Sands Francis Hughes Raymond McCreesh Patsy O'Hara Joe McDonnell Martin Hurson Kevin Lynch Kieran Doherty Thomas McElwee Michael Devine Participants who survived Brendan McLaughlin Paddy Quinn Laurence McKeown Pat McGeown Matt Devlin Liam McCloskey Patrick Sheehan Jackie McMullan Bernard Fox Hugh Carville John Pickering Gerard Hodgkins James Devine Political and religious figures Margaret Thatcher Garret FitzGerald Charles Haughey Humphrey Atkins James Prior Bernadette Devlin McAliskey Owen Carron Tomás Ó Fiaich Basil Hume Denis Faul John Magee Key events Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election, April 1981 Irish general election, June 1981 Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election, August 1981

Provisional Irish Republican Army General Anti-Treaty IRA Sinn Féin Republican News An Phoblacht The Green Book The Troubles (Timeline) Officials-Provisionals split Provisional IRA campaign Arms importation Disappeared Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape Blanket protest Dirty protest HM Prison Maze Anti H-Block 1981 Irish hunger strike Maze Prison escape Armalite and ballot box strategy Smithwick Tribunal Northern Ireland peace process North American arrests Barrack buster Good Friday Agreement Organisation IRA Army Council Internal Security Unit Active Service Unit Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade Attacks Insurgency, 1969–1977 Battle of St Matthew's Scottish soldiers' killings Balmoral showroom bombing Aldershot bombing Abercorn bombing Donegall St bombing Battle at Springmartin Bloody Friday Claudy bombing Coleraine bombings M62 coach bombing Guildford pub bombings British Airways bombing attempt Birmingham pub bombings Bayardo Bar attack Drummuckavall ambush Balcombe Street siege Kingsmill massacre Long War, 1977–1988 Jonesboro Gazelle downing La Mon restaurant bombing Warrenpoint ambush Dunmurry train explosion Lough Foyle attacks Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings Harrods bombing Brighton hotel bombing Newry mortar attack Ballygawley attack Peace Process, 1988–1998 Corporals killings Lisburn van bombing Ballygawley bus bombing Jonesborough ambush Deal barracks bombing Derryard attack Derrygorry Gazelle downing RFA Fort Victoria bombing Proxy bombings Downing St mortar attack Mullacreevie ambush Glenanne barracks bombing Teebane bombing Cloghoge attack South Armagh sniper campaign Warrington bomb attacks Cullaville occupation Bishopsgate bombing Battle of Newry Road Shankill Road bombing Crossmaglen Lynx downing Drumcree conflict Docklands bombing Manchester bombing Osnabrück mortar attack Thiepval barracks bombing Coalisland attack July 1997 riots Chiefs of Staff Seán Mac Stíofáin (1969–72) Joe Cahill (1972–73) Seamus Twomey (1973) Éamonn O'Doherty (1973–74) Seamus Twomey (1974–77) Gerry Adams (1977–78) Martin McGuinness (1978–82) Ivor Bell (1982–83) Kevin McKenna (1983–97) Thomas "Slab" Murphy (1997–2005) Personalities (Volunteers) Billy McKee Gerry Kelly Dolours Price Marian Price John Joe McGirl Ruairí Ó Brádaigh Dáithí Ó Conaill George Harrison Billy Reid Michael Gaughan James McDade Pat Doherty Hugh Doherty Séanna Breathnach Proinsias MacAirt John Kelly Rose Dugdale John Francis Green Peter Cleary Kevin Coen Frank Stagg Kieran Nugent Francis Hughes Brendan Hughes Tommy McKearney Raymond McCartney Gerry McGeough Gerard Casey Thomas McMahon Eamon Collins Gerard Tuite Patrick Magee Bobby Sands Raymond McCreesh Joe McDonnell Martin Hurson Kieran Doherty Thomas McElwee Michael McKevitt Alex Maskey Fra McCann Owen Carron Paul Butler Dessie Ellis Angelo Fusco Breandán Mac Cionnaith Rita O'Hare Martin Meehan Arthur Morgan Danny Morrison Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde Kieran Fleming Danny Doherty William Fleming Bernard Fox Paddy Quinn Laurence McKeown Pat McGeown Matt Devlin Pat Sheehan Siobhán O'Hanlon Jackie McMullan Patrick Joseph Kelly Larry Marley Jim Lynagh Pádraig McKearney Brendan McFarlane Charles Breslin Sean O'Callaghan Séamus McElwaine Gabriel Cleary Daniel McCann Seán Savage Mairéad Farrell Martin McCaughey Dessie Grew Fergal Caraher Patricia Black Malachy Carey Martin McGartland Joseph MacManus Paul Magee Pearse Jordan Thomas Begley Martin Doherty Ed O'Brien Diarmuid O'Neill Carál Ní Chuilín Ian Milne Conor Murphy Martina Anderson Jennifer McCann Liam Campbell Colin Duffy Associates Cumann na mBan Fianna Éireann South Armagh Republican Action Force Direct Action Against Drugs NORAID Provisional Clan na Gael Friends of Sinn Féin Cairde na hÉireann Troops Out Movement Derivatives Continuity Irish Republican Army Real Irish Republican Army Prominent killings Jean McConville Columba McVeigh Billy Fox Martin McBirney Steven Tibble Ross McWhirter Sammy Smyth Christopher Ewart-Biggs Jeffery Stanford Agate Robert Nairac Richard Sykes Gerard Evans Lord Mountbatten Baroness Brabourne Norman Stronge James Stronge Robert Bradford Lenny Murphy Anthony Berry Maurice Gibson Robert Seymour Heidi Hazell Nick Spanos Stephen Melrose Ian Gow Donald Kaberry Thomas Oliver Sammy Ward Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Ray Smallwoods Joe Bratty Martin Cahill Jerry McCabe Andrew Kearney Eamon Collins Matthew Burns Robert McCartney(allegedly) James Curran Joseph Rafferty (allegedly) Paul Quinn

INLA and the IRSP General The Troubles Official Sinn Féin Official IRA Irish Republican Socialist Movement The Starry Plough Marxist-Leninism Blanket protest Dirty protest HM Prison Maze Anti H-Block 1981 Irish hunger strike July 1997 riots Northern Ireland peace process Good Friday Agreement Organized crime Illegal drug trade Attacks Droppin Well bombing Darkley massacre (denied) Personalities Seamus Costello Ronnie Bunting Bernadette Devlin Tony Gregory Miriam Daly Johnnie White Stephen King Michael Plunkett Mary Reid Raymond Gilmour Gerard Steenson Sammy Ward Patsy O'Hara Kevin Lynch Mickey Devine Thomas 'Ta' Power Gino Gallagher Dominic McGlinchey Harry Kirkpatrick Seamus Grew Dessie Grew Jimmy Brown Hugh Torney Dessie O'Hare Colm Murphy Christopher "Crip" McWilliams Patrick Campbell Associates Republican Socialist Youth Movement Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America Derivatives Independent Socialist Party Irish People's Liberation Organisation Republican Socialist Collective Prominent killings Billy McMillen Airey Neave Henry Byrne John Morley William McCullough John McKeague Patrick Joseph Morrissey Trevor King Billy Wright

Margaret Thatcher 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013 Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979–1990) Leader of the Conservative Party (1975–1990) Member of Parliament for Finchley (1959–1992) Death and funeral (2013) Member of Parliament Finchley Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 Shadow Cabinet Ideology and known for Thatcherism Conservatism Foreign policy of Margaret Thatcher ‎ Premiership First ministry (1979–1983) Second ministry (1983–1987) Third ministry (1987–1990) Cold War 1981 United Kingdom budget 1981 Irish hunger strike The lady's not for turning Falklands War Brighton hotel bombing Opposition to trade unions Miners' strike Local Government Act Westland affair Sermon on the Mound 1988 broadcasting restrictions Poll tax Gulf War Resignation Honours Party elections 1975 1989 1990 General elections 1979 1983 1987 Books The Downing Street Years The Path to Power Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World Family Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Bt (husband) The Hon. Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Bt (son) The Hon. Carol Thatcher (daughter) Alfred Roberts (father) Cultural depictions Thatcher: The Final Days The Falklands Play Pinochet in Suburbia The Long Walk to Finchley Margaret The Iron Lady The Hunt for Tony Blair In Search of La Che Steve Nallon Janet Brown Book Category Commons