1981 Hunger Strike – inflicted a historic defeat on the Thatcher government
The following speech, by Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams, was made to the 2015 National Hunger Strike march and rally in Dundalk.
The election in 1981 of Irish republicans on hunger strike, to the British parliament and Irish Dáil, proved to the world, beyond doubt, that the political prisoners had immense popular support.
Prime Minister Thatcher’s criminalisation policy, supported by the Irish government, was discredited by election victories that transformed the struggle for a united Ireland.