How the Falklands war caused rifts in Anglo-Irish relations

Analysis: the Falklands war 40 years ago was a turbulent period for relations between the Irish and British governments

By Stephen Kelly, Liverpool Hope University

Taoiseach Charles Haughey's actions during the Falklands War of 1982 can be summed up in two words: opportunistic and reckless. His decision in May 1982 to withdraw support for the British government’s sponsored sanctions against Argentina infuriated the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and resulted in a deep freeze in Anglo-Irish relations.

But Haughey cared little about British sensibilities during the Falklands crisis. In fact, he saw this incident as a 'key moment to get his own back’ on Thatcher, to quote David Neligan from the Department of Foreign Affairs. Thatcher’s categorical refusal to permit Haughey a mediatory role in helping to bring the Republican hunger strikers' campaign in 1981 to an amicable conclusion had deeply offended the taoiseach.

For Haughey, the Falklands crisis was the ideal opportunity to undermine Thatcher’s political credibility on the international stage. At the same time, it could rekindle his image as a firebrand Republican in the eyes of his supporters in Ireland.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's History Show, historian Prof Stephen Kelly and former diplomat Noel Dorr on the relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Charles Haughey over the Falklands War

The Falkland Islands

This sharp deterioration in Anglo-Irish relations during 1982 can be traced to the remote Falkland Islands, some 300 miles off the Argentina coast and approximately 8,000 miles south of the United Kingdom. An archipelago of an estimated 200 islands scattered in the South Atlantic, ownership of the Falkland Islands was bitterly disputed between Argentina and Great Britain.

At the time, approximately 1,900 people lived on the Falkland Islands. Many of these inhabitants firmly opposed integration with Argentina and wanted to remain a British dependency. However, in Argentina the repressive military junta dictatorship under General Leopoldo Galtieri claimed Argentinian ownership of the islands.

From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland in 2012, journalist Olivia O'Leary recalls reporting from Argentina during the Falklands War

What was Resolution 502?

The Argentinian-British relations reached crisis point on April 2nd 1982, following the invasion of the Falkland islands by Galtieri’s forces. In response, on the same day, Thatcher sanctioned the sending of a British Task Force to protect the Falkland islands.

The following morning, the Irish Government became directly involved with the Falklands crisis. Initially Ireland’s representative at the United Nations, Noel Dorr, was instructed to support the British sponsored Resolution 502. This resolution called for an immediate cessation of hostilities; an immediate withdrawal of Argentine forces from the Falkland islands; and the commencement of negotiations.

Thatcher was thrilled by the Irish Government’s agreement to support Resolution 502. On April 6th, she contacted Haughey to express her thanks for the Irish government’s support. She also requested ‘his personal help’ and additional support for the British government’s calls for the imposition of economic and financial sanctions by the European Community against Argentina.

Playing the neutrality card

But these cordial relations between Haughey and Thatcher did not last very long. Events on the ground in the Falklands brought relations between Britain and Ireland to their lowest-ebb since the Second World War. On May 2nd at approximately 8pm Irish time, the single most controversial military action of the Falklands War occurred when the Argentine cruiser Belgrano was sunk by a British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror. In retaliation, two days later, the British destroyer HMS Sheffield was attacked and hit by a missile launched by an Argentinian aircraft.

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From BBC News, report on the attack on the HMS Sheffield

In response to these events, the Irish cabinet hurriedly convened on the afternoon of May 4th. Ministers agreed that Ireland would immediately take up a neutral stance on the Falklands issue and seek the withdrawal of EEC sanctions against Argentina. Following the cabinet meeting, a press statement was issued, under Haughey's express orders, relaying the Irish Government’s new policy. It also called for a meeting of the UN Security Council to put forward a new resolution demanding the cessation of hostilities between Argentina and Britain. Significantly, no mention was made to Resolution 502.

Addressing Dáil Éireann later that evening, Haughey outlined the Irish government’s policy in relation to the Falklands War. "The Irish Government", he explained, "regard the application of economic sanctions as no longer appropriate and will therefore be seeking the withdrawal of these sanctions by the Community". He noted that the Irish government sought an immediate meeting of the UN Security Council in order to prepare a new resolution calling for: "(1) An immediate cessation of hostilities by both British and Argentinian forces; and (2) The negotiation of a diplomatic settlement under the auspices of the UN".

‘Drove Maggie mad!’

Haughey’s decision to no longer support sanctions against Argentina stunned civil servants within the Department of Foreign Affairs. Dorr admitted subsequently that Haughey’s new stance on the Falklands crisis took him by ‘complete surprise’.

In London, Haughey's refusal to support the British government, to quote Walter Kirwan of the Department of the Taoiseach, 'drove Maggie mad!’. Sir Robert Armstrong, Thatcher’s cabinet secretary, recounted that Haughey’s decision to no longer support sanctions against Argentina was the last straw for the Haughey-Thatcher relationship. Thereafter, Armstrong noted, Thatcher realised that Haughey ‘was not to be trusted’.

From RTÉ Radio 1's Documentary On One, interviews with Andy Brownlee and Ronnie Quinn, two Irishmen who were living on the Falklands at the time and who were on opposite sides of the conflict

Despite the British government’s protests, the Irish government issued a further public statement on on May 7th, again calling for the withdrawal of economic sanctions against Argentina. Haughey dealt with these developments during a speech to Dáil Éireann on 11 May. The Irish Government, he explained, had decided to reassert ‘our traditional policy of neutrality’.

Over the proceeding days and weeks, under Haughey’s direct orders, the Irish delegation at the UN continued to refuse to agree to a renewal of sanctions against Argentina. On May 17th, Thatcher even telephoned Haughey in a desperate attempt to win his support for sanctions against Argentina, but the Taoiseach rejected Thatcher’s advances.

Political opportunism

In mid-June 1982, the Falklands War ended following 74 days of conflict. British victories at Goose Green and Port Stanley culminated with the Argentinian forces surrendering on June 14th. Thatcher and her ministerial colleagues basked in the glory of victory. At a meeting of the British cabinet the morning after Argentina’s surrender, a sense of excitement was in the air. But it was a victory tainted by the loss of so many young souls on both sides: 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders, died during the conflict.

The uncomfortable truth is that the taoiseach 'made a mess of the situation'

For Haughey, the uncomfortable truth is that the taoiseach "made a mess of the situation", to quote Haughey’s political nemesis Desmond O'Malley. Haughey’s decision to withdraw support for sanctions against Argentina smacked of political opportunism.

Although he regularly propagated the message that the Government’s volte-face on the issue of sanctions against Argentina was based on long held principles associated with Irish neutrality, the available evidence provides ample proof to the contrary. In fact, Haughey's spurious claims at the time that he took this decision based on a commitment to preserve Ireland’s traditional principles associated with neutrality are a falsity.

The contents of this article are sourced from Stephen Kelly's Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative Party and the Northern Ireland conflict, 1975-1990 (Bloomsbury Press). A paperback edition will be published in June 2022.

Professor Stephen Kelly is Professor of Modern Irish History and British-Irish Relations at the School of Humanities at Liverpool Hope University.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ

The Falkland Islands

What was Resolution 502?

Playing the neutrality card

‘Drove Maggie mad!’

Political opportunism

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