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A Chronology of the Conflict - 1980
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Text and Research: Martin Melaugh
Material is added to this site on a regular basis - information on this page may change
The following is a draft chronology of the conflict for the year 1980
1980 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Sources Notes
1980
January 1980
Tuesday 1 January 1980
 Two undercover members of
the British Army (BA) were shot dead by other undercover members
of the BA while there were setting up an ambush near Forkhill,
County Armagh. Doreen McGuinness (16), a Catholic teenager, was
shot dead by British soldiers while she was 'joy-riding' in a
stolen car on the Whiterock Road, Ballymurphy, Belfast.
John
Hermon succeeded Kenneth Newman as Chief Constable of the Royal
Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
Friday 4 January 1980
Alexander Reid (20), a Catholic
civilian, was found beaten to death in a derelict garage in Berlin
Street, Shankill, Belfast.
Saturday 5 January 1980
[  Hunger Strike.]
Sunday 6 January 1980
Three members of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) where killed
by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in a land mine attack near
Castlewellan, County Down. [These deaths brought the 'official'
death toll, as compiled by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
to over 2,000. RUC figures do not count those killed outside of Northern Ireland.]
Monday 7 January 1980
Constitutional Conference / Atkins Talks
The talks called by Humphrey
Atkins, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, got under
way at Stormont. As part of the wider Atkins talks a constitutional
conference was arranged at Stormont involving the Democratic Unionist
Party (DUP), the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and
the Alliance Party (APNI). The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) refused
to take part in the conference. Atkins conceded a parallel conference
which would allow the SDLP to raise issues, in particular an 'Irish
dimension', which were not covered by the original terms of reference.
The DUP refused to get involved with the parallel conference.
[The Atkins talks continued until 24 March 1980 but did not succeed
in achieving consensus amongst the parties.]
[ Political Developments.]
Tuesday 8 January 1980
[ Political Developments.]
Wednesday 16 January 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
Thursday 17 January 1980
Three people were killed and two injured when a bomb, being planted
by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), exploded prematurely on a
train at Dunmurray, near Belfast. One of those who died was a
member of the IRA and the other two people were civilians.
James Kilfedder, then Member
of Parliament (MP) for North Down, launched a new political party
called the Ulster Progressive Unionist Party (UPUP). [The UPUP
later changed its name to the Ulster Popular Unionist Party; UPUP.]
[ Hunger Strike.]
Monday 21 January 1980
Anne Maguire was found dead
in what was believed to be a case of suicide. Anne Maguire was
the mother of the three children who were killed in an incident
on 10 August 1976 which led to the formation of the Peace People.
Tuesday 29 January 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
Thursday 31 January 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
[  NAI Records – January 1980. ]
February 1980
Friday 8 February 1980
Leonard Kaitcer, a Belfast
antiques dealer, was killed following his kidnapping and demand
for a £1 million ransom.
Sunday 10 February 1980
Betty Williams, one of the
founding members of the Peace People, resigned from the organisation
for family reasons. [There was speculation that there had been
serious disagreements among the main members of the organisation.
On 5 March 1980 another member of the Peace People, Peter McLachlan,
also resigned.]
[ Political Developments; Employment.]
Monday 11 February 1980
Two Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC) officers were killed in a land mine attack at Rosslea, County
Fermanagh.
Tuesday 12 February 1980
[ Political Developments; Employment.]
Saturday 16 February 1980
An off-duty colonel in the
British Army was shot dead outside his home in Bielfeld, West
Germany.
At the Fianna Fáil (FF) conference in Dublin,
Republic of Ireland, Charles Haughey, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime
Minister), called for a joint initiative, on behalf of the British
and Irish governments, to try to find a political solution to
the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Monday 18 February 1980
[ Political Developments; Employment.]
[ NAI Records – February 1980. ]
March 1980
Wednesday 5 March 1980
Tomás Ó Fiaich,
then Catholic Primate of Ireland, and Edward Daly, then Bishop
of Derry (?), held a meeting with Humphrey Atkins, then Secretary
of State for Northern Ireland, to express their concerns about
conditions within the Maze Prison. A former chairman of the Peace
People, Peter McLachlan, resigned from the organisation.
Tuesday 11 March 1980
The body of Thomas Niedermayer,
a West German industrialist who had disappeared in December 1973,
was found at Colinglen Road, West Belfast. (?)
Wednesday 12 March 1980
[ Law Order. ]
Friday 14 March 1980
[ Political Developments.]
Monday 24 March 1980
The Constitutional Conference
/ Atkins Talks were adjourned indefinitely at Stormont with little
hope that agreement between the various parties would be possible.
[ Political Developments.]
Tuesday 25 March 1980
[ Political Developments.]
Wednesday 26 March 1980
Announcement of End to Special Category Status
It was announced that as
from 1 April 1980 there would be no entitlement to special category
status for members of paramilitary organisations regardless of
when the crimes had been committed. [A policy change announced
in March 1976 had ended special category status to people sentenced
after that date for scheduled offences. The decision to end special
category privileges for paramilitary prisoners led to a protest
campaign by Republicans in prisons across Northern Ireland. The
protests began on 15 September 1976 when Kieran Nugent refused
to wear prison issue clothes and covered himself with a blanket;
hence the 'blanket protest'. The protest was to escalate and
led eventually to two hunger strikes, one in 1980 and the most
serious in 1981.]
Thursday 27 March 1980
[ Political Developments.]
Monday 31 March 1980
[Walker Report
Patrick Walker, then a senior MI5 officer in Northern Ireland, completed a report on the interchange of intelligence between RUC Special Branch and CID (Criminal Investigation Department). The report (known as the Walker Report; [PDF; 8931KB]) had been commissioned by John Hermon, then RUC Chief Constable. A confidential internal RUC memo [PDF; 42KB], dated 23 February 1981, about the report contained instructions that the report's recommendations should be implemented on 1 March 1981. The report focused on the handling of agents, informers and intelligence. Knowledge of the report only came into the public realm in 2001 following a UTV 'Insight' programme but the police refused to release it. The Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) followed up a FOI request at a Tribunal Hearing and on 1 May 2018 and got an agreement from the PSNI for the release of a redacted version of the report. It was made public by CAJ on 3 July 2018.]
[ NAI Records – March 1980. ]
April 1980
Thursday 3 April 1980
Kincora Scandal
Three staff members of the
Kincora Boys Home, Belfast, were charged with acts of gross indecency.
[These charges, and subsequent revelations, led to years of accusations
that elements of the security service, civil servants and a number
of Loyalists had been involved in the sexual abuse of young boys at Kincora.]
Tuesday 15 April 1980
Humphrey Atkins, then Secretary
of State for Northern Ireland, travelled to Dublin for talks with
Charles Haughey, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), and members
of the Irish government.
Tuesday 22 April 1980
[ Political Developments.]
Thursday 24 April 1980
[ Political Developments; Law Order.]
Wednesday 30 April 1980
Marion Price, who had been
serving a sentence along with her sister Dolours for a car bombing
in London on 8 March 1973 (?), was released from Armagh women's
prison on humanitarian grounds. Marion Price had been suffering
from anorexia nervosa.
? April 1980
[ Law Order.]
[ NAI Records – April 1980. ]
May 1980
Thursday 1 May 1980
[ Law Order.]
Monday 5 May 1980
The Irish Republican Army
(IRA) carried out a bomb attack on the North-South electricity
link at Crossmaglen. The British and Irish governments had been
attempting to re-establish the link following an earlier explosion.
Tuesday 13 May 1980
John Hume, then leader of
the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), travelled to Downing
Street, London, to hold a meeting with Margaret Thatcher, then
British Prime Minister.
Tuesday 20 May 1980
Margaret Thatcher, then British
Prime Minister, stated in the House of Commons: "The future
of the constitutional affairs of Northern Ireland is a matter
for the people of Northern Ireland, this government and this parliament
and no one else." This statement was made the day before
Charles Haughey, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), was due
to arrive in London with talks with Thatcher.
Wednesday 21 May 1980
Charles Haughey, then Taoiseach
(Irish Prime Minister), travelled to London to attend a meeting
with Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister. A communiqué
released after the meeting promised greater political co-operation
between the two governments on the issue of Northern Ireland and
referred to the "unique relationship" between the two
countries.
Sunday 25 May 1980
[ Political Developments; Employment.]
Wednesday 28 May 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
[ NAI Records – May 1980. ]
June 1980
Monday 2 June 1980
[ Political Developments.]
Wednesday 4 June 1980
John Turnley, then chairman
of the Irish Independence Party (IIP), was shot dead by Loyalists
while on his way to a political meeting in Carnlough, County Antrim.
[The IIP was a Nationalist party that had been established on
7 October 1977.]
Thursday 5 June 1980
[ Political Developments.]
Friday 6 June 1980
[ Political Developments.]
Monday 9 June 1980
Charles Haughey, then Taoiseach
(Irish Prime Minister), argued on the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) programme Panorama that it was in the best interest
of both Britain and Ireland for Britain to withdraw from Northern
Ireland. He indicated that some form of federation could be possible
in the event of a British withdrawal.
Wednesday 11 June 1980
The Irish Republican Army
(IRA) issued a statement that threatened to renew attacks
on prison officers.
Thursday 12 June 1980
The Irish Republican Army
(IRA) carried out a car bomb attack on Markethill, County Armagh,
which seriously damaged property in the centre of the town.
Monday 16 June 1980
Brooks Richards was appointed
as security co-ordinator for Northern Ireland.
Tuesday 17 June 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
Wednesday 18 June 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
Thursday 19 June 1980
The European Commission on
Human Rights rejected a case brought on behalf of Republican prisoners
taking part in the 'blanket protest' at the Maze Prison. The
Commission found that the conditions were self-inflicted but the
Commission also criticised the British government for being inflexible.
Wednesday 25 June 1980
The Democratic Party in the
United States of America (USA) adopted as policy a proposal put
forward by Edward Kennedy, then a Senator. The new policy called
for an end to the divisions of the Irish people and a solution
based on the consent of all of the parties.
Thursday 26 June 1980
Miriam Daly, a prominent
member of the National H-Block / Armagh Committee, was shot dead
by Loyalist paramilitaries at her home in Andersontown, Belfast.
Monday 30 June 1980
The Grundig company announced
that its factory in Belfast would close with the loss of 1,000
jobs.
? June 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
[ NAI Records – June 1980. ]
July 1980
Wednesday 2 July 1980
Government Proposals Published
The British government published
a discussion document, The Government of Northern Ireland:
Proposals for Further Discussion (Cmnd 7950), suggesting two
possible options as potential solutions to the conflict. [However,
Unionists rejected the option which involved power-sharing and
non-Unionists rejected the option of majority rule. By 27 November
1980 Humphrey Atkins, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,
told the House of Commons that there was still no consensus amongst
the parties in Northern Ireland and little prospect for a devolved
government in the region.]
Sunday 20 July 1980
The Irish Republican Army
(IRA) planted a car bomb in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, which
caused extensive damage to the centre of the town.
Friday 25 July 1980
[ De Lorean; Employment.]
Monday 28 July 1980
[ Political Developments.]
? July 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
[ NAI Records – July 1980. ]
August 1980
Tuesday 5 August 1980
[ De Lorean; Employment.]
Wednesday 6 August 1980
The British government announced
an extra public spending package of £48 million for Northern
Ireland to try to alleviate the high level of unemployment in
the region which stood at 14.7 per cent. This announcement came
after a meeting between the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTUs)
and Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister.
Friday 8 August 1980
There was widespread violence
following commemorations of the ninth anniversary of the introduction
of Internment.
Saturday 9 August 1980
Following protests on the
ninth anniversary of Internment there was continuing violence
and three people were killed and 18 injured in a number of incidents.
Tuesday 12 August 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
Wednesday 13 August 1980
[ Political Developments.]
Friday 15 August 1980
An elderly Protestant man and his daughter were found dead at their home in Belfast; they had been beaten, stabbed and shot.
[ NAI Records – August 1980. ]
September 1980
Thursday 11 September 1980
The Du Pont company announced
the closure of one of its plants in Derry with the resultant loss
of 400 jobs.
Wednesday 24 September 1980
Tomás Ó Fiaich,
then Catholic Primate of Ireland, said that he was hopeful of
progress on the issue of the blanket protest at the Maze Prison.
Sunday 28 September 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
[ NAI Records – September 1980. ]
October 1980
Monday 13 October 1980
The ICI company announced
the closure of one of its plants at Kilroot, County Antrim with
the resultant loss of 1,100 jobs.
[ Hunger Strike.]
Wednesday 15 October 1980
Noel Lyttle (44) and Ronnie
Bunting (32), both members of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
(IRSP), were killed by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) in the
Turf Lodge area of Belfast. [Bunting was the son the Major Ronald
Bunting who had been a close associate of Ian Paisley.]
Thursday 23 October 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
Friday 24 October 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
Monday 27 October 1980
1980 Hunger Strike Began
Seven Republican prisoners
began a hunger-strike to protest at the ending of special category
status. One of their key demands was that they should be allowed
to wear their own clothes rather than prison uniforms. The Republican
prisoners viewed themselves as 'prisoners of war' and were refusing
to be treated, as they saw it, as ordinary criminals. [The tactic
of the hunger strike has a special place in Republican history
and it was to have a profound affect on Nationalists in Northern
Ireland. This particular strike was to be called off on 18 December
1980. However, it also marked an escalation of the campaign which
was to see a larger more serious hunger strike take place in 1981.]
Tuesday 28 October 1980
Margaret Thatcher, then British
Prime Minister, said that the British government would not make
any concessions to those on hunger strike.
Thursday 30 October 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
Friday 31 October 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
[ NAI Records – October 1980. ]
November 1980
Friday 7 November 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
Monday 17 November 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
Thursday 20 November 1980
Margaret Thatcher, then British
Prime Minister, stated in the House of Commons: "The government
will never concede political status to the hunger strikers, or
to any others convicted of criminal offences in the province."
Thursday 27 November 1980
Humphrey Atkins, then Secretary
of State for Northern Ireland, told the House of Commons that
there was still no consensus amongst the parties in Northern Ireland
and little prospect for a devolved government in the region.
[ NAI Records – November 1980. ]
December 1980
Monday 1 December 1980
Three women Republican prisoners
in Armagh Prison joined the hunger strike.
Wednesday 3 December 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
Monday 8 December 1980
British PM in Dublin Summit Meeting
A senior British government
team comprised of Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister,
Lord Carrington, then Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe, then Chancellor
of the Exchequer, and Humphrey Atkins, then Secretary of State
for Northern Ireland, went to Dublin for talks with Charles Haughey,
then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), and senior members of the
Irish government. It was agreed at the meeting to conduct joint
studies on a wide range of subjects. [This represented the first
visit to Dublin by a British Prime Minster since partition in
1921. The phrase 'totality of relationships' was first used at
this meeting. However it was later revealed that the constitutional
position of Northern Ireland had not been discussed at the meeting.]
[ Hunger Strike.]
Thursday 11 December 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
Friday 12 December 1980
Six members of the Ulster
Defence Association (UDA) in the Maze prison start a hunger strike
in support of their demand for segregation from Republican prisoners.
[This Loyalist hunger strike was called off on 17 December 1980.]
[ Hunger Strike.]
Monday 15 December 1980
23 Republican prisoners join
those already on hunger strike. [Of the original seven hunger
strikers, Sean McKenna's medical condition was the most serious.
McKenna was moved to Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast.]
[ Hunger Strike.]
Tuesday 16 December 1980
Three members of the Irish
Republican Army (IRA) escaped from Brixton Prison, London. One
of the escapees was Gerard Tuite who had been imprisoned for bombing
offences in London in 1978.
Wednesday 17 December 1980
Tomás Ó Fiaich,
then Catholic Primate of Ireland, called on the hunger strikers
to call off their strike. He also appealed to Margaret Thatcher,
then British Prime Minister, to intervene personally in the protest.
[ Education.]
Thursday 18 December 1980
1980 Hunger Strike Ended
The Republican hunger strike
at the Maze Prison, and other prisons in Northern Ireland, was
called off following the appeal by Tomás Ó Fiaich,
then Catholic Primate of Ireland, on 17 December 1980. The strike
had lasted for 53 days. [There had been suggestions towards the
end of the strike that there would be a move towards conceding
aspects of special status. Republicans claimed to have a document
setting out proposals which would have met many of their demands.]
Friday 19 December 1980
Margaret Thatcher, then British
Prime Minister, held a meeting with Ian Paisley, then leader of
the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), to discuss the meeting with
Charles Haughey, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), on 8 December
1980.
Tuesday 23 December 1980
[ De Lorean; Employment.]
Monday 29 December 1980
[ Political Developments; Employment.]
Tuesday 30 December 1980
A Loyalist paramilitary group
called the Loyalist Prisoners Action Force (LPAF) shot dead William
Burns (45) a prisoner officer in Belfast. [It is believed that
the LPAF was a cover name used by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).]
? December 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
? 1980
[ Hunger Strike.]
[ NAI Records – December 1980. ]
Sources
This chronology has been compiled from a number of sources:
Bew, P. and Gillespie, G. (1999) Northern Ireland A chronology of the Troubles 1968-1999. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan Ltd.
Elliott, S. and Flackes, W.D. (1999) Northern Ireland A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: The Blackstaff Press.
Fortnight Magazine's monthly chronology of 'the Troubles'.
Sutton, M. (1994) An Index of Deaths from the Conflict
in Ireland 1969-1993. Belfast: Beyond the Pale Publications. The Sutton Index of Deaths 1969-2001 - see in particular the list of deaths for 1980.
Various newspapers
For a full list of, and links to, on-line sources see the Guide to the Internet.
Notes
Each entry contains information, where relevant, on the following topic areas:
Major security incidents
Political developments
Policy initiatives
Economic matters
Other relevant items
Information contained within square brackets [ ] may contain commentary or information that only became publicly available at a later date. Any piece of information which is followed by a question mark in parenthesis (?) is a best estimate while awaiting an update.
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