Died: April 23rd, 2021
Detta OâCathain, who died in Sussex on April 23rd after a short illness, aged 83, was the most successful Irish woman there had ever been in the business and political life of Britain, ending up as a leading Conservative in the House of Lords.
It was a far cry from her Irish background whose nationalism was signalled by the use of the Gaelic form of the surname Kane. Her paternal grandfather, a customs officer, was an early member of the Gaelic League in Ulster. He was forced by intimidation to move south from Belfast. Her father was based in Cork as a tax inspector when Margaret, known as Detta, the eldest of three children, was born on February 2nd, 1938.
Allegations of provocation, violence and brutality have been made by residents of the Lower Falls area of Belfast against troops of the Green Jackets Regiment who swept through the area on Tuesday afternoon.
Yesterday the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Mr Gerry Fitt, MP, said he intended to raise the matter with the British Defence Secretary, Lord Carrington.
Mr Fitt, in a statement, said that the Army was âplaying the Faulkner regime game of attempting to force the menfolk into the position of defending their wives, families and homes, so that they can be battered about, then arrested in dawn swoops, and interned as âsuspected enemies of the Stateâ.
Opposite extremists always appear to be on the same side of history irishnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from irishnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“I knew when I was doing it, I don’t care about your Queen .”
The Coalisland woman was later shot and wounded along with her husband Michael in a UDA murder bid at their home on the shores of Lough Neagh in 1981.
Speaking about their survival, Mrs McAliskey said: “They left us for dead. I should have died. They left our house without a shot unfired.”
But away from the cameras a remarkable bond developed between herself and the former DUP leader and First Minister.
When the then Miss Devlin became active in civil rights protests during her tenure in Queen’s University, she unilaterally decided to visit Paisley s home in East Belfast to establish why he habitually blocked marches by the students from the university into the city centre.
It doesn t diminish : The legacy of the 1981 hunger strikes, 40 years on
This Monday will mark 40 years since Bobby Sands went on hunger strike. By Sean Murray Saturday 27 Feb 2021, 12:05 AM Feb 27th 2021, 12:05 AM 31,842 Views 40 Comments
ON PAGE 9 of The Irish Times of Friday 27 February 1981, a headline read: “H-Block fast generates little pressure.”
The report outlined how a “low-key atmosphere prevail[ed]” in the run-up to the latest hunger strike. It said the IRA leader in the H-Blocks would be starting the strike alone before being joined at regular intervals by other prisoners.
The article ended: “In the face of an unmoved British government, the straight demand for ‘political status’ is seen by some as ‘unreal’.”