Irish Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald personally pleaded with US President Ronald Reagan to force British leader Margaret Thatcher to compromise on the Hunger Strikes according to state papers released on Friday.
The newly published documents, released under the 30-year rule, state that then Irish PM FitzGerald asked Reagan to intervene in the 1981 Hunger Strikes which claimed 10 lives.
Fine Gael leader FitzGerald had only come to power when he made contact with the US President in a desperate bid to end the Hunger Strike impasse at the Maze Prison.
FitzGerald had warned Thatcher and Reagan that Ireland’s democracy was seriously under threat while relations with Britain were plunging to dangerous depths.
He told President Reagan that he could play a decisive role in ending the IRA prisoner fast if he contacted Thatcher.
The Irish Examiner reports that a letter to Reagan, dated July 1981, was drafted after six prisoners had died in the H Blocks and Kieran Doherty, who had been elected TD for Cavan-Monaghan, was close to death.
The documents report that FitzGerald said it was his duty to seek the cooperation of “the leader of the greatest democracy on earth”.
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He wrote: “I would ask you to use your enormous influence with the British prime minister within the next 24 hours in the interest of averting a death which would inevitably increase support for the terrorists and further undermine the stability of our democracy in a dangerous way and can only harm the interests of the British, Irish and American governments.
“I believe that an expression of your concern to Mrs Thatcher of the deterioration in the state of opinion among Americans of Irish extraction and among many other Americans and of the urgent necessity to avert the consequences which would result from Mr Doherty’s death could be of decisive importance.
“Ireland is facing a desperate crisis in the fight against support for terrorism, which is at an all-time high, particularly from America.
“The British government is understandably concerned not to make concessions to IRA inmates, which would give them a privileged status or cede control of prisons.
“I would be most grateful if you could consider using your good offices with Prime Minister Thatcher to pressure the British into accepting the understanding mediated by the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace before the death of Mr Doherty and its very dangerous consequences.”
The Examiner also reports that State files show that some weeks later US senator Ted Kennedy and 17 colleagues wrote to President Reagan, seeking a meeting about the impact of the hunger strikes.
Kieran Doherty died on August 2, on the 73rd day of his hunger strike, aged 25.
11 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.RedBranch | Jan 04, 2012, 04:03 PM EST
Free Leonard Peltier!
IrelandNorth | Jan 04, 2012, 08:12 AM EST
What democracy was Garret talking about. The partition of Ireland was undemocratic. The Acto of Union annexing Ireland into a United Kingdom was undemocratic. The establishment of a neo-rprovincial statelet was undemocratic. How could any or all be thereatened if not democracies?
GeorgeDillon | Dec 31, 2011, 02:40 AM EST
kilgara: Excellent post.
Murph46 | Dec 31, 2011, 01:25 AM EST
Redmond also promised a Free Ireland for Irish who joined to fight the Hun!
DaithiSuibhne | Dec 30, 2011, 09:09 PM EST
Fitz must have been hitting the sauce pretty good to have come up with that 'Idea' about 'Sir Ronald' helping the same people he considered 'Terrorist'
Woodman | Dec 30, 2011, 07:08 PM EST
It's too bad Fitzgerald publicly supported the British position and was not man enough to say this out loud. Redmond warned the British privately not to harm the leaders of the 1916 rising too but they were murdered anyway.
kilgara | Dec 30, 2011, 05:07 PM EST
I believe Reagan was basically a figurehead president. The policies he supposedly espoused were fed to him by his inner circle, {including very substantially his tres Anglo wife Nancy Davis}.Most of this inner circle had the same mindset as the British Foreign Office and that witch Thatcher.To believe that these people would feel any simpatico with the heroic hunger strikers is beyond naive.This administration went on to break the back of the air-traffic controllers strike which was a turning point and a catastrophe for the labor union movement in this country.Working people have been paying the price ever since.Reagan was a sham president and a sham Irishman
joycean | Dec 30, 2011, 01:38 PM EST
I think FitzGerald must have made the assumption that someone with an Irish surname must feel an affinity with Ireland. Reagan was about as Irish as OBama.
joycean | Dec 30, 2011, 12:30 PM EST
I remember Thatcher addressing Irish-Americans on television, warning them about getting involved in NI.
GeorgeDillon | Dec 30, 2011, 12:14 PM EST
Shows what a fool Fitzgerald was. Thatcher and Reagan were bosom buddies.
Searlit | Dec 30, 2011, 11:53 AM EST
I remember this. Reagan and Thatcher have a cold-blooded history together.