20/04/81: Teachta Dail visit Bobby Sands

On Easter Monday, 20 April, 1981 Three Irish Teachta Dáil (members of  Dáil Éireann, the lower house of Oireachtas, the Irish Parliament) together with Owen Carron, then Bobby Sands’ election agent, paid a visit to Sands at Maze Prison. Following the meeting the Teachta Dáil called for urgent talks with the British government. Sands had been on hunger strike since March 1st, and subsequently elected to the UK Parliament in the Fermanagh / South Tyrone  by-election on 9 April.

Supporters of Fermanagh South Tyrone MP/Hunger Striker Bobby Sands (source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk)

The British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced on 21 April that the British government would not meet the Teachta Dáil. "We are not prepared to consider special category status for certain groups of people serving sentences for crime. Crime is crime is crime, it is not political," she stated.



source: CAIN Web Service