NI and Thatcher

Question 1

How did the troubles in NI personally affect Margaret Thatcher?

Answer 1

• Her friend and close adviser Airey Neave was killed by a car bomb in London
• Situation in NI caused her to have strong unionist sympathies and hated the IRA. Thatcher was also pragmatic in some areas she would see positive results

Question 2

Brief description on the Death of Bobby Sands in 1981

Answer 2

• Crisis over ongoing campaign for special category status by IRA prisoners.
  -Hunger strikes led by 27 year old Bobby Sands began in 1980 as a protest
• Gained alot of attention and support
• IRA denounced the Maze prison as a ‘British Death Camp’.

Question 3

Government Reaction to the death of Bobby sands 1981

Answer 3

• Thatcher claimed that the hunger strikes were a defeat for the IRA.
• Had a massive impact: Thatcher refused to grant special category status and accept the death of Bobby Sands and others made her a hate figure.
• Government refused to back down.

Question 4

Impact of Bobby Sands death 1981 on the Troubles

Answer 4

• Changed republican tactics - the ballot box and the gun

Question 5

Brief description of the Rolling Devolution

Answer 5

• In 1982, the Thatcher government re-established the NI Assembly in hope that it would further the journey towards peace.
• Idea initiated 1979

Question 6

Government reaction to the Rolling Devolution

Answer 6

• Sinn Fein did well in the 1982 election, the first full election they had fought for decades the first election to the new assembly, gaining 5 seats. The SDLP were disappointed in only winning 14 seats.
• Demonstrates Thatcher worked on trying to establish a peaceful solution to the Troubles.

Question 7

Impact Rolling Devolution had on the Troubles

Answer 7

• The assembly failed
• The Nationalist parties and the UUP on occasion, boycotted the assembly. It was collapsed in 1986 having utterly failed.

Question 8

Brief description of the Brighton Bombing 1984

Answer 8

• The IRA exploded a massive bomb in the middle if the night on 12th October at the Grand Hotel in Brighton.

Question 9

Government reaction to the Brighton Bombing 1984

Answer 9

• Thatcher made a speech the next day - showed strength and courage as she carried on

Question 10

Impact Brighton Bombing 1984 on the Troubles

Answer 10

• Thatcher’s popularity soared likening her to Churchill
• Her resilience made the bombing a defeat for the IRA

Question 11

Why did Thatcher meet secretly to find a peaceful solution to the Troubles?

Answer 11

• The British government and Irish government discussed proposals for a constitutional settlement in NI
• Thatcher did not want any costs to be appearing to negotiate with terrorists although she realised it must be done.

Question 12

What were the main terms of the Anglo-Irish Agreement?

Answer 12

• The Republic recognised NI as constitutionally as part of the UK
• The British government gave an assurance that it supported full civil rights for all of NI and acknowledged the strength of nationalist desires for a united Ireland
• The two governments committed themselves to close co-operation over cross-border security matters

Question 13

Why was it rejected by the Unionists?

Answer 13

Feared it encouraged the notion of a united Ireland ruled from Dublin

Question 14

Why was it rejected by Republicans

Answer 14

• Its terms confirmed the very thing they were fighting against: Northern Ireland’s continuation as part of UK.

Question 15

Why did some Conservative members reject it?

Answer 15

• It might be wrongly interpreted as a concession by the government towards people who are committed to violence.

Question 15

Why did some Conservative members reject it?

Answer 15

• It might be wrongly interpreted as a concession by the government towards people who are committed to violence.

Question 16

What was the short and long term negative impacts of the Anglo-Irish Agreement?

Answer 16

• Failed to bring any immediate end to political violence in NI; neither did it reconcile the two communities , power sharing was suspended

Question 17

How did the Anglo-Irish Agreement impact the Troubles in a positive way?

Answer 17

Improved co-operation between British and Irish governments which was key to the creation of the Good Friday Agreement 13 years later.

Question 18

Brief description of the Remembrance Day Bombing

Answer 18

• First step on the road to peace however still violence
• The IRA continued commitment to armed struggle was most notoriously expressed when it exploded a bomb at Remembrance Day Service in Enniskillen NI
• 11 people killed, 60 injured and maimed, including women and children.
• IRA apologised

Question 19

Government reaction to the Remembrance Day Bombing

Answer 19

• Attack was condemned as an outrage by both loyalist and nationalist communities

Question 20

Impact the Remembrance Day Bombing had on the Troubles

Answer 20

• Harmed Sinn Fein’s electoral support
• In 1989, in a local election Sinn Fein lost seats to the more moderate SDLP

Question 21

Brief description on Death on the Rock

Answer 21

• 1988 March, in Gibraltar, the SAS shot and killed 3 members of the IRA before they had time to detonate a car bomb, intending to kill British soldiers.

Question 22

Government’s reaction to Death on the Rock

Answer 22

• Thatcher’s government imposed a broadcasting ban on the IRA

Question 23

Impact Death on the Rock had on the Troubles

Answer 23

• At the funeral in Belfast 500 attendees were shot at by Michael Stone by a loyalist gunman leading to 3 deaths and 50 injured.
• Showed violence continued
• 2 off duty soldiers killed.

Question 24

Evidence Troubles had worsened

Answer 24

• British government committed to the Union
• Thatcher resisted pressure from the Irish and US governments for a compromise
• Her reaction to Bobby Sands and their actions of the SAS in 1988 showed her willingness to take on the IRA

Question 25

Evidence the Troubles had improved

Answer 25

• Violence was largely contained in NI
• Deaths and violence continued but not at the rate of the 1970s
• Ango-Irish agreement showed the foundations were laid for the GFA