Policy of detention without trial also described as barbaric and anti-human at SDLP conference
By the end of 1975, almost 2,000 people had been interned at the Long Kesh internment camp
By Cormac Moore
November 29, 2025 at 6:00am GMT
November 29 1975
MOVING the attack on internment at the SDLP’s annual conference in Belfast, Mr Brendan McAllister (Newry) said it had rightly been called the Provisional IRA’s greatest propaganda weapon.
It was also barbaric and anti-human, he said, but it must be remembered and must never be endured again.
Seconding, Mr Cathal O’Boyle (Newcastle) said there was no excuse for talking away a person’s liberty without a fair trial. Internment was designed to break down human feeling and this objective was even more vicious than internment itself.
Convention member Mr Paddy Duffy said the party had succeeded in convincing the Irish Government that internment was helping IRA recruitment.
Had it not been for the murders and other violence of the past week, said Mr Duffy, internment would have been ended before their conference began.
Mr Frank Irvine (East Belfast) urged the party to be conscious of the problems faced by people who had suffered the iniquitous system of internment and to do everything possible to help to rehabilitate them.
Convention member Mr John Turnly said that far from offering compensation, the British Government had been quibbling over even giving internees the state benefits to which they would have been entitled had they not been interned. The party should demand £100-a-week compensation for every internee.
Mr E McAteer (Rosemount) hoped that this would be the last time internment would have to be included in the conference agenda.
Mr Sean MacGabhann (Newtownabbey) said the SDLP policy on internment represented a good start but a bad finish. “The party has been too half-hearted all along the line regarding internment”, he said.
Convention member Mr Paddy O’Donoghue said the SDLP was the only party or group which had pressed for compensation for internees, but they had received no positive response from the Northern Ireland Office.
The NIO’s response to a demand for payment of Grade 1 National Insurance benefits was simply that such a move would require a change in the law.
Dealing with election law, Mr Alban Maginnis (North Belfast) said that in a period of direct rule, which might well have to be faced, the SDLP would need to increase its representation at Westminster.
If the government were to give increased representation to Northern Ireland it would be thoroughly logical and politically right to call for PR, he said.
At the fifth annual conference of the SDLP, a long debate ensued over the folly of internment which was about to be ended by the British government days later.
The Anglo-Irish Agreement, signed on November 15, 1985, gave the Irish Government an advisory role in Northern Ireland’s Government and proved to be a stepping-stone in the peace process.
Irish Central Staff
@IrishCentral
Nov 15, 2025
Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.
Former Irish Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald appealed to Ronald Reagan’s sense of Irish history and neighborly pride to help broker the ground-breaking Anglo-Irish agreement, which was signed on November 15, 1985.
The Anglo-Irish Agreement, which aimed to bring the Troubles to an end, gave the Irish Government an advisory role in Northern Ireland’s Government while also confirming that there would be no change to the region’s constitutional position unless a majority of citizens agreed.
It additionally set out the conditions for a devolved power-sharing government in the region and proved to be a stepping-stone toward peace in the region.
The Agreement was signed by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald on November 15, 1985, at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland.
In 2012, a summer school set up in honor of FitzGerald heard that former US President Ronald Reagan played a key role in brokering the deal between the Irish and British Governments.
The inaugural Garret FitzGerald Summer School in Killarney heard in 2012 how the FitzGeralds and the Reagans came from the same parish in south Tipperary.
The Irish Times reports that FitzGerald’s son Mark told the Summer School how the ancestral links between the two families helped to sway British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to back the agreement.
He said: “Mr. Reagan’s huge help to Ireland in that period, in the run-up to 1985 and the signing of the agreement, was not fully appreciated.”
Mark revealed how the FitzGeralds from Skeheenarinky and the Regans from Ballyporeen came from the same hillside.
“The families lived “3½ miles apart in south Tipperary, and the Fitzgerald’s and the Reagans had actually been godparents at each other’s christenings,” he revealed.
The paper reports that Dr. FitzGerald’s grandfather, Patrick FitzGerald, a laborer, emigrated to London in the 1850s or 1860s, while Mr Reagan’s great-grandfather had also left for London around this time, and afterward went to the US.
Dr. FitzGerald’s father, Desmond, Minister for External Affairs in the first Irish government after independence, was born in London.
Mark Fitzgerald added: “It is not widely known how influential Mr Reagan had been in working on my father’s and Ireland’s behalf in persuading Margaret Thatcher, then British prime minister, to come around to the terms of the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
“There were regular telephone calls and consultations between my father and Mr Reagan to help bring about the agreement, which laid the foundations for the Belfast Agreement 13 years later.
“Reagan was a huge help to us in persuading Thatcher to sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement. She’d agree to anything Reagan wanted. He helped Ireland in a big way.”
Speaking at the event organized by Young Fine Gael, Mark FitzGerald added: “Garret loved young people, he loved Fine Gael and politics but what would Garret say if he were here today?
“He would say the most important thing in politics is to have common high standards while embracing different views. He would say challenge people, be curious. He always said don’t complain – do something.”
Although the Anglo-Irish Agreement failed to bring the Troubles to an end, it did improve cooperation between the Irish and British Governments and was therefore a key initial step in the Northern Irish peace process.
By signing the Agreement, the British Government acknowledged the legitimate wishes of the Irish Government to have an interest in the affairs in Northern Ireland and also boosted the popularity of the peace-advocating SDLP among nationalist communities.
Liam Clancy was born in 1935 in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, and became one of Ireland’s most beloved folk singers before his death in 2009. As the youngest member of The Clancy Brothers, he helped the group achieve something remarkable—they became what many consider Ireland’s first true pop stars, reaching massive international fame during the 1960s.
Together with Tommy Makem, Liam and his brothers introduced Irish ballads to audiences around the world. They sold millions of records and filled prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, captivating listeners with their powerful performances. Their breakthrough moment came with a famous 1961 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which brought Irish folk music into American living rooms.
What set Liam apart was his extraordinarily rich, dramatic voice and his gift for storytelling through song. After his time with The Clancy Brothers, he went on to build an impressive solo career. He also reunited with Tommy Makem to perform as Makem and Clancy, continuing to shape how Irish ballads were interpreted and performed. His influence can still be heard in the work of folk artists today, making him a true giant of Irish traditional music
Why should ordinary people have to pay more for Britain’s ineptitude? – The Irish News view.
Chancellor’s budget will do nothing to ease pressure on many squeezed household incomes.
Rachel Reeves delivers her Budget in the House of Commons
By The Irish News
November 27, 2025 at 6:00am GMT
First, the good news. The Conservative government’s cruel decision almost a decade ago to limit some benefit entitlements to the first two children in a family is being scrapped.
The change will have a particularly big impact in Northern Ireland, where around one in five families have more than two children.
Campaigners say it could be transformative in tackling rising levels of child poverty. In fact, in a single budget announcement, the Labour government has probably achieved more than the entire contents of Stormont’s widely-criticised anti-poverty strategy.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves also said the Northern Ireland Executive would be given an additional £370m in block funding over the next three to four years.
This will certainly be welcomed but only go so far – ministers say they face a shortfall of at least £400m this year.
A small increase in the minimum wage will also mean a deserved pay rise for many workers.
But it was about there the good news ended, in what will be remembered as one of the most chaotic budgets in recent history.
Every family is acutely aware that the cost of living has risen sharply – it can be felt every time we visit a shop or pay for other services.
And the decision to freeze income tax and national insurance thresholds for a further three years will only further squeeze household incomes.
The number of taxpayers in Northern Ireland paying the 40% rate has already doubled in recent years and will now rise further – the very definition of a ‘stealth tax’.
The chancellor’s admission that she is asking “ordinary people to pay a little bit more” might be more convincing if the tax burden was not at its highest level in decades. People here will not even benefit from savings on energy or prescriptions in England.
A wide range of other taxes were also announced, targeting everyone from latte-drinkers to electric car owners, but conspicuous by its absence was a coherent plan to boost growth in the anemic British economy.
Yet again, the elephant at Westminster was the catastrophic impact of the UK’s kamikaze decision to turn its back on its biggest trading market.
Until Brexit is reversed, and with Stormont clearly unwilling or incapable of taking the tough decisions required for the economy and public services, the voices calling for a fundamental rethink of relationships on these islands will only grow louder.
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