THE LACK of conviction among UDA prisoners who embarked on a hunger strike in the Maze Prison in December 1980 was stressed in previous confidential government files just released by the Public Record Office in Belfast under the 30-year rule.
According to a report, the loyalist prisoners were involved in “a purely opportunist move” and had “no intention of starving themselves to death”.
On December 17th, 1980, the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, phoned the Northern Ireland Office to arrange a meeting between officials and “UDA representatives” to discuss the treatment of loyalist prisoners at the Maze who were then threatening a hunger strike.
The talks, Dr Paisley stressed, would be confined to humanitarian matters but were urgent as “two loyalist prisoners had jumped the gun and had started a hunger strike that morning”.
Commenting on the DUP leader’s intervention, RA Harrington, a senior official, advised that the authorities should deal with Andy Tyrie of the UDA who had already made an approach. However, he felt it was “interesting that he [Dr Paisley] appears to speak for the UDA”.
A note on the file shows that on December 11th, 1980, as the first republican hunger strike escalated, British secretary of state Humphrey Atkins was informed that six UDA prisoners (four serving life) had begun a separate hunger strike. It was decided that the prisons minister, Michael Alison, should meet a deputation from the Progressive Unionist Party to discuss “the loyalist disruptions in the H-Blocks” at Stormont Castle on December 15th.
The delegation was led by Alderman Hugh Smyth, chairman of the loyalist party. Mr Smyth is described in a briefing paper for the minister as a former Independent Unionist MLA for West Belfast. “Generally regarded as an honest working-class loyalist, he is in touch with the loyalist community on the Shankill. Although his links with the UVF have always been acknowledged . . . he has nevertheless generally been regarded as having a moderating influence on the UVF’s military tendency.”
Interestingly, the official suggested that the PUP was rumoured to be “drawing close to the Republican Clubs-Workers Party in policy terms though if they will ever ally themselves to the ‘Stickies’ is another matter”.
In a press statement dated December 3rd, 1980, the loyalist protesters accused unionist politicians of “conveniently forgetting” their plight in the H-Blocks. “During the 2½ years we have been on the blanket,” they said, “we have been completely ignored.”
Their demands included segregation from republicans, the right to wear their own clothes and the restoration of lost remission. The statement concluded that the six men “are determined to see this through to the very end. If the end means death, then so be it.”
However, the NIO was sceptical about their preparedness to sacrifice their lives for their cause. On December 11th, 1980, an official, AR Templeton drew the minister’s attention to an intercepted letter from WJ Mullan, the leader of the UDA hunger strike. In it, Mullan stated that “the paramilitary leader stated that there was ‘no way we are going to die’ and expressed their ‘hope to get over it by Christmas’.”
The official added: “[This] shows how little intention the loyalists have of carrying out their hunger strike to any serious length.”
The official said 23 Protestant prisoners were taking part in the “clean blanket protest” while 143 others were refusing to work.
As for the seriousness of the hunger strike, Templeton commented: “The minister will have seen the intercepted letter from William Mullan (the leader of the hunger strike) which shows that the loyalists had made a purely opportunist move and apparently have no intention of starving themselves to death.”
In dealing with the loyalist deputation, he stressed, the minister should point out that there could be “no question of political status or segregation”.