A new section of an on-line archive, which was opened in Northern Ireland this week, has revealed a fascinating letter sent to the British government by then Catholic Bishop of Derry Dr Edward Daly during the height of the hunger strikes in the North in the 1980s.In the letter from Bishop Daly to the British government, Bishop Daly tells the then Education Minister Lord Elton that the British Governments hard-line policy had, “only succeeded in putting the IRA back into business.”
In his letter dated May 18 1981, during the height of the Long Kesh Prison protest, Dr Daly describes the situation as, “most depressing,” and added, “I feel that Mrs Thatcher has succeeded in putting the IRA back into business as regards recruits and support. Whilst the present policy may have short-term success, I fear that it will be disastrous in the long term.”
At the time of Dr Daly's letter, two prisoners had already died on hunger strike and two more died within days.
Launching the on-line archive Northern Ireland Culture Minister Caral Ni Chuilin (SF), said that the material provides a, “valuable additional research material for students, citizens and researchers.”
She added, “In the period ahead, I wish to see even greater access to public records since this can only help to enhance our understanding of the past.”
Dr Daly's letter as well as a number of other important historical documents on Northern Ireland are now available on the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN) website as part of ongoing work between the University of Ulster and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI). The CAIN website has received more than 15 million visits since it was launched in March 1997.
It can be viewed at http://cain.ulster.ac.uk/proni.