Thatcher felt inmates were just showing ‘virility’

CARDINAL Tomas Ó Fiaich claimed Margaret Thatcher lectured him on the North as she accused hunger strikers of “demonstrating virility”, state papers have revealed.

His account of his meeting with the British prime minister in the summer of 1981 left officials in no doubt about shattered Anglo-Irish relations.

“In general the cardinal’s account of his meeting with the prime minister reinforced the impression that she is insensitive and of an authoritarian disposition,” a report to the Taoiseach’s office stated.