Haughey rebuked British ambassador after Thatcher questioned Ireland’s will to defeat IRA
An Irish official relayed that ambassador Sir Nicholas Fenn explained Thatcher had been speaking with a “certain sense of exasperation”. By Press Association Sunday 27 Dec 2020, 5:02 PM Dec 27th 2020, 5:02 PM 35,576 Views 32 Comments
Charles Haughey and Margaret Thatcher in April 1990.
Image: DPA/PA Images
Image: DPA/PA Images
THE UK’S AMBASSADOR in Ireland received a governmental rebuke after then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher questioned the state’s commitment to defeating the IRA.
National archive papers revealed Taoiseach Charles Haughey ordered a senior official to make clear to the ambassador his displeasure at Thatcher’s remarks.
Thatcher questioned Irelandâs will to defeat IRA, records reveal
the three IRA members who were shot dead in Gibraltar (left to right) Sean Savage, Mairead Farrell and Danny McCann. THE UK’s ambassador in Ireland received a governmental rebuke after Margaret Thatcher questioned the state’s commitment to defeating the IRA. National archive papers revealed Taoiseach Charles Haughey ordered a senior official to make clear to the ambassador his displeasure at Mrs Thatcher’s remarks. The diplomatic row unfolded in the wake of an IRA attack on Air Chief Marshall and former Governor of Gibraltar Sir Peter Terry and his wife Lady Betty Terry.
peace talks
The IRA wanted to freeze Sinn Fein out of backchannel talks with Brits about ending the Troubles, state papers reveal
David Young
Updated: 27 Dec 2020, 18:42
THE IRA wanted to freeze Sinn Fein out of proposed backchannel talks with the Brits about ending the Troubles, it can now be revealed.
An internal Irish government communique reported that the IRA Army Council informed two prison chaplains in spring 1990 that it was prepared to enter exploratory discussions with the UK.
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Reverend Monsignor John Murphy
But the newly released paper said the IRA leadership’s least favoured approach to talks was to involve Sinn Fein figures.
The three IRA members who were shot dead in Gibraltar, Sean Savage, Mairead Farrell and Danny McCann (PA)
The attack was a revenge bid by the IRA because two years earlier Sir Peter, as governor of Gibraltar, sanctioned the SAS operation that led to the shooting dead of three IRA members on the British overseas territory.
In a media interview in Budapest following the shooting in Staffordshire, Mrs Thatcher said the IRA was engaged in “guerrilla warfare”.
She said there was also a question whether “we can assure ourselves that the Republic of Ireland is doing all it can to track down terrorists, their sources of weaponry and their stores of weapons”.