"Taoiseach Dr Garret Fitzgerald was warned that any deployment of additional British troops to Northern Ireland amid escalating sectarian violence would increase "Nationalist alienation." The warning came as secret files indicated the Government was being advised that Northern Nationalists, in the space of 20 years, were now more "anti-British" and than "anti-Unionist." Documents released as part of the State Papers revealed the Government were deeply concerned at the deteriorating conditions in Northern Ireland in the 1980s."
"Secret Government documents revealed there was a fear that, in the wake of the X-case, women who left Ireland for an abortion overseas could face penalties when they returned. A Cabinet briefing document also raised concerns that any injunction on preventing women from travelling from Ireland to an EU country for a termination could breach the recently ratified Maastricht Treaty and its guarantees on freedom of movement within the EU."
Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald received warnings that deployment of additional British troops to Northern Ireland amid escalating sectarian violence would dramatically increase nationalist alienation. Advisers assessed that Northern Nationalists had become more anti-British than anti-Unionist over two decades and expressed deep concern about deteriorating conditions in the 1980s. There was fear that women who traveled overseas for abortions could face penalties on return, and a Cabinet briefing warned that injunctions preventing travel might breach the Maastricht Treaty and freedom of movement. The government was also very concerned about international coverage of an attack on a Jewish cemetery where a swastika was daubed.
#northern-ireland-security #x-case---abortion #maastricht-treaty---eu-freedom-of-movement #state-papers
Read at Irish Independent
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