Fitzgerald 'pleaded with Reagan' over hunger striker

Ex-taoiseach Garret FitzGerald personally pleaded with US president Ronald Reagan to pile pressure on Margaret Thatcher for an urgent compromise over the Maze hunger strikes.

In a desperate sign of the gravity of the crisis, Mr FitzGerald – who had taken office only days beforehand – warned that Ireland’s democracy was seriously under threat while relations with Britain were plunging to dangerous depths.