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202-600: In the aftermath of the 1981 hunger strikes , " physical force Irish republicanism " represented by Provisional Sinn Féin was gaining support in Northern Ireland at the expense of the "constitutional nationalism" represented by the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). Garret FitzGerald became Taoiseach after the Republic's 1981 general election and announced a "constitutional crusade", including

404-648: A by-election . According to McKaliskey, it was already intended that Sands should win Maguire's seat. She later told how Frank was going to make his first speech in Westminster announcing his resignation. 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 McAliskey and Maguire's brother Noel. After negotiations, they agreed not to split

606-553: A "healthy and harmonious society" in the north. She summarised the government's philosophy in a speech before leaving: Once again we have a hunger-strike at the Maze Prison in the quest for what they call political status. There is no such thing as political murder, political bombing or political violence. There is only criminal murder, criminal bombing and criminal violence. We will not compromise on this. There will be no political status. However, she also seems to have not held

808-769: A Liberal government if it introduced another home rule bill. The Parliament Act 1911 meant the House of Lords could no longer veto bills passed by the Commons, but only delay them for up to two years. British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith introduced the Third Home Rule Bill in April 1912. An amendment to the Bill was introduced calling for the partition of Ireland. In June 1912 Asquith spoke in Parliament rejecting

1010-422: A Parliament of its own would not be in nearly as strong a position...where, above all, the paraphernalia of Government was already in existence...We should fear no one and would be in a position of absolute security." In reference to the threat of Unionist violence and the achievement of a separate status of Ulster, Winston Churchill felt that "...if Ulster had confined herself simply to constitutional agitation, it

1212-643: A Provisional Ulster Government. In response, Irish nationalists founded the Irish Volunteers to ensure Home Rule was implemented. The Ulster Volunteers smuggled 25,000 rifles and three million rounds of ammunition into Ulster from the German Empire , in the Larne gun-running of April 1914. The Irish Volunteers also smuggled weaponry from Germany in the Howth gun-running that July. On 20 March 1914, in

1414-422: A blanket-thread string, tying the other end to a button, and then "shooting the button" across the corridor under cell doors. External communication was maintained via prison visits. These allowed the prisoners to send out letters and receive items from the outside, such as ball point refills, cigarette papers—for both smoking and writing on—tobacco, and quartz crystal radios . For smuggling goods and letters,

1616-580: A change tactics upon Thatcher. The four days before McDonnell does saw intense negotiations. Duddy telephoned Tom, his contact in the shady areas of government when communication lines open, at 2230. This was to advise the British that the prisoners would likely be responding in the next few hours. His next call to Tom—at 0230 the following day—lasted two and a half hours. Duddy attempted to gain as much information on British tactics as he could. The issue of clothing seemed most easily resolvable. By 0500, Duddy had

1818-571: A claim against the other until either the latter gave in or the faster died. This tradition carried on even into the Christian era, and there are documented cases of early Irish saints fasting against God. The tradition of Troscad —fasting against an opponent—and Cealachan —gaining justice through fasting—became codified in the 8th century Senchas Már . In the 20th century, there had been hunger strikes by Irish republican prisoners since 1917, twelve men died on hunger strike prior to

2020-526: A coma and on the brink of death, the government appeared to concede the essence of the prisoners' five demands. The republicans were unsure whether the British position of refusing to negotiate could itself be a negotiating position, although this was emphatically denied by the Northern Ireland Office. The situation escalated on 15 December when 23 more prisoners joined the Maze strike. McKenna

2222-507: A comatose state for around 48 hours, so it is possible that the government thought it had some hours still to negotiate in. Joe McDonnell died the same early morning as the statement was released, a couple of hours before it was read to the prisoners by the Governor and a civil servant. The external leadership heard of the death on the radio. The prisoners were dismayed at what they saw as government hypocrisy. After weeks of being told that

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2424-472: A fair amount of information to take back to the leadership. Morrison took the news into the Maze; Tom phoned Duddy later that afternoon, seeking information on the IRA's likely view. Twenty-four hours and eight lengthy phone calls later, on the evening of 6 July, Atkins, Thatcher, the senior civil servant Philip Woodfield and others met to discuss these reports. Atkins could not afford to appear soft, but in view of

2626-609: A head when Fianna Fáil, then in opposition party , opposed the 1985 Agreement as incompatible with the Forum's conclusions, while the other three Forum parties supported the Agreement. The SDLP's view of the "National Question" became the default position of Irish political parties from then and through the Northern Ireland peace process . The SDLP's loss of ground to Sinn Féin in the 1985 local elections in Northern Ireland

2828-510: A heavy cry against that threshold, Even though it be the King’s. W. B. Yeats , The King's Threshold The use of a hunger strike as a means of protest in Ireland is a tradition dating to pre-Christian times. This was not ascetic , but rather a way of publicly reprimanding those who deserved it. By fasting—possibly to death—on the doorstep of his master, the hunger striker enforced

3030-659: A large paramilitary organization (at least 100,000 men), the Ulster Volunteers , that could be used to prevent Ulster from being ruled by an Irish government. The British government proposed to exclude all or part of Ulster, but the crisis was interrupted by the First World War (1914–18). Support for Irish independence grew during the war and after the 1916 armed rebellion known as the Easter Rising . The Irish republican political party Sinn Féin won

3232-684: A majority. Irish unionists assembled at conventions in Dublin and Belfast to oppose both the Bill and the proposed partition. The unionist MP Horace Plunkett , who would later support home rule, opposed it in the 1890s because of the dangers of partition. Although the Bill was approved by the Commons, it was defeated in the House of Lords . Following the December 1910 election , the Irish Parliamentary Party again agreed to support

3434-571: A meeting with Sands, but he refused unless representatives of the IRA and Sinn Féin could attend, and this the Maze authorities could not allow. Labour MP Roy Mason also visited Sands in order to tell him that when he died, he would get no sympathy or recognition from the British labour movement. This appears to have alienated moderate Catholics, however. With Sands close to death, the government's position remained unchanged, with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Humphrey Atkins stating that "if Mr Sands persisted in his wish to commit suicide, that

3636-719: A more considered appreciation of the Unionists' distinctiveness and their attachment to the Union, but it was also replete with time-worn assumptions and stereotypes, and a partisan historical narrative." Before the Forum's report was issued, the Ulster Unionist Party presented a discussion paper of its own entitled Devolution and the Northern Ireland Assembly: The Way Forward (usually called The Way Forward ). This described

3838-672: A number of activists in the National H-Block/Armagh Committee. These included a UFF gun attack which badly injured McAliskey and her husband, the assassination of Miriam Daly by the UDA while her house was under military observation, and, of the Irish Independence Party , John Turnley 's death at the hands of the UVF . With the three-year anniversary of the dirty protest approaching in 1979,

4040-505: A number of clashes between prison officers and prisoners leaving their cells to wash and " slop out " (empty their chamber pots), this escalated into the dirty protest, where prisoners refused to wash and smeared their excrement on the walls of their cells. The scholar Begoña Aretxaga has suggested that, unlike the hunger strike which followed, "the Dirty Protest had no precedent in the political culture". The protest soon spread to

4242-593: A number of pro-hunger strike independent candidates also won seats. The British government passed the Representation of the People Act 1981 to prevent another prisoner from contesting the second by-election in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, which was due to take place following the death of Sands. On 4 July, the prisoners stated they were not asking for preferential treatment, saying, "we would warmly welcome

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4444-576: A pea as they had put '130 on the plate and now there are only 129'." The author and researcher Ed Moloney has argued, on Sands's strategy, that it meant that "if any hunger striker died, the moral pressure on those who followed to continue through to the end was huge. The fast also guaranteed that if there were deaths, the North would be pitched into a crisis every fortnight or so until the end. As an instrument for destabilizing political life in Ireland, it

4646-450: A public meeting. Other republicans believed that her standing would be a diversion from the military campaign, and the Maze prisoners released a statement emphasising that, in their collective opinion, only physical force could remove the British. Although McAliskey had stood solely on prisoner's rights ticket , there was no intention of turning the popular support the campaign had exposed into an organised movement at that time. However,

4848-676: A rebellion against British rule, the Easter Rising. It was crushed after a week of heavy fighting in Dublin. The harsh British reaction to the Rising fuelled support for independence, with republican party Sinn Féin winning four by-elections in 1917. The British parliament called the Irish Convention in an attempt to find a solution to its Irish Question . It sat in Dublin from July 1917 until March 1918, and comprised both Irish nationalist and Unionist politicians. It ended with

5050-533: A recognition by the British government of the need to include the Republic in the political process: Stephen Collins has said that Irish anger at Thatcher's "out, out, out" speech caused her to soften her tone in future negotiations, which made possible the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement. The relatively non-partisan approach of the forum influenced the National Forum on Europe in 2001 to address Ireland and

5252-594: A reframing of the state's attitude to Northern Ireland. He lost power quickly but regained it in the November 1982 election . Before the previous month's election to the reconstituted Northern Ireland Assembly , John Hume had proposed a "Council for a New Ireland" in the SDLP manifesto. Fitzgerald persuaded Hume to accept a Forum open to non-nationalist parties, though in the event only nationalist parties joined. The SDLP's participation persuaded Fianna Fáil to join. The forum

5454-452: A report, supported by nationalist and southern unionist members, calling for the establishment of an all-Ireland parliament consisting of two houses with special provisions for Ulster unionists. The reports proposal for the setting up of an all Ireland parliament was passed by 51 votes to 18. The amendment to exclude Ulster from the jurisdiction of a national parliament was voted down by 52 votes to 19. The majority of southern Unionists voted for

5656-488: A six counties Parliament, with 52 members, the Unionist majority, would be about ten. The three excluded counties contain some 70,000 Unionists and 260,000 Sinn Feiners and Nationalists, and the addition of that large block of Sinn Feiners and Nationalists would reduce our majority to such a level that no sane man would undertake to carry on a Parliament with it. That is the position with which we were faced when we had to take

5858-568: A speech in the British House of Commons where he made clear the future make up of Northern Ireland: "The three Ulster counties of Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal are to be handed over to the South of Ireland Parliament. How the position of affairs in a Parliament of nine counties and in a Parliament of six counties would be is shortly this. If we had a nine counties Parliament, with 64 members, the Unionist majority would be about three or four, but in

6060-436: A statement saying that the British government had failed to resolve the crisis and declared their intention of "hunger striking once more". The prisoners gradually wound down the dirty protest, requesting baths and shaving and allowing themselves to be moved to new cell blocks. The blanket protest continued. The seven volunteers who had recently ended their hunger strike publicly announced their support for another, although Sands

6262-474: A very weak case on the issue "of forcing these two Counties against their will" into Northern Ireland. On 28 November 1921 both Tyrone and Fermanagh County Councils declared allegiance to the new Irish Parliament (Dail). On 2 December the Tyrone County Council publicly rejected the "...arbitrary, new-fangled, and universally unnatural boundary". They pledged to oppose the new border and to "make

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6464-618: A warning to the next Irish government to "move on the prisoners' demands". There were also local elections in Northern Ireland on 20 May , although Sinn Féin did not contest them. Some smaller groups and independents who supported the hunger strikers gained seats, such as the Irish Independence Party with 21 seats, while the IRSP (the INLA's political wing) and People's Democracy (a Trotskyist group) gained two seats each, and

6666-414: Is crime is crime, it is not political". In the blaze of the world's cameras, several intermediaries visited Sands in an attempt to negotiate an end. These included three Irish MEPs , Síle de Valera —granddaughter of Éamon de Valera — Neil Blaney and John O'Connell , as well as Pope John Paul II 's personal envoy John Magee . Several European Commission of Human Rights (ECHR) officials also sought

6868-637: Is extremely improbable that she would have escaped inclusion in a Dublin Parliament." The Irish War of Independence led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, between the British government and representatives of the Irish Republic. Negotiations between the two sides were carried on between October and December 1921. The British delegation consisted of experienced parliamentarians/debaters such as Lloyd George , Winston Churchill , Austen Chamberlain and Lord Birkenhead , they had clear advantages over

7070-428: Is struck with unbearable anxiety. But I have considered all the arguments and tried every means to avoid what has become the unavoidable: it has been forced upon me and my comrades by four-and-a-half years of stark inhumanity   ... I ate the statutory weekly bit of fruit last night. As fate had it, it was an orange, and the final irony, it was bitter. Excerpt from Sands's diary, 1 March 1981 Sands organised

7272-454: Is the story of weeping women, hungry children, hunted men, homeless in England, houseless in Ireland. If this is what we get when they have not their Parliament, what may we expect when they have that weapon, with wealth and power strongly entrenched? What will we get when they are armed with Britain's rifles, when they are clothed with the authority of government, when they have cast round them

7474-711: The Buckingham Palace Conference to allow Unionists and Nationalists to come together and discuss the issue of partition, but the conference achieved little. After much negotiations in 1914, John Redmond the leader of the largest political party in Ireland (the Irish Parliamentary Party) agreed to the temporary exclusion of some areas of Ulster. In June 1916 Lloyd George asked for Redmonds approval for six counties (now to include Tyrone and Fermanagh) to be temporarily excluded (four counties had been requested in 1912 and 1914). Redmond

7676-638: The Fermanagh County Council passed the following resolution: "We, the County Council of Fermanagh, in view of the expressed desire of a large majority of people in this county, do not recognise the partition parliament in Belfast and do hereby direct our Secretary to hold no further communications with either Belfast or British Local Government Departments, and we pledge our allegiance to Dáil Éireann." Shortly afterwards, Dawson Bates

7878-741: The Irish Free State , now known as the Republic of Ireland . Ireland had a large Catholic, nationalist majority who wanted self-governance or independence. Prior to partition the Irish Home Rule movement compelled the British Parliament to introduce bills that would give Ireland a devolved government within the UK ( home rule ). This led to the Home Rule Crisis (1912–14), when Ulster unionists/ loyalists founded

8080-660: The Irish Independence Party , and others. There were 27 members and fourteen alternates. Colm Ó hEocha was appointed chairman of the Forum. It had a secretariat staff of 17, seconded from the Irish Civil Service ; the salary of the secretary of each of the four participating parties was also paid from the Department of the Taoiseach . The first session was held in Dublin Castle on 30 May 1983 and

8282-707: The Parliament of Northern Ireland (24 May 1921), the 1921 Northern Ireland general election returned Sinn Fein/Nationalist Party majorities: 54.7% Nationalist / 45.3% Unionist in Fermanagh – Tyrone (which was a single constituency). In a letter dated 7 September 1921 from Lloyd George to the President of the Irish Republic Eamon de Valera regarding Counties Fermanagh and Tyrone, the British Prime Minister stated that his government had

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8484-635: The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the Wilson ministry , announced that paramilitary prisoners would no longer be entitled to Special Category Status. This was part of Britain's long-term strategy of criminalisation in the north, the intention being to alter perceptions of the conflict from a colonial war to that of a campaign against, effectively, criminal gangs. The policy was not imposed retroactively and only affected those convicted of offences after 1 March 1976. Long Kesh prisoners remained in

8686-543: The armed struggle . It began to attract attention when Tomás Ó Fiaich , the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh , visited the prison and condemned the conditions there. O'Fiaich subsequently told the press, "I was shocked at the inhuman conditions prevailing in H-Blocks   ... The stench and filth in some of the cells, with the remains of rotten food and human excreta scattered around the walls

8888-567: The " Curragh incident ", many of the highest-ranking British Army officers in Ireland threatened to resign rather than deploy against the Ulster Volunteers. This meant that the British government could legislate for Home Rule but could not be sure of implementing it. Ireland seemed to be on the brink of civil war. In May 1914, the British government introduced an amending bill to the Third Home Rule Act allowing for

9090-480: The "temporary exclusion of Ulster" from Home Rule. Some Ulster unionists were willing to tolerate the 'loss' of some mainly-Catholic areas of the province (the Ulster counties of Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal). In May 1914 three border boundary options were proposed for the temporary exclusion of part of Ulster from Home Rule. One option recommended that Counties Tyrone and Fermanagh, south County Armagh, south County Down,

9292-560: The 1920 partition for the time being, and of the rest of Treaty text as signed in regard to Northern Ireland: That whilst refusing to admit the right of any part of Ireland to be excluded from the supreme authority of the Parliament of Ireland, or that the relations between the Parliament of Ireland and any subordinate legislature in Ireland can be a matter for treaty with a Government outside Ireland, nevertheless, in sincere regard for internal peace, and to make manifest our desire not to bring force or coercion to bear upon any substantial part of

9494-467: The 1981 strikes: Thomas Ashe (1917), Terence MacSwiney (1920), Michael Fitzgerald (1920), Joe Murphy (1920), Joseph Whitty (1923), Andy O'Sullivan (1923), Denny Barry (1923) (see 1923 Irish hunger strikes ), Tony D'Arcy (1940), Jack McNeela (1940), Seán McCaughey (1946), Michael Gaughan (1974), and Frank Stagg (1976). Although The Troubles had been ongoing since 1969, internment —which had been used several times in Ireland during

9696-719: The 20th century by both the British and Irish Free State —was not introduced until 1971. Internees were originally held in disused RAF base in County Down , called Long Kesh. Later renamed HM Prison Maze , it was run along the lines of a prisoner of war camp, complete, says the author Thomas Hennessey, "with imagery reminiscent of Second World War POW camps surrounded by barbed wire, watchtowers and Nissen huts ". 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. Convicted prisoners were refused

9898-411: The 8th saw the same group meet. This time, Atkins suggested resending the earlier proposal but emphasising that in the event of non-acceptance, "the British government would immediately issue an alternative statement". By 0210, McDonnell had gone into a coma, which, at that point, the republican leadership was not aware of, although the government was. Previous prisoners had not died until they had been in

10100-583: The Assembly was null and void before it began. We were not prepared to put the people of Northern Ireland through another charade. The Workers' Party decided not to become members of the Forum. The Democratic Socialist Party was ineligible as its sole TD, Jim Kemmy , had lost his seat in the November 1982 election. These two parties organised a separate "alternative Forum" with the Alliance Party,

10302-551: The Belfast shipyards, all of them either Catholics or Protestant labour activists . In his Twelfth of July speech, Unionist leader Edward Carson had called for loyalists to take matters into their own hands to defend Ulster, and had linked republicanism with socialism and the Catholic Church. In response to the expulsions and attacks on Catholics, the Dáil approved a boycott of Belfast goods and banks. The 'Belfast Boycott'

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10504-490: The Bill two entirely new provisions, one providing for the permanent exclusion of Ulster, of the six Ulster counties...and I was given to understand in so many words that this decision was not put before me for the purpose of discussion or consultation, that the decision was absolute and final, and the right hon. Gentlemen described themselves to me simply as messengers, without any power or authority to discuss these questions in any way whatever with me, and they informed me that it

10706-589: The Bill, fearing industrial decline and religious persecution of Protestants by a Catholic-dominated Irish government. English Conservative politician Lord Randolph Churchill proclaimed: "the Orange card is the one to play", in reference to the Protestant Orange Order . The belief was later expressed in the popular slogan, "Home Rule means Rome Rule " . Partly in reaction to the Bill, there were riots in Belfast , as Protestant unionists attacked

10908-474: The British Government entertain an earnest hope that the necessity of harmonious co-operation amongst Irishmen of all classes and creeds will be recognised throughout Ireland, and they will welcome the day when by those means unity is achieved. But no such common action can be secured by force. In reply, de Valera wrote We most earnestly desire to help in bringing about a lasting peace between

11110-399: The British House of Commons concerning the Government of Ireland Act: I was pleased to fight shoulder to shoulder, on the Somme and elsewhere, with my fellow-countrymen from the North of Ireland. We fraternised, and we thought that when we came home we would not bicker again, but that we would be happy in Ireland, with a Parliament for our own native country. We did not want two Irelands at

11312-476: The British were "taking a big risk here, dealing with us, because that alone is a huge story—'you shouldn’t talk to these people', and here you are, flying somebody over". Kenneth Stowe —at the time Permanent Under-Secretary of State of the NIO—later said that she was "fully aware" of the necessity in negotiating with Sinn Féin if one wished to settle Northern Irish affairs. According to Thatcher's biographer, Charles Moore , Adams and McGuinness wanted to bring

11514-423: The Catholic majority counties (Tyrone and Fermanagh) would later be incorporated into Northern Ireland. In September 1912, more than 500,000 Unionists signed the Ulster Covenant , pledging to oppose Home Rule by any means and to defy any Irish government. They founded a large paramilitary movement, the Ulster Volunteers , to prevent Ulster becoming part of a self-governing Ireland. They also threatened to establish

11716-427: The Catholic minority. The Irish War of Independence resulted in a truce in July 1921 and led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty that December. Under the Treaty, the territory of Southern Ireland would leave the UK and become the Irish Free State. Northern Ireland's parliament could vote it in or out of the Free State, and a commission could then redraw or confirm the provisional border. The Northern government chose to remain in

11918-658: The Dáil in September 1919. The number of counties that might be excluded from an Irish Home Rule parliament varied over the years. During the Gladstone era it was proposed that all nine counties of Ulster be excluded. A nine county exclusion was again proposed in September 1912, during this time the Unionist leader Edward Carson repeatedly spoke of the exclusion of all nine counties of Ulster. In April 1912 Winston Churchill proposed that three counties (Down, Antrim and Londonderry) be excluded. Later that year Bonar Law added County Armagh thereby recommending that four counties be excluded from Home Rule. During Asquith's time in office

12120-421: The European Union . The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the key stage in the Northern Ireland peace process , provides for a united Ireland if a majority in Northern Ireland agree; it does not provide specifics of the process or settlement. Irish jurist Richard Humphreys in a 2009 book suggests that the New Ireland Forum would provide a model for "nationalist Ireland negotiating and agreeing, so far as possible,

12322-465: The Forum report and The Way Forward . This report informed the British government's view leading up to the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985. Richard Sinnott suggests the Forum report gave Fitzgerald a mandate in the negotiations that produced the Agreement. Charles Haughey was criticised in the aftermath of the Forum Report's publication for appearing to put a more traditionalist interpretation of its conclusions than other parties. This eventually came to

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12524-428: The Forum thus: The McGimpsey brothers, members of the Ulster Unionist Party, felt the Forum's report totally ignored their contribution. On 2 July 1984, Jim Prior , Secretary of State for Northern Ireland commented on the Forum's report in the House of Commons: In October 1984, in a Seanad debate on the Forum's report, Mary Robinson regretted that "the range of contributors invited to make oral presentations to

12726-699: The Forum was too narrow", and remarked that "witnessing the Catholic Bishops and their representatives being questioned by politicians at the Forum may have marked a modest beginning to a healthy separation of Church and State in Ireland." She endorsed the view of political scientists Kevin Boyle and Tom Hadden, who stated: Oliver MacDonagh identified in the report three new developments for Irish nationalism: an unequivocal rejection of not only violence but "even psychological coercion"; an argument for unity based on "basic common interests of North and South" rather than "the horrid rhetoric of rights and righteousness"; and an acknowledgement that "the Ulster Unionist identity

12928-491: The Free State, leaving the remaining territory too small to be viable. In October 1922, the Irish Free State government established the North-Eastern Boundary Bureau (NEBB) a government office which by 1925 had prepared 56 boxes of files to argue its case for areas of Northern Ireland to be transferred to the Free State. De Valera had drafted his own preferred text of the treaty in December 1921, known as "Document No. 2". An "Addendum North East Ulster" indicates his acceptance of

13130-449: The Front; it was one Ireland, whether we, came from the North or from the South...I feel in common with thousands of my countrymen in Ireland, that I and they have been cheated out of the fruits of our victory. We placed our trust in you and you have betrayed us. Michael Collins had negotiated the treaty and had it approved by the cabinet, the Dáil (on 7 January 1922 by 64–57), and by the people in national elections. Regardless of this, it

13332-408: The Home Rule Bill (now Government of Ireland Act 1914) on 18 September 1914. The Suspensory Act ensured that Home Rule would be postponed for the duration of the war with the exclusion of Ulster still to be decided. During the First World War, support grew for full Irish independence, which had been advocated by Irish republicans . In April 1916, republicans took the opportunity of the war to launch

13534-435: The INLA. There were retaliatory UDA killings in Belfast; an RUC officer was blown up by a car bomb , and a woman in Derry was assassinated while collecting census forms door to door. The IRA released a statement that attacks on security services would increase. The first paramilitary victim following Sands's death was Constable Peter Ellis, who was shot by the IRA on 6 May in New Lodge . The following day James Power, INLA,

13736-444: The IRA firing party that had volleyed over the coffin, and this led to rioting when the crowd stopped them. Walker argues this was a tactical decision by the government, and "gave the authorities a chance to demonstrate that there would be no let up in their battle against the IRA—not in jail, not on the streets and not at funerals". Black flags were flown from nationalist homes: these were intended to express both grief and anger towards

13938-404: The IRA into believing the prisoners' demands had been granted. He said the British government deliberately created a state of confusion among the hunger strikers by moving McKenna, who was close to death, to a hospital outside the prison. He said this had the effect of creating uncertainty within his colleagues, who would not know if he was about to die or had died. Walker's source argues that this

14140-405: The IRA. As a result, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) threatened to release a statement condemning her government for brinkmanship and requesting that civil servants be allowed openly into the Maze to negotiate. The government was also under increased pressure from senior police echelons and military commanders to take a more conciliatory approach, sufficient for Atkins to urge

14342-644: The Imperial garb, what mercy, what pity, much less justice or liberty, will be conceded to us then? That is what I have to say about the Ulster Parliament." Ulster Unionist Party politician Charles Craig (the brother of Sir James Craig) made the feelings of many Unionists clear concerning the importance they placed on the passing of the Act and the establishment of a separate Parliament for Northern Ireland: "The Bill gives us everything we fought for, everything we armed ourselves for, and to attain which we raised our Volunteers in 1913 and 1914...but we have many enemies in this country, and we feel that an Ulster without

14544-599: The Irish Free State (Agreement) Bill was being debated on 21 March 1922, amendments were proposed which would have provided that the Ulster Month would run from the passing of the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act and not the Act that would establish the Irish Free State. Essentially, those who put down the amendments wished to bring forward the month during which Northern Ireland could exercise its right to opt out of

14746-511: The Irish Free State. Not only is this opposed to your pledge in our agreed statement of November 25th, but it is also antagonistic to the general principles of the Empire regarding her people's liberties. It is true that Ulster is given the right to contract out, but she can only do so after automatic inclusion in the Irish Free State. [...] We can only conjecture that it is a surrender to the claims of Sinn Fein that her delegates must be recognised as

14948-598: The Irish Free State. Once the treaty was ratified, the Houses of Parliament of Northern Ireland had one month (dubbed the Ulster month ) to exercise this opt-out during which time the provisions of the Government of Ireland Act continued to apply in Northern Ireland. According to barrister and legal writer Austen Morgan, the wording of the treaty allowed the impression to be given that the Irish Free State temporarily included

15150-609: The Irish Republican movement". This back-channel line of communication between the IRA Army Council and the higher echelons of the British government was "painstakingly created" in 1972 and involved many of the same individuals for the next 20 years. It was known about by the Prime Minister and overseen by MI6 . However, it was complicated by the fact that when the talks with Whitelaw had been exposed in

15352-565: The Irish nationalist and Catholic minority. In 1967 Unionists opposed a civil rights campaign to end discrimination, viewing it as a republican front. This helped spark the Troubles ( c.  1969 –1998), a thirty-year conflict in which more than 3,500 people were killed. Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the Irish and British governments and the main political parties agreed to a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland, and that

15554-617: The Liberal Chief Whip proposed that "roughly five counties" be excluded. Finally, in May 1916 Lloyd George proposed that six counties be excluded from a Dublin Home Rule parliament. However, in a 29 May 1916 letter to the Unionist leader Edward Carson, Lloyd George made clear that the exclusion should not be temporary: "We must make it clear that at the end of the provisional period Ulster does not, whether she wills it or not, merge in

15756-520: The RUC had directed it be taken from the Maze to his place of burial, Bellaghy . The police considered any other route—which would have to march past protestant areas—too dangerous for both security forces and civilians. As such it was decided to give Hughes a police convoy, although the Chief Constable, Jack Hermon , was "less certain than one would like" of the exact statutory powers under which

15958-677: The Sinn Féin negotiators. The Treaty was signed on 6 December 1921. Under its terms, the territory of Southern Ireland would leave the United Kingdom within one year and become a self-governing dominion called the Irish Free State . The treaty was given legal effect in the United Kingdom through the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 , and in Ireland by ratification by Dáil Éireann . Under

16160-530: 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 (prisoner of war rather than criminal status) for convicted paramilitary prisoners. In 1978, 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

16362-797: The UK, with their own bicameral parliaments, along with a Council of Ireland comprising members of both. Northern Ireland would comprise the aforesaid six northeastern counties, while Southern Ireland would comprise the rest of the island. The Act was passed on 11 November and received royal assent in December 1920. It would come into force on 3 May 1921. Elections to the Northern and Southern parliaments were held on 24 May. Unionists won most seats in Northern Ireland. Its parliament first met on 7 June and formed its first devolved government , headed by Unionist Party leader James Craig. Republican and nationalist members refused to attend. King George V addressed

16564-404: The UK. The Boundary Commission proposed small changes to the border in 1925, but they were not implemented. Since partition, most Irish nationalists/republicans continue to seek a united and independent Ireland, while Ulster unionists/loyalists want Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK. Over the years the Unionist governments of Northern Ireland have been accused of discrimination against

16766-683: The Ulster Unionist leader Sir James Craig met with the President of Sinn Féin, Éamon de Valera , in secret near Dublin. Each restated his position and nothing new was agreed. On 10 May De Valera told the Dáil that the meeting "... was of no significance". In June that year, shortly before the truce that ended the Anglo-Irish War, David Lloyd George invited the Irish President de Valera to talks in London on an equal footing with

16968-655: The Unionist parties and the British Government. We accepted power sharing and went into the Assembly. We were then kicked out following the Ulster Workers Council strike. When the Labour Government invited us to the Northern Ireland Convention, we again accepted the terms laid down by this House and were willing to negotiate, but again the Unionists said that in no circumstances were they prepared to share power. In 1979, when

17170-671: The United Kingdom. Many Irish republicans blamed the British establishment for the sectarian divisions in Ireland, and believed that Ulster Unionist defiance would fade once British rule was ended. In an attempt to bring about the secession of Ireland from the UK, the Irish War of Independence began on 21 January 1919 with the Soloheadbeg ambush . A guerrilla war developed as the Irish Republican Army (IRA) began attacking British forces. The British authorities outlawed

17372-615: The United Kingdom. The nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party won most Irish seats in the 1885 general election . It then held the balance of power in the British House of Commons , and entered into an alliance with the Liberals . IPP leader Charles Stewart Parnell convinced British Prime Minister William Gladstone to introduce the First Irish Home Rule Bill in 1886. Protestant unionists in Ireland opposed

17574-404: The achievement of a republic through negotiation was impossible'. On 20 July, Lloyd George further declared to de Valera that: The form in which the settlement is to take effect will depend upon Ireland herself. It must allow for full recognition of the existing powers and privileges of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, which cannot be abrogated except by their own consent. For their part,

17776-404: The all Ireland parliament proposal. The report was, however, rejected by the Ulster unionist members, and since Sinn Féin had not taken part in the proceedings, the convention was considered a failure. In 1918, the British government attempted to impose conscription in Ireland and argued there could be no Home Rule without it. This sparked outrage in Ireland and further galvanised support for

17978-540: The alleged short-term thinking of successive British governments' policy on Northern Ireland. It estimated the high financial cost of the Troubles since 1968, while also acknowledging the high cost of implementing any new political arrangements. It outlined three possible alternative structures for a "new Ireland": At Charles Haughey 's insistence, the unitary state was presented as the most desirable option, which Fitzgerald later rued as "ritual obeisance". Unionist historian Graham Walker writes, "The Forum Report did reflect

18180-445: The basis of the legislation that partitioned Ireland – the Government of Ireland Act 1920. At the first meeting of the committee (15 October 1919) it was decided that two devolved governments should be established — one for the nine counties of Ulster and one for the rest of Ireland, together with a Council of Ireland for the "encouragement of Irish unity". The Long Committee felt that the nine-county proposal "will enormously minimise

18382-581: The behaviour of the military, close liaison between the NIO and Belfast community and church leaders, with the Irish government, and the attitude of the United States. In Dublin, the Irish Taoiseach , Charles Haughey recommended the British continue the strategy of "a good mixture of ingenuity, subtlety and sensitivity" that had served them the previous year. On 4 February, the prisoners issued

18584-518: The boundaries". This left large areas of Northern Ireland with populations that supported either Irish Home Rule or the establishment of an all-Ireland Republic. The results from the last all-Ireland election (the 1918 Irish general election) showed Nationalist majorities in the envisioned Northern Ireland: Counties Tyrone and Fermanagh, Derry City and the Constituencies of Armagh South, Belfast Falls and Down South. Many Unionists feared that

18786-482: The ceremonial opening of the Northern parliament on 22 June. Meanwhile, Sinn Féin won an overwhelming majority in the Southern Ireland election. They treated both as elections for Dáil Éireann , and its elected members gave allegiance to the Dáil and Irish Republic, thus rendering "Southern Ireland" dead in the water. The Southern parliament met only once and was attended by four unionists. On 5 May 1921,

18988-425: The change of prisoner strategy and the opening up of lines of communication in 1978 was that, three years later, the world now had a thorough, if a third party, knowledge of conditions inside the Maze, due to the volume of information that had previously come out. David Beresford , a Northern Ireland correspondent for The Guardian in 1981, researched the methods the prisoners used to collect equipment, in view of

19190-636: The cities of Newry and Derry should be left under the proposed Irish Parliament. There was then debate over how much of Ulster should be excluded and for how long, and whether to hold referendums in each county. The Chancellor of the Exchequer Lloyd George supported "the principle of the referendum...each of the Ulster Counties is to have the option of exclusion from the Home Rule Bill." In July 1914, King George V called

19392-403: The city's Catholic nationalist minority. The Bill was defeated in the Commons. Gladstone introduced a Second Irish Home Rule Bill in 1892. The Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed to oppose home rule, and the Bill sparked mass unionist protests. In response, Liberal Unionist leader Joseph Chamberlain called for a separate provincial government for Ulster where Protestant unionists were

19594-450: The conditions they dwelt in. It also undermined morale, both in the Maze and on the outside. The situation changed with the arrival of Brendan Hughes in the H Block; Hughes, supported by Sands, advocated coming out of cells, not just to improve their own existence but, more importantly, to allow them to take advantage of the opportunities visits presented for smuggling. The Adams/Hughes stratagem also made prison protests more sustainable in

19796-523: The death of O'Hara, for example, the police were attacked, and a man was killed by a plastic bullet . The IRA killed 13 policemen, 13 soldiers—including five members of the UDR —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. Prison officers became a favoured target by the IRA: Eighteen had been killed in

19998-432: The decision a few days ago as to whether we would call upon the Government to include the nine counties in the Bill or be settled with the six." In what became Northern Ireland, the process of partition was accompanied by violence, both "in defence or opposition to the new settlement". The IRA carried out attacks on British forces in the north-east, but was less active than in the south of Ireland. Protestant loyalists in

20200-446: The decision to save McKenna's life and end the strike after 53 days on 18 December. Conversely, more recently, Hughes has stated that that the reason he called it off was purely to save McKenna's life, and explicitly not because he expected British concessions or a prisoners' victory. Sands believed that the strikers "were beat [ sic ] by a few lousy hours". The final British offer made no promises but gave assurances that

20402-552: The dirty protests had now lasted nearly three years, and morale inside was felt to be dangerously low. One ex-blanketman recalled that "the more experienced men spoke for the rest of us when they said they were nearly at the end of their tether". Shortly after this, a "Smashing H-Block" conference took place in West Belfast in October 1979. Over 600 people, from many republican or left wing organisations attended. This led to

20604-463: The end of the 1980 hunger strike, and were still available on the outbreak of the next. Indeed, soon after her election, Thatcher spoke to President Jimmy Carter on the telephone in which she stated that her preferred strategy was through "patient and persistent negotiation". Publicly, however, it was a different story. In December 1980, the NIO's PUM, John Blelloch emphasised to a republican contact that there could be no question of negotiations while

20806-419: The ending of the ongoing "Belfast Boycott" of northern goods by the south and the return of jobs to the thousands of Catholics that had been forcibly removed from Belfast's mills and shipyards (see The Troubles in Northern Ireland (1920–1922) . The second Pact consisted of ten Articles which called for an end to all IRA activity in Northern Ireland and the setting up of a special police force that would represent

21008-538: The fact that H Blocks had been designed to constrain prisoners' communications. Although the prisoners had the final say on who visited them—they had to send their VOs to the Governor—they were generally expected to accept the recommendations of the Army Council, which was interested in maximising the number of couriers available. If possible, these couriers—nearly all of them women—would also be family or friends of

21210-539: The final session on 9 February 1984. There were 11 public sessions, 28 private ones, and visits to Northern Ireland in September 1983 and Great Britain in January 1984. The forum's steering group, comprising the chairman and the four party leaders, met 56 times in total. Submissions were invited in press advertisements; 317 were received, and 31 submitting groups and individuals were invited to make oral presentations to

21412-509: The first hunger strike , which ended after 53 days. 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. The strike was called off after ten prisoners had starved themselves to death, including Sands, whose funeral

21614-471: The floor of the House of Commons: I was informed, on behalf of the Cabinet, that negotiations and communications and consultations with me had been struck off, and that I would receive no communication from the Cabinet until they had come to a decision, behind my back, upon proposals which I had never seen and which they refused to submit to me. I asked them what the nature of these new proposals was, and I

21816-483: The force did so. Hermon's priority for the future was that—however many more funerals there might be—the IRA would not be in control. Both McCreesh's and O'Hara's funerals were accompanied by paramilitary colour parties, speeches and other trappings. The former passed without incident, but O'Hara's descended into rioting. Next to die, McDonnell's funeral experienced some of the worst violence yet. The British Army, through an airborne observation post, attempted to arrest

22018-405: The formation of the broad-based National H-Block/Armagh Committee on a platform of support for the "Five Demands", and included seasoned activists such as McAliskey, Eamonn McCann and Miriam Daly . 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, while loyalist paramilitaries shot and killed

22220-588: The former Act, at 1 pm on 6 December 1922, King George V (at a meeting of his Privy Council at Buckingham Palace ) signed a proclamation establishing the new Irish Free State. Under the treaty, Northern Ireland's parliament could vote to opt out of the Free State. Under Article 12 of the Treaty, Northern Ireland could exercise its opt-out by presenting an address to the King, requesting not to be part of

22422-479: The forum. Separately from its final report, the forum published three reports on the economic cost of Partition of Ireland since 1920, and of the Troubles since 1969; it also commissioned reports from external consultants and experts on the cost and logistics of a united Ireland . The Forum published its report on 2 May 1984. Its historical treatment heavily criticised the Government of Ireland Act 1920 , and

22624-502: The fullest use of our rights to mollify it". While speaking in the British House of Parliament on 14 December 1921, the British Prime Minister remarked on the possibility of including Tyrone and Fermanagh into Northern Ireland: "There is no doubt—certainly since the Act of 1920—that the majority of the people of two counties prefer being with their Southern neighbours to being in the Northern Parliament." On 21 December 1921

22826-485: The funeral of Francis Hughes, which took place "not without some controversy", argues Hennessey. The Times 's Northern Ireland correspondent Chris Ryder described an "undignified chase" across South Belfast after his body was handed over to his family. The family, and the wider republican movement, wanted the remains to be taken via the Falls Road and Toomebridge —where receptions had been laid on—whereas

23028-440: The government "will, subject to the overriding requirements of security, keep prison conditions—and that includes clothing, work, association, education, training and remission—under continuing review". By January 1981, it became clear that the prisoners' demands had not been conceded. The republican movement—"unconvincingly", argues Kelly—blamed Britain, insisting that Thatcher had reneged on her promises. Instead, for example, of

23230-590: The government would not talk to them, they managed to send in an NIO official hours after McDonnell's death. The prisoners were insisting on open negotiations by the end of July. When pressed on this by the Dublin government, the British response was that "we have always understood the Irish Government to be opposed to all forms of negotiation with subversive organisations   ... [so] that is not possible". Partition of Ireland The Partition of Ireland ( Irish : críochdheighilt na hÉireann )

23432-702: The government, but they also contained an implicit threat towards those deemed the strikers' opponents. Despite Thatcher's oft-repeated mantra that she "did not talk to terrorists", historians are aware that the British government had been negotiating with elements of the IRA since 1972 when the first ceasefire was being arranged between Willie Whitelaw and a delegation including Martin McGuinness , Gerry Adams and IRA Chief-of-Staff Seán Mac Stíofáin . The same occurred with church-backed talks in 1974–1975. Historians and political observers are also aware that "behind closed doors she did authorize discussions with

23634-448: The hunger strike to an end but required something to take back to the republican movement which demonstrated British good faith. Moore says that Thatcher allowed Adams to receive some further concessions while rejecting the fundamental premise of status. According to Adams, it was the government who "opened up contact", but then closed it the moment the first hunger strike was called off. However, lines of communication remained open after

23836-461: The huts, but new intake arrived at eight newly-built cellular "H-Blocks", so called due to their layout. Following internment, both IRA violence and recruitment escalated. IRA volunteer Kieran Nugent had been interned in Long Kesh in 1974, but when he was arrested and convicted in 1976, he faced a very different prison regime. On 14 September, he was the first Republican to be convicted since

24038-471: The introduction of the Five Demands for all prisoners". Until the late 1970s, the blanket protest was effectively a passive one. Because the prisoners would not wear uniforms, they could not come out of their cells, even for masses or visits. The problem with this all-or-nothing "macho" strategy is that it made communicating with the outside world much harder, and it was difficult to get word out about

24240-410: The justness of our cause a number of our comrades, beginning today with Bobby Sands, will hunger-strike to the death unless the British government abandons its criminalization policy and meets our demand for political status. I am standing on the threshold of another trembling world. May God have mercy on my soul. My heart is very sore because I know that I have broken my poor mother's heart, and my home

24442-449: The kind of unity that would be put to the people in [...] a referendum". After the 2016 UK vote to leave the EU renewed Irish politicians' consideration of a united Ireland, a 2017 Oireachtas committee report endorsed Humphreys' call for what it termed a "New Ireland Forum 2". 1981 Irish hunger strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during

24644-399: The long term. It also improved internal and external communications, the weaknesses of which had been exposed in the first hunger strike, when Sands and Hughes could not meet, and there was little up-to-date information being shared. Internally, prisoners in one wing could generally shout to another wing, especially at night. Other methods they developed were creative, such as tying items onto

24846-650: The long time (1921–1943) Minister of Home Affairs (Northern Ireland) authorized that both County Councils offices be seized (by the Royal Irish Constabulary), the County officials expelled, and the County Councils dissolved. The British government introduced the Government of Ireland Bill in early 1920 and it passed through the stages in the British parliament that year. It would partition Ireland and create two self-governing territories within

25048-418: The more convinced am I that these differences will disappear." Unionists opposed the Bill, but argued that if Home Rule could not be stopped then all or part of Ulster should be excluded from it. Irish nationalists opposed partition, although some were willing to accept Ulster having some self-governance within a self-governing Ireland ("Home Rule within Home Rule"). Winston Churchill made his feelings about

25250-451: The nationalist vote by contesting the election. This was unpopular in the SDLP, whose ex-leader Gerry Fitt —until 1978, the party's only MP and now a Unity MP—criticised the SDLP for abstaining, and Currie himself later said he was "extremely angry and frustrated" not to have been chosen as his party's candidate. Sands thus stood as an Anti H-Block candidate and had a clear run against Ulster Unionist Party candidate Harry West . Sands

25452-571: The new MP. It also alarmed the unionist community, to whom Sands was merely a convicted terrorist. An Enniskillen councillor protested that Fermanagh unionists were "astounded" that the Catholic community elected Sands as they did. Harry West said afterwards, "now we know the types of people who are living among us". The Anti-H Block cause received a profile boost: now that a British MP might starve to death, Bowyer Bell says, "the international media began to arrive". The New York Times described

25654-482: The new Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, James Craig, which de Valera attended. De Valera's policy in the ensuing negotiations was that the future of Ulster was an Irish-British matter to be resolved between two sovereign states, and that Craig should not attend. After the truce came into effect on 11 July, the USC was demobilized (July – November 1921). Speaking after the truce Lloyd George made it clear to de Valera, 'that

25856-409: The new settlement" – see The Troubles in Northern Ireland (1920–1922) . In the spring and early summer of 1922, the IRA launched a failed "Northern Offensive" into border areas of Northern Ireland. The capital, Belfast , saw "savage and unprecedented" communal violence , mainly between Protestant and Catholic civilians. More than 500 were killed and more than 10,000 became refugees, most of them from

26058-463: The north and an illegal and illegitimate process in the south. Local elections in the south were contested, but although there were increasing calls for this approach to be expanded to the north, the most recent attempt—in November 1980—was voted down at the party's Ard Fheis . The death of Sands necessitated another by-election in Fermanagh and South Tyrone. This time the Anti-H Block candidate

26260-644: The north-east attacked the Catholic minority in reprisal for IRA actions. The January and June 1920 local elections saw Irish nationalists and republicans win control of Tyrone and Fermanagh county councils, which were to become part of Northern Ireland, while Derry had its first Irish nationalist mayor. In summer 1920, sectarian violence erupted in Belfast and Derry, and there were mass burnings of Catholic property by loyalists in Lisburn and Banbridge . Loyalists drove 8,000 "disloyal" co-workers from their jobs in

26462-598: The only Irishmen consulted during this time. During the summer of 1919, Long visited Ireland several times, using his yacht as a meeting place to discuss the "Irish question" with the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland John French and the Chief Secretary for Ireland Ian Macpherson . Prior to the first meeting of the committee, Long sent a memorandum to the British Prime Minister recommending two parliaments for Ireland (24 September 1919). That memorandum formed

26664-581: The partition issue...it minimises the division of Ireland on purely religious lines. The two religions would not be unevenly balanced in the Parliament of Northern Ireland." Most northern unionists wanted the territory of the Ulster government to be reduced to six counties, so that it would have a larger Protestant/Unionist majority. Long offered the Committee members a deal – "that the Six Counties ... should be theirs for good ... and no interference with

26866-434: The peoples of these two islands, but see no avenue by which it can be reached if you deny Ireland's essential unity and set aside the principle of national self-determination. Speaking in the House of Commons on the day the Act passed, Joe Devlin ( Nationalist Party ) representing west Belfast , summed up the feelings of many Nationalists concerning partition and the setting up of a Northern Ireland Parliament while Ireland

27068-411: The political parties in the Republic of the need to engage with Ulster unionism and "North-South relationships" rather than ignoring them in favour of the "East-West" relationship with the British government in London. Dermot Keogh called it "one of the most important intellectual exercises in self-definition since the foundation of the state." On the other hand, it has been seen to have led indirectly to

27270-406: The possibility of the partition of Ireland clear: "Whatever Ulster's right may be, she cannot stand in the way of the whole of the rest of Ireland. Half a province cannot impose a permanent veto on the nation. Half a province cannot obstruct forever the reconciliation between the British and Irish democracies." The 1911 census reported Catholic majorities in five of the nine counties of Ulster, two of

27472-501: The prison, refused food. The date was deliberately chosen as the fifth anniversary of the withdrawal of status. A statement from the prisoners was issued by Danny Morrison , Sinn Féin's publicity director: We have asserted that we are political prisoners and everything about our country, our arrests, interrogations, trials, and prison conditions, show that we are politically motivated and not motivated by selfish reasons or for selfish ends. As further demonstration of our selflessness and

27674-403: The prisoner. They brought and received comms. These were tiny letters, written on cigarette papers and wrapped in clingfilm during transportation, either internally or under clothing: "The system became so efficient that on occasion the external leadership could expect to get a message in, a reply out and a second message back in in a single day". Even before Sands's death, pro-prisoner violence

27876-478: The prisoners presented a proposal for a hunger strike to the external leadership. Although this was rejected —former prisoner Laurence McKeown has said this proposal was "unknown to most prisoners" —the external leadership "conceded, reluctantly" that they had no alternative proposal. In June 1980, the European Court of Human Rights rejected a claim by the prisoners that their treatment during imprisonment

28078-445: The prisoners themselves responsible for their actions, and even regret, at their forthcoming deaths: I cannot interfere with the hunger strike; we do not force feed. If those people continue with the hunger strike it will have no effect whatsoever. It will just take their own lives for which I will be profoundly sorry because I think it is a ridiculous thing to do, that it is a ridiculous way to try to go about." Ten days later, Sands

28280-447: The prisoners' mouths and body cavities provided not just a practical method of importation but another act of resistance against the prison regime. Cavities for the Maze prisoners included rectal, throat and nasal passages, as well as within foreskins and navels. One prisoner became known as "The Suitcase" on account of how much he could carry inside him, while another set a record with 40 comms under his foreskin. The long-term effect of

28482-484: The proposed status as a dominion (as represented by the Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity) for Southern Ireland , rather than as an independent all-Ireland republic , but continuing partition was a significant matter for Ulstermen like Seán MacEntee , who spoke strongly against partition or re-partition of any kind. The pro-treaty side argued that the proposed Boundary Commission would give large swathes of Northern Ireland to

28684-436: The province of Ulster, whose inhabitants may now be unwilling to accept the national authority, we are prepared to grant to that portion of Ulster which is defined as Northern Ireland in the British Government of Ireland Act of 1920, privileges and safeguards not less substantial than those provided for in the 'Articles of Agreement for a Treaty' between Great Britain and Ireland signed in London on 6 December 1921. In early 1922

28886-441: The provisions of Section 12 of the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922. The treaty also allowed for a re-drawing of the border by a Boundary Commission . Sir James Craig, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland objected to aspects of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. In a letter to Austen Chamberlain dated 14 December 1921, he stated: We protest against the declared intention of your government to place Northern Ireland automatically in

29088-588: The question of the demands. However, the end result was that At the end of the meeting Atkins explained, and Father Magee accepted, that the Secretary of State could not see him again because to do so would risk creating the impression that some form of negotiation was going on. There was no question of negotiation, and Atkins would need to continue to make that quite clear. Thatcher continued, in public, to maintain her stance that "you can't compromise with violence". Meeting Protestant religious leaders, though, she

29290-533: The representatives of the whole of Ireland, a claim which we cannot for a moment admit. [...] The principles of the 1920 Act have been completely violated, the Irish Free State being relieved of many of her responsibilities towards the Empire. [...] We are glad to think that our decision will obviate the necessity of mutilating the Union Jack . In March 1920 William Redmond a member of Parliament and combat veteran of World War I, addressed his fellow members of

29492-437: The republicans. In the December 1918 general election , Sinn Féin won the overwhelming majority of Irish seats. In line with their manifesto , Sinn Féin's elected members boycotted the British parliament and founded a separate Irish parliament ( Dáil Éireann ), declaring an independent Irish Republic covering the whole island. Unionists, however, won most seats in northeastern Ulster and affirmed their continuing loyalty to

29694-435: The rest of Ireland." In September 1919, British Prime Minister Lloyd George tasked a committee with planning Home Rule for Ireland within the UK. Headed by English Unionist politician Walter Long , it was known as the 'Long Committee'. The makeup of the committee was Unionist in outlook and had no Nationalist representatives as members. James Craig (the future 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland ) and his associates were

29896-452: The rest of the island (Southern Ireland). This was passed as the Government of Ireland Act 1920, and came into force as a fait accompli on 3 May 1921. Following the 1921 elections , Ulster unionists formed a Northern Ireland government. A Southern government was not formed, as republicans recognised the Irish Republic instead. During 1920–22, in what became Northern Ireland, partition was accompanied by violence "in defence or opposition to

30098-623: The result as "a stunning blow to the Protestant establishment of Northern Ireland" and that it "cast into doubt the view often expressed by politicians in London that the IRA is supported only by a fringe of the Catholic voters". For its part, the Irish Times also reported the election as "a serious embarrassment to the British Government" and a "body blow "for those who claimed that most Nationalists would not support paramilitary organisation". The Times , meanwhile, concentrated on whether it

30300-412: The right hon. Member for Spelthorne ( Sir H. Atkins ) was Secretary of State, we again accepted the terms and negotiations, but again the Unionists refused to share power. When the present Secretary of State announced his initiative, before the elections even took place both the Unionist parties made it clear that there were no circumstances in which they were prepared to share power, so the whole purpose of

30502-535: The right to their own clothes, which the prisoners believed had been conceded them, it became clear that they would have to wear prison-issued clothes until they could demonstrate full compliance with the regime. Sands saw this as "a demand for capitulation rather than a step-by-step approach", argues O'Dochartaigh, and began pressuring the external leadership to authorise another hunger strike. The investigative author R. K. Walker has reported one member of British Intelligence as believing that The British government duped

30704-445: The run-up to and duration of the first hunger strike, including two Prison governors , including Albert Mills in 1978. This was the republican movement's means of upping the ante against a relatively soft target. Former IRA prisoner Richard O'Rawe has argued that, from the perspective of the prisoners, prison staff waged a campaign of violence against them, including beatings and testicular squeezings. By late April, with Sands on

30906-423: 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. On 1 March 1976, Merlyn Rees ,

31108-493: The settlement of the five demands. The British government, while offering extensive prison reform, refused to acknowledge political status. The women's strike lasted 19 days, finishing on 19 December. Twenty-six women remained on the dirty protest at Armagh Token three-day fasts broke out sporadically in Belfast Prison . In a war of nerves between the IRA leadership and the government, with McKenna lapsing in and out of

31310-534: The status of Northern Ireland would not change without the consent of a majority of its population. The treaty also reaffirmed an open border between both jurisdictions. Results in Ireland of the December 1910 United Kingdom general election showing a large majority for the Irish Parliamentary Party . During the 19th century, the Irish nationalist Home Rule movement campaigned for Ireland to have self-government while remaining part of

31512-525: The strike along lines which made his death—and several more—was effectively inevitable. Unlike in the first strike, the prisoners joined one at a time and at staggered intervals; Sands started first and was, therefore, almost certain to die, and die first. This was intended to arouse maximum public support and exert maximum pressure on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher , which the republican movement initially struggled to generate. The Sunday Sands began his strike, 3,500 people marched through West Belfast; this

31714-477: The strike was ongoing. When Northern Ireland Office (NIO) officials did meet, on occasion, with republicans, these were generally called "exercises in clarification" rather than negotiations. This was so as not to send the wrong message to observers, particularly to unionist leaders. Even so, John Molyneux , leader of the UUP, wondered if the British understood they would "have difficulty" in persuading people that this

31916-601: The strike. These were Mairéad Farrell (age 23), Mary Doyle (24) and Mairéad Nugent (21); Farrell stated that the intention was to "create an additional source of pressure on the authorities". In four days, their average weight loss was 9 pounds (4.1 kg). They were moved to a single clean cell 2 days after beginning and were in a stable condition. In the Maze, the seven men were in the prison hospital where they were weak but generally stable, except for McKenna and McKearney, who were sinking faster than their comrades. They remained defiant, however, and refused to accept less than

32118-424: The suggestion of partition: "You can no more split Ireland into parts than you can split England or Scotland into parts...You have an essential unity of race and temperament, although I agree that unhappily dissensions have been rank, partially by religion, and partially, by the organisation of partisanship. The more Irishmen are encouraged and empowered to cooperate in the great works of governing their own country,

32320-509: The tabloids, he had banned further direct communications. Thomas Hennessey has argued that the Prime Minister's "hand was literally all over the 'deal'" accepted by Hughes in December 1979, and the speed with which the government were able to present a working hypothesis to Brendan Hughes in the Maze—regardless of its acceptability—told the republican movement that the British were, in fact, willing and able to negotiate. Morrison admitted that

32522-519: The territory would not last if it included too many Catholics and Irish Nationalists but any reduction in size would make the state unviable. The six counties of Antrim , Down , Armagh , Londonderry , Tyrone and Fermanagh comprised the maximum area unionists believed they could dominate. The remaining three counties of Ulster had large Catholic majorities: Cavan 81.5%, Donegal 78.9% and Monaghan 74.7%. On 29 March 1920 Charles Craig (son of Sir James Craig and Unionist MP for County Antrim) made

32724-604: The time pressure—McDonnell was by now close to collapse—he suggested to Thatcher that "we should communicate to the PIRA overnight a draft statement" addressing the five demands. Work, for example, would constitute light-weight, domestic tasks or studying for Open University , while association would be dealt with by local supervisory officers. Thatcher edited the draft to reduce its conciliatory tone, signalling that while they might soften their approach to uniform, work and association were not included. Another meeting just past midnight on

32926-560: The two communities. Article VII called for meetings before the Northern Ireland Government exercised its option to opt out of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The purpose of the meetings was to be "...whether means can be devised to secure the unity of Ireland or failing this whether agreement can be arrived at on the boundary question otherwise than by recourse to the Boundary Commission." Under the treaty it

33128-484: The two leaders of Northern and Southern Ireland agreed on two pacts that were referred to as the Craig-Collins Pacts. Both Pacts were designed to bring peace to Northern Ireland and deal with the issue of partition. Both Pacts fell apart and it was the last time for over 40 years that the leaders of government in the north and south were to meet. Among other issues, the first pact (21 January 1922) called for

33330-518: The vast majority of Irish seats in the 1918 election . They formed a separate Irish parliament and declared an independent Irish Republic covering the whole island. This led to the Irish War of Independence (1919–21), a guerrilla conflict between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and British forces. In 1920 the British government introduced another bill to create two devolved governments: one for six northern counties (Northern Ireland) and one for

33532-625: The verge of death, the British government was making plans to deal with the popular consequences. Atkins briefed Thatcher that not only were thousands expected to turn out for Sands's funeral, but large-scale rioting was expected. The RUC's main priority was to prevent demonstrators from entering Protestant areas, which were already being spoken of as defended by Protestant paramilitaries. Although Sands's funeral—attended by around 100,000 people —on 7 May passed off peacefully, that night, violence broke out across Belfast; security forces were attacked with acid and petrol bombs . Ten thousand people attended

33734-451: The whole island of Ireland, but legally the terms of the treaty applied only to the 26 counties, and the government of the Free State never had any powers—even in principle—in Northern Ireland. On 7 December 1922 the Parliament of Northern Ireland approved an address to George V, requesting that its territory not be included in the Irish Free State. This was presented to the king the following day and then entered into effect, in accordance with

33936-477: The withdrawal of status. As such he was required to wear a prison uniform as every other, non-political, prisoner did. Nugent refused, telling the warder, "if you want me to wear a uniform, you'll have to nail it to my back", and wore a blanket in its place. This began the blanket protest, in which IRA and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners refused to wear prison uniforms and either went naked or fashioned garments from prison blankets. In 1978, after

34138-404: The women's prison at Armagh , where not just faeces and urine, but menstrual blood, coated cell walls. These protests aimed to re-establish the political status expected by as prisoners of war , and were encapsulated in what became known as the "Five Demands": Initially, the dirty protest did not attract a great deal of attention, and even the IRA regarded it as a side issue in the context of

34340-890: Was Owen Carron , Sands's election agent . Held on the day Devine died, Carron won the by-election with an increased number of votes. The increasing electability of republican candidates worried the Irish government. Anti-H Block candidates won over 40,000 first preference votes at the 1981 Irish general election , and elected two prisoners to the Dáil , Paddy Agnew to Louth and hunger striker Kieran Doherty in Cavan-Monaghan . Neither took their seat. Joe McDonnell narrowly missed election in Sligo–Leitrim . The election victories of Doherty and Agnew denied power to Charles Haughey's outgoing Fianna Fáil government, which lost their narrow majority. Adams saw these results primarily as

34542-657: Was abstentionist in the Unionist-dominated Northern Ireland Assembly, which meant its representatives were able to devote more time to the Forum. Speaking in the House of Commons debate on the Forum report on 2 July 1984, Hume explained the impetus for the Forum and why the SDLP wasn't participating in the Assembly: ...under the Conservative Government of 1974 we accepted the terms laid down and negotiated with

34744-414: Was a Pyrrhic victory for the government, as it heightened the resolve of the prisoners in the event of another hunger strike. Prison authorities began to supply the prisoners with officially issued civilian clothing, as had been announced. The Secretary of State , Humphrey Atkins , had already begun preparations for dealing with a second hunger strike based on the lessons of the first one. These included

34946-780: Was against the Convention on Human Rights on the grounds that the dirty protest was self-inflicted. On 27 October 1980, republican prisoners in the Maze began a hunger strike. One hundred and forty-eight 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 McFeely , Sean McKenna, Leo Green, and INLA member John Nixon. On 1 December, three prisoners in Armagh Women's Prison joined

35148-418: Was all the talks amounted to. But hence the British talked to republicans through third parties, such as members of the religious community, rather than Sands or Hughes directly. For example, the Pope's envoy, John Magee, met with Atkins as he did Sands; again, Atkins emphasised that this did not constitute negotiation. To Magee, Sands appeared to understand this, stating that he merely wanted "satisfaction" on

35350-414: Was allowed to stand under the Criminal Law Act 1967 which allowed convicted criminals to be elected. The election took place on 9 April, and following a high-profile campaign, Sands was elected to the British House of Commons with 30,492 votes to West's 29,046, amounting to over 52% of the vote. The result "gravely alarmed" the government, which almost immediately began looking at ways of disqualifying

35552-407: Was almost unbearable. In two of them I was unable to speak for fear of vomiting." 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 just under 34,000 votes, even though Sinn Féin had called for a boycott of the election, and on one occasion, Martin McGuinness heckled her with a megaphone during

35754-422: Was assured by the British Prime Minister and the entire Cabinet that voters in all counties excluded from Home Rule would be permitted to vote on joining a Home Rule Ireland (a vote was never held). Redmond was also "guaranteed" that all excluded counties were to be returned to Home Rule Ireland after six years. On 20 July 1916 Redmond was removed from any further negotiations with the British government. He spoke on

35956-484: Was attended by 100,000 people. The strike radicalised Irish nationalist politics and was the driving force that enabled Sinn Féin to become a mainstream political party. He has chosen death: Refusing to eat or drink, that he may bring Disgrace upon me; for there is a custom, An old and foolish custom, that if a man Be wronged, or think that he is wronged, and starve Upon another’s threshold till he die, The common people, for all time to come, Will raise

36158-418: Was attributed in part to the "out, out, out" response to the Forum it had championed. Journalist Brian Feeney suggests that Sinn Féin's "active abstention ", where those elected in the 1982 Assembly elections acted as local spokespeople in the media, was more effective than the SDLP's policy of sending its representatives to the Dublin forum. The Forum has been seen retrospectively as a first acknowledgement by

36360-443: Was beyond historical comparison." On 5 March, Thatcher flew to Belfast for a lightning visit, in an attempt to reassure the protestant community of the government's continuing commitment to the Union . She denied it was a response to the latest hunger strike, saying "it ought to be as natural for the Prime Minister to visit this part of the United Kingdom as for her   ... to visit Lancashire or Kent", and that she wished to build

36562-565: Was blown up by his organisation's own bomb near his home in the Markets area . The Lost Lives project has calculated that around 50 people lost their lives in the period between the death of Sands and the taking off of Devlin. Following Hughes's death, the Irish country homes of James Comyn , a British High Court judge, and Lord Farnham , were burned out by the IRA, and in Belfast, the night before his burial, there were seven shooting incidents and an explosion. Two days later, Constable Stephen Vallely died when an RPG hit his Land Rover; he

36764-412: Was both fundamentally different and a permanent condition". On 19 November 1984, at a press conference at 12 Downing Street after a British–Irish summit in Chequers , UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher dismissed the report's proposals: This became known as the "out, out, out" speech. Lord Kilbrandon established a committee that produced an unofficial report attempting to reconcile elements of

36966-552: Was by now gravely ill, and McKearney close behind; the eyesight of both had deteriorated. By now—following "intense" and "highly secret" negotiations involving the Irish Government , also the British had clarified their position in a thirty-page document detailing a proposed settlement, which touched on many of the demands, although without conceding any. With the document in transit to Belfast, Hughes—having already been informed that free association and their own clothing had been granted, which he deemed 'close' to what they wanted—took

37168-439: Was compared to 10,000 marchers four months previously. Edward Daly , Bishop of Derry , condemned the return to hunger strike as being not "morally justified" while Sands held journalists' interviews from his bed. Food was given to Sands every day, although this was refused. One of Sands's fellow prisoners reported how food would sit there all day, and when it was taken away at night, the warders "would accuse Bobby of having eaten

37370-407: Was deployed and an Ulster Special Constabulary (USC) was formed to help the regular police. The USC was almost wholly Protestant and some of its members carried out reprisal attacks on Catholics. From 1920 to 1922, more than 500 were killed in Northern Ireland and more than 10,000 became refugees, most of them Catholics. See The Troubles in Northern Ireland (1920–1922) . In the first election to

37572-400: Was duly created with a devolved government (Home Rule) and remained part of the UK. The larger Southern Ireland was not recognised by most of its citizens, who instead recognised the self-declared 32-county Irish Republic . On 6 December 1922 (a year after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty ), Ireland was partitioned. At that time, the territory of Southern Ireland left the UK and became

37774-439: Was enforced by the IRA, who halted trains and lorries from Belfast and destroyed their goods. Conflict continued intermittently for two years, mostly in Belfast, which saw "savage and unprecedented" communal violence between Protestant and Catholic civilians. There was rioting, gun battles and bombings. Homes, business and churches were attacked and people were expelled from workplaces and from mixed neighbourhoods. The British Army

37976-564: Was his choice. The Government would not force medical treatment upon him." Sands died in the early hours of 5th May 1981; Hughes was two weeks behind him and the next two a week behind Hughes. Small scale rioting broke out almost immediately, particularly in the interface area of New Barnsley . The Gaelic Athletic Association was condemned by an Irish Republican Socialist Party councillor for banning ant-H Block activity on its premises. Sinn Féin had traditionally abstained from electoral politics, seeing it as reinforcing colonial rule in

38178-407: Was in a deep state of unrest. Devlin stated: "I know beforehand what is going to be done with us, and therefore it is well that we should make our preparations for that long fight which, I suppose, we will have to wage in order to be allowed even to live." He accused the government of "...not inserting a single clause...to safeguard the interests of our people. This is not a scattered minority...it

38380-460: Was joined by Francis Hughes . On the 22nd, Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O'Hara began their fasts. The British strategy, at first, was to wait it out and allow time to collapse the strike as it had done in 1980. In the meantime, though, "the strike was quickly overtaken by other events" outside Belfast. On the same day Thatcher visited the north, Independent Republican "unity" MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone Frank Maguire died, resulting in

38582-410: Was not negotiating. In the event, Thatcher turned the suggestion down in case it looked as though the ECHR were her emissaries. Privately, contact between the NIO and contacts of the republican leadership continued. In early June 1981, communications were sufficiently advanced for there to be "a rich crop of rumours" circulating in the British press as to whether Thatcher was, in fact, negotiating with

38784-428: Was occurring. British businessman Geoffrey Armstrong of British Leyland was giving a speech to the Dublin Junior Chamber of Commerce when three balaclavad men shot him in the legs while shouting, "this action is in support of the H-Blocks". The IRA denied responsibility. Violence was not confined to the IRA. Other incidents included the shooting and wounding of UDA councillor Sam Millar at home on Shankill Road by

38986-478: Was open to "all democratic parties which reject violence and which have members elected or appointed to either House of the Oireachtas or the Northern Ireland Assembly". From the Assembly, only the SDLP participated; Sinn Féin were excluded, and the Alliance Party and Unionist parties stayed away. From the Oireachtas, the three main parties — Fianna Fáil , Fine Gael , the Labour Party — joined. Independent TDs and Senators were not eligible for membership. The SDLP

39188-448: Was possible to remove Sands from office, and noted that, in any case, "even if he is allowed to keep his seat, he is likely to be dead of starvation soon". 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

39390-493: Was prepared to admit that, whatever the public view of the IRA, there was "a lot" of sympathy for their ideals among Catholics. By May, Atkins was enjoining upon Thatcher a policy of responding positively to external proposals—such as from the EHCR— which would also prevent the government from being "sucked into any kind of negotiation". O'Fiaich also believed more input from the ECHR would be useful, and that he and Father Crilly could join them; but again, O'Fiaich emphasised that he

39592-448: Was provided that Northern Ireland would have a month – the "Ulster Month" – during which its Houses of Parliament could opt out of the Irish Free State. The Treaty was ambiguous on whether the month should run from the date the Anglo-Irish Treaty was ratified (in March 1922 via the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act) or the date that the Constitution of the Irish Free State was approved and the Free State established (6 December 1922). When

39794-405: Was still concerned at this point that the external leadership might veto a strike. The leadership did not, in fact, and desperately sent in comms attempting to dissuade Sands from another hunger strike. But Sands intended to "send a clear signal to his own superiors that he 'meant business'". The second hunger strike began on 1 March, when Bobby Sands , the IRA's former officer commanding (OC) in

39996-416: Was the first RUC to be killed in a rocket attack. Attacks on security forces continued and became more intense when there was a burial. Soldiers were killed by a landmine in Newry ; a police officer was shot outside a pub; Reservist Colin Dunlop was shot in the Royal Victoria Hospital , the conflict's first Mormon casualty; Further hunger striker deaths were met with further street violence; following

40198-404: Was the intention of the Government to introduce a Bill containing these provisions practically whether we liked it or not. The Home Rule Crisis was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, and Ireland's involvement in it . Asquith abandoned his Amending Bill, and instead rushed through a new bill, the Suspensory Act 1914 , which received Royal Assent together with

40400-426: Was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK) divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland . It was enacted on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920 . The Act intended both territories to remain within the United Kingdom and contained provisions for their eventual reunification . The smaller Northern Ireland

40602-416: Was told that the Cabinet did not desire to consult me about them, and until they had come to a decision I would be told nothing...The next communication I received was on Saturday last, when the Minister for War and the Home Secretary requested me to call and see them at the War Office. They then informed me that another Cabinet Council had been held, and that it had been decided, mark you, decided, to insert in

40804-411: Was unacceptable to Éamon de Valera, who led the Irish Civil War to stop it. Collins was primarily responsible for drafting the constitution of the new Irish Free State, based on a commitment to democracy and rule by the majority. De Valera's minority refused to be bound by the result. Collins now became the dominant figure in Irish politics, leaving de Valera on the outside. The main dispute centred on

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