On 22 June 1972 the IRA announced the suspension of its military activities as a precursor to talks with the British Government.  In a reciprocal gesture, William Whitelaw, the Northern Ireland Secretary, granted Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoners ‘special-category-status’, a move that to IRA represented recognition of their standing as prisoners of war.  Two weeks later, on 7 July, an IRA delegation that included Gerry Adams (who has written an account of the meeting) met Whitelaw in London.  At the talks the IRA demanded British withdrawal from Northern Ireland, and sought the introduction of legislation to bring about a united Ireland.  The republicans were willing to accept a secret commitment for withdrawal over an extended period, the process to be overseen by an independent figure such as UN Secretary-General.  These claims were rejected.  Later, in the House of Commons, Whitelaw denounced IRA demands as ‘absurd’.  Following Whitelaw’s denunciation of the IRA’s proposals it recommenced hostilities.  Twenty-two bombs were detonated in Belfast on 21 July 1972, ‘Bloody Friday’.

Late that year there were new signs of political movement.  The British Government released a discussion paper entitled ‘The Future of Northern Ireland’ that set out a ‘Way Forward’.  A critical element was recognition that “There must be an assurance, built into any new structures, that there will be absolute fairness and equality of opportunity for all. The future administration of Northern Ireland must be seen to be completely even-handed both in law and in fact”.  On 10 April 1973 legislation was introduced at Westminster to create a new Northern Ireland Assembly, and, following elections, that assembly met at the end of July.  A power-sharing executive comprised of Unionists, Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland members was formed.  Shortly after, negotiations commenced between the British and Irish governments and the Northern Ireland executive that culminated in the Sunningdale Agreement.  The British and Irish governments outlined their basic positions in Point 5 of the Agreement.  However, while supporters of Brian Faulkner’s new Northern Ireland Executive welcomed the agreement, the IRA and hard-line Unionists including the Reverend Ian Paisley rejected it.  Opposition to the agreement mounted, and on 14 May the Ulster Workers’ Council announced an industrial strike.  A crisis ensued, and fourteen days later, the Northern Ireland Executive resigned.

The Heath Government lost office in 1974.  In March 1976 the Labour Government’s Northern Ireland secretary, Merlyn Rees, announced that Special Category status would be abolished (a decision arising from a recommendation in the Report of a Committee to consider, in the context of civil liberties and human rights, measures to deal with terrorism in Northern Ireland, chaired by Lord Gardiner).  IRA prisoners in the Maze prison responded by ‘going on the blanket’—refusing to wear prison uniform—and through the ‘dirty protest’—refusing to wash, and daubing the walls of the cells with faeces.

On Monday 27 October 1980 seven republican prisoners commenced a hunger strike in an attempt to force the reintroduction of special category status.  That strike was called off in December, when the hunger strikers believed a deal with the British Government was imminent.  When no concession was forthcoming, a second wave of hunger strikes began.  Bobby Sands, commander of the Provisional IRA in the Maze, began refusing food on 1 March 1981.  While on hunger strike Sands was elected to the House of Commons as member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.  However, despite Sands’s electoral victory, the Thatcher government remained unmoved: “There can be no question of political status for someone who is serving a sentence for crime.  Crime is crime is crime”, Prime Minister Thatcher remarked.  Bobby Sands died in prison on 5 May 1981.  More than seventy thousand people attended his funeral.

Ten prisoners eventually starved in a protest that ran until October 1981, and which focussed world-wide attention on British Government policies in Northern Ireland.  In the United States, in particular, the hunger strikes produced strident attacks on the British Government.  (A full chronology of the hunger strikes is available).