It is proposed that statements shall be made now on the resignation of the British Prime Minister, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, MP. The statements shall be confined to the main spokesperson for each of the groups as defined in Standing Order 41 and shall not exceed five minutes in each case.
Resignation of British Prime Minister: Statements.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I should like to give the Dáil the text of the exchange of messages between the British Prime Minister and myself today.
The British Prime Minister's message reads as follows:
By the time you receive this message, you will probably already have heard this morning's announcement from 10 Downing Street of my decision to make way for a successor, and to resign as Prime Minister as soon as the Parliamentary Party has completed the necessary procedures for electing a new leader. I shall of course remain in charge of the Government until my successor has been appointed.
I should like to thank you for the great co-operation and friendship which you have shown me during our time together in office, during which so much has been achieved, and I send you my warmest good wishes for the future. I know that my successor will continue to attach the highest importance to the relations between our countries.
My message was in the following terms:
As your historic term as Prime Minister comes to an end I would like to convey to you my congratulations on your long tenure of office and my best wishes for the future.
I greatly valued the many useful conversations we had and the co-operation we were able to achieve in many areas of Anglo-Irish relations. I recall too our work together in the Councils of the European Community and in international affairs at a time of great change.
I believe that our first meetings in 1980 commenced a process of placing relations between our two countries on a new plane which can lead to the establishment of a framework reflecting the totality of relationships within these islands.
The British Prime Minister, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, is a politician of sincere convictions who worked with relentless energy to achieve those things in which she believed. Irish people will always remember, in particular, her negotiation of the historic Anglo-Irish Agreement. This Agreement moved Anglo-Irish relations to a new and much more productive plane. In defending that agreement, not only against her opponents but with even greater courage against her friends, Mrs. Thatcher showed a remarkable willingness to learn and a willingness to act on what she had learned. She also showed herself to be a politician committed to the primacy of democratic methods of determining issues in her fight against terrorism, a commitment shared by all in this House.
On behalf of the Fine Gael Party I wish Mrs. Thatcher well in her future work and I wish her successor all the best in their new and difficult role.
The retiring British Prime Minister, Mrs. Thatcher, will certainly be remembered as a leader of very considerable personal qualities of courage and determination. However, it is unlikely that Thatcherism will survive Mrs. Thatcher because the ideology she espoused divided the society she governed. It alienated thousands of her own people and, ultimately, failed to sustain the economic growth and development for which she aimed. The two-tier society she created in Britain should never serve as a model for any other society. As too many of her successes were built——
There is a tradition in the House whereby the Chair deprecates any uncomplimentary reference to a foreign Head of State. The Deputy may adjudicate on it in whatever fashion he thinks fit.
I will take your advice as I have always done in the past. My opinions may vary, in relation to the person's achievements and accomplishments, from those of other people, but I am entitled to express them.
It would be interesting to have a discussion on Saddam Hussein.
Too many of Mrs. Thatcher's successes were built around cataclysmic events like the Falklands War and the miners' strike rather than on any lasting contribution to the quality of life of ordinary Britons and, ultimately, the people are unlikely to miss her.
Where Ireland was concerned it must be said, to her credit, that she made an agreement — and was instrumental in making it — and she stuck with it and defended it. She never fully understood Ireland and was not in sympathy with the political imperatives surrounding Irish issues. She saw Ireland primarily as a security problem and the Anglo-Irish Agreement primarily as a vehicle for better security co-operation.
Given the tone of the Taoiseach's last paragraph in his message to her, I hope that her successor has a better understanding and that co-operation can be taken to a new and better level.
I do not consider it necessary or appropriate that Dáil Éireann should devote its time to discussing the resignation from office of a Prime Minister of another country in the circumstances in which this occurred, especially in view of the substantial body of business requiring our attention. Therefore, I do not propose to detain the House very long on this issue. Neither will I shed crocodile tears or join any phoney eulogies in relation to Mrs. Thatcher.
I welcome Mrs. Thatcher's resignation and the reaction of most Irish people — and most British workers and their families — to her departure from Downing Street will be one of profound relief. The record of the successive Governments led by Mrs. Thatcher has been marked by a determination to foster the rich and to turn the screw on the poor. She has been representative of some of the worst traditions in British political life. We should not forget the manner in which she gloried in the blood of the Falklands War, her current drive for war in the Gulf and the viciousness she showed in her attempts to starve the British miners and their families into submission.
Mrs. Thatcher is receiving great praise in this country for her negotiation of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. It was a serious, although a flawed attempt to deal with the Northern Ireland problem and it cannot be ignored that it was largely unsuccessful. Sectarianism remains entrenched; the murderous campaign of the Provisional IRA continues to take its appalling toll; Northern Ireland continues to suffer from dreadful social and economic problems. In addition, Mrs. Thatcher's arrogant manner and imperial style on more than one occasion offended and alienated people on both sides of the Border.
Thatcherism, it must also be said, had a significant impact on domestic Irish politics. The pernicious political philosophy she fostered has found many willing acolytes in this country who have enthusiastically followed the example of the soon to be departed Prime Minister. They cut and slashed our health, education and social services. I hope that we are witnessing not just the end of the political career of Mrs. Margaret Thatcher but the end of Thatcherism, although there would be many no doubt in the Tory Party who would willingly take up her mantle.
The best hope for the British people rests with the election of a Labour Government at the next British general election. It is not just in Eastern Europe that major changes are taking place, two great champions of the Cold War, Mr. Reagan and Mrs. Thatcher, have now departed the scene and moved on to a deserved retirement. With their departure I hope we can look forward to a new and more positive relationship between all nations in the world.